A hoops war begins this weekend as the SBL tips off at New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang Gymnasium, ahead of the rival P.League+, which begins at the Changhua County Stadium on Dec. 19.
The SBL openers today see Taiwan Bank take on Pauian Archiland at 3pm, followed by the marquee matchup at 5:30pm between defending champions Taiwan Beer and last season’s losing finalists the Yulon Luxgen Dinos.
Jeoutai Technology, the fifth SBL team, formerly known as Kinmen Kaoliang, play their first game tomorrow against Taiwan Bank, also in Sinjhuang.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Among the new foreign players unveiled this week, the most prominent is former NBA player Rakeem Christmas of the Dinos.
The former Indiana Pacers player is engaged to Jasmine Jordan, the daughter of Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan. The couple had a baby last year.
Other Americans signed up for this season include J.D. Miller of Taiwan Beer, Branden Dawson of Jeoutai, Jordan Tolbert of Archiland and Zak Irvin of Taiwan Bank.
The SBL is starting its 18th season as the nation’s top basketball competition, but it has seen some of its clubs depart, with former champions the Dacin Tigers dropping out last year, as well as the Fubon Braves, who left at the end of last season.
The Braves have teamed up with the Formosa Dreamers — renamed the Taishin Dreamers — to create the P.League+, along with two other new clubs, the Taoyuan Pilots and the Hsinchu Lioneers.
CTBA secretary-general Lee Yi-chung said that the SBL teams would do their best to win over the fans and the league has chosen “Fight Back” as its new slogan.
Due to the challenge from the new league, the SBL has ended its practice of signing an exclusive broadcasting agreement with one TV network and this year has broadened its media outreach, Lee said.
SBL games are to be broadcast on the Public Television Service and Videoland Sports, as well as online platforms YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, camerabay.tv and Instagram, he said.
“The players need to be more competitive and improve their game to overcome the challenge of the new league,” Taiwan Beer point guard Chiang Yu-an told reporters on Tuesday. “We have to provide the fans with high-quality basketball and make progress in all aspects of the game, and if we can the results will be good for everyone.”
The SBL had been facing a crisis, with Kaohsiung-based Jeoutai and other teams threatening to leave and sign on with the new league.
With the basketball community divided into two independent leagues fighting for dwindling resources, it is likely only one could survive, commentators say.
For the first time in almost 36 years, a Parisian derby will be played in French soccer’s top flight when reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain FC take on the nouveau riche Paris Football Club (PFC) today. Not one of the players involved in today’s match — PFC’s 38-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Remy Riou is almost certainly not going to be involved — was born the last time there was a Parisian derby in Ligue 1. That was on Feb. 25, 1990, when Moroccan midfielder Aziz Bouderbala scored a brace as Racing Paris 1 beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes home that
Stan Wawrinka’s 40-year-old legs did not let him down over three-plus hours in his first singles match of a farewell tour yesterday. Three-time Grand Slam singles champion Wawrinka beat Arthur Rinderknech of France, who is ranked 29th to Wawrinka’s 157th, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). The match went 3 hours, 16 minutes. Wawrinka last month announced that this year would be his last on the ATP tour. “Today was a tough battle ... it’s amazing to come here for the first time, to have so much support,” Wawrinka said yesterday. “Twenty years on tour, you kind of always play in the same place
BOUNCING BACK: Antetokounmpo had just returned from an eight-game injury absence last month, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their third win in four games Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets and grab a slice of NBA history on Friday. The Bucks trailed by as many as 16 on their home floor, but Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter to help seal the win in a frantic finish that saw five lead changes in the final 45.7 seconds. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) added 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his 158th regular-season game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka yesterday got her season off to a winning start for Japan in the United Cup, after the UK’s Emma Raducanu pulled out of their singles clash with a fitness issue, while in Brisbane, Taiwan’s Latisha Chan and Wu Fang-hsien crashed out of the women’s doubles. In Perth, despite Osaka’s win, the UK took the match 2-1 with a deciding mixed doubles victory. Osaka was too strong for reserve and 276th-ranked Katie Swan, winning 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 as Raducanu watched from the sidelines. “I’m proud of how I fought,” Osaka said. “I’d never played here, it was tough.” Britain
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