Taiwan’s national basketball team yesterday punched their ticket to the FIBA Asia Cup after edging Guam 85-77 in the US territory on the final day of qualifiers.
After losing the opener of the two-game series against Guam 77-72 on Thursday, Taiwan had to defeat the underdogs by at least six points to keep their streak of making every Asia Cup since 1985 alive, and they did so, barely.
A five-point victory would have sent the series into overtime, but Guam shooting guard Takumi Simon left a buzzer-beating three-point shot from the corner just short of the rim, allowing Taiwan to escape with the series win.
At a post-game news conference, Taiwan head coach Charlie Parker said he was confident that his team can improve, despite having lost five straight qualifying games before the win against an undermanned Guam team.
“I know after losses there was a lot of criticism going both ways, but our whole theme was we got next, which basically means that Taiwan had great success in the Olympics and after the Olympics is over we wanted to prove that we had the next opportunity to make people from Taiwan proud,” Parker said.
It was Guam who came out with more intensity early in the game. They held the lead for the majority of the first half.
However, Taiwan pulled back to take a 43-41 lead at halftime.
Taiwan played to their strengths in the second half, capitalizing on fast-breaks and downing shots from the perimeter.
Taiwan’s up-tempo style and the play of center Lee Te-wei helped them to build a 64-57 lead with just over three minutes left in the third quarter, while frustration crept its way into the Guam team with unnecessary fouls and turnovers early in the fourth quarter.
However, the hosts were never far from the five-point margin they needed to stay within to advance, pulling themselves to 82-77 with 36 seconds left in regulation time after an alley-oop dunk by center Jonathan Galloway off an assist by forward Tai Wesley and a free throw by Mark Johnson.
Taiwan shooting guard Lin Ting-chien fired back with a clutch pull-up jumper with 20 seconds remaining to open up an 84-77 lead.
An errant alley-oop pass by Wesley in the final seconds gave the ball back to Taiwan, and Lin Ting-chien made one of two free throws with three seconds left to set the stage for Simon’s attempt.
Lin Ting-chien led all scorers with 26 points, while forward Hu Long-mao added 16 and was four from five from three-point range.
“It was a great team win, especially in the fourth quarter,” when Guam scored only 14 points, Lin Ting-chien said. “We really did a good job defending their post player and their shooters.”
Taiwan are to join Australia, Bahrain, China, India, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Syria in Jakarta in July next year for the Asia Cup final, and Parker had no illusions about Taiwan’s prospects.
“It’s going to be a challenge from here on in. I think we probably need to get an import ... to kind of protect the paint, but it’s going to be great competition,” he said.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
When 42-1 underdog James ‘Buster’ Douglas shocked ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson 34 years ago at the Tokyo Dome, the result reverberated worldwide. Spectators at the 45,000-plus seater venue witnessed one of boxing’s biggest upsets as unbeaten heavyweight champion Tyson was knocked out in the 10th round by the unheralded Douglas in February 1990. Boxing returns to the famous venue on Monday for the first time since that unforgettable encounter when Japan’s undisputed super-bantamweight world champion Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue puts his belts on the line against Mexican Luis Nery. The 31-year-old Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) is a huge star in Japan and is just