The Hsinchu JKO Lioneers on Saturday clinched the top spot in the P.League+’s regular-season standings after overpowering the Taipei Fubon Braves 108-99.
At 20-10, the Lioneers are to enter the playoff semi-finals as the top-seeded side, while the Formosa Taishin Dreamers are currently in second with a 17-11 record, ahead of the Braves at 18-12.
Lioneers head coach Greg Lin (林冠綸) said after the game that finishing atop the regular-season rankings was a testament to the team’s hard work.
Photo: CNA
“This season has not yet finished. We will continue to press forward and continue to put in the effort,” Lin said.
At Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium, the Lioneers led for most of the game, reaching a 65-48 advantage at halftime.
Near the end of the third quarter, Braves forward Winston Tsai narrowed the deficit to a one-possession 75-72 game, but Lioneers forwards Nick Faust and Mike Bruesewitz quickly extended their lead beyond Taipei’s reach at 108-99.
Faust led all scorers with a double-double of 36 points and 11 rebounds, while Bruesewitz had 28 points and 13 rebounds.
Three postponed games remain in the regular season, and two of them could directly affect the Dreamers’ standings, league founder and CEO Blackie Chen (陳建州) said.
The Dreamers are likely to play the Taoyuan Pilots on Friday, followed by the New Taipei Kings on Saturday, he said.
Losses in those games could knock the Dreamers below the Braves in the standings.
The Kings are in fourth place with a 16-13 record, while the Kaohsiung Steelers and the Pilots, in fifth and sixth respectively, will not advance to the playoffs.
The top four teams by winning percentage in the regular season compete in the playoffs, consisting of a best-of-five first round series and the finals played in a best-of-seven format.
Barcelona star Lamine Yamal would be motivated by criticism ahead of the Clasico, Barcelona assistant coach Marcus Sorg said yesterday. Teenage winger Yamal has been in the spotlight in the Spanish capital after joking that Real Madrid “steal” and “complain” during an appearance on a social media stream. Champions Barca face Real Madrid today in La Liga at the Santiago Bernabeu, looking for a fifth consecutive win over their rivals. “Lamine is a top player and I think [the criticism] will be motivating for him,” Sorg told a news conference. “I hope we all see him tomorrow [give] the best performance.” The 18-year-old Spain
‘A HISTORIC moment’: ‘I think we all need to take a step back and appreciate Leo Messi is playing in Major League Soccer,’ league commissioner Don Garber said Lionel Messi raised the Golden Boot. He then got Inter Miami started with his head. The Argentine opened the scoring with a diving header in the first half, then capped the scoring in the 96th minute as Inter Miami opened the MLS playoffs with a 3-1 win over Nashville SC in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference best-of-three first-round series on Friday night. Messi and Ian Fray had the assists on Tadeo Allende’s second-half tally for Inter Miami, who now get two chances to advance out of the first round for the first time in Messi’s two-and-a-half-year tenure with the team. Game
‘COMPLETE GAME’: ‘To be honest, I’m not sure about the history, but I’m very happy about what I did today,’ Yamamoto said through a translator after the game Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched a World Series game from another era. Sandy Koufax had October outings like this, and so did Orel Hershiser, but those types of performances have vanished in modern baseball. Until this 178cm starter from Japan delivered like the aces of old. Yamamoto threw a four-hitter for his second consecutive complete game, the first in the World Series since 2015, and the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-1 on Saturday night to tie their best-of-seven matchup at one game apiece. “It’s kind of the throwback,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “When he starts a game, he
Japan’s narrow defeat by Australia showed they can compete with the best teams in the world, coach Eddie Jones said after his side fell to a 19-15 loss yesterday. Australia coach Joe Schmidt led the Wallabies for the first time against Eddie Jones, his predecessor and now Japan coach. During Jones’ second tenure as Australia coach, the Wallabies lost seven of nine tests and were eliminated in group play at the 2023 World Cup. “What I’m super pleased about is that now we [Japan] are a team that stays in the fight,” Jones told reporters. “We kept going, we could have won
RSS