The Formosa Dreamers showed their confidence in the opening game of the new Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) with a shot-blocking feast in Taichung on Saturday.
The former P.League+ (PLG) powerhouse routed the DEA 88-74 while blocking 10 DEA shots, with Aric Holman and Brandon Gilbeck, Taiwan’s latest naturalized player, combining for nine.
“Gilbeck used to be the only import who knew how to play help side defense, but now we have Holman. He’s playing smart and knows how to do it well,” point guard Lin Chun-chi said after the game.
Photo: CNA
In front of a sold-out crowd of 3,000, Lin scored a game-high 22 points, helped by a four-for-six showing from three-point range, and added six assists and three steals.
Now 26, the young phenom was considered to be a perennial most valuable player (MVP) contender when he was in the PLG, but he was noticeably absent from the top three preseason predictions for MVP released by the TPBL on Friday.
The survey showed that New Taipei Kings star Jeremy Lin was the MVP favorite in the opinions of players, media and fans. Taiwan Beer Leopards point guard Gao Jin-wei, the T1 League’s rookie of the year last season, received the most support from the league’s franchise staffers.
Asked about the result, Lin said it was not a big deal and that he cared more about the ultimate result instead.
“I think the real winner is the one who wins the championship,” he said.
The new league has been created with teams from the six-team PLG and five-team T1 League.
The TPBL was formed from three PLG teams — the Dreamers, the Kings, and the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers — and all of the five T1 League franchises except for the Tainan TSG GhostHawks — now TSG GhostHawks.
However, that did not eliminate the problem of having separate pro basketball leagues in such a small market.
The GhostHawks joined the three remaining teams in the PLG — the Taipei Fubon Braves, Taoyuan Pauian Pilots and the Kaohsiung Steelers — to continue as a four-team league.
While those who called for a merger of all pro basketball franchises referred to the establishment of the TPBL as “a great first step” for the game in Taiwan, many others believed that there were no winners in the movement.
Still, the new TPBL season represents the first time that a top-level basketball league in Taiwan has had as many as seven teams since the 2018-2019 season of the quasi-professional Super Basketball League.
Each team in the league is set to play 36 regular season games.
A total of 126 regular-season games would be played from this month to May 18 next year, after which the fifth-placed team would enter a best-of-three playoffs play-in series with the fourth-placed team. The fourth-placed team would be granted a one-win advantage in the series.
The remaining playoff series would be best-of-seven.
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