Reigning Most Valuable Player (MVP) Lu Chun-hsiang became the P.League+’s (PLG) all-time leading scorer on Thursday in his Taoyuan Pauian Pilots’ 114-77 win against the Kaohsiung Steelers, a shining moment in an otherwise difficult season for the league.
In front of a crowd of 2,273, Lu, who had been tied with two-time MVP Amigo Yang on 1,749 points prior to the game, wasted no time breaking the record by banking in a shot 15 seconds after the opening tip-off.
He secured the record in his 112th regular-season game, two more games than Yang, who has not signed with any pro team after the New Taipei Kings decided not to bring him back following the 2023-24 season.
Photo: Chen chih-chu, Taipei Times
Asked about his mindset, Lu said: “Coach [Iurgi] Caminos told me to break it soon because there would be a short timeout to celebrate it. So I just did it at the beginning of the game to let the game resume as it should.”
Lu’s record might seem insignificant given the relatively low number of points and the PLG’s brief five-year history.
However, it still mattered for a league that has many aging stars, and saw a setback in the 2024 offseason when it lost two franchises to a new rival league, leaving it with four teams, the same as in its inaugural season.
“People keep wondering who the torch will be passed on to now that players from the golden generation are in the twilight of their careers,” PLG broadcaster Tsai Ching-ching said.
“Lu Chun-hsiang is telling us he may be ‘him’ as he rises from the Sixth Man of the Year, to regular season MVP, to the all-time scoring leader,” Tsai said.
The need for new stars grew more pressing at the beginning of the season when 42-year-old Lin “Beast” Chih-chieh of the Taipei Fubon Braves, widely hailed as Taiwan’s greatest-ever basketball player, said this year would likely be his last.
As of Thursday, Lu was the only active Taiwanese PLG player who has had double-digit points in every season he has played — averaging 14.9, 14.3, 16.8 and 18.9 points per game — in a league dominated by foreign players.
Consistent as his numbers seem, Lu ran into a brick wall in the second half of the 2022-23 season when his opponents adopted defensive strategies that made him lose confidence.
In a game against the Braves in April 2023, Lin approached Lu after a foul and encouraged him to “focus on your own adjustments and ignore others’ doubts.”
That brief exchange has been viewed by many as a symbolic moment in the league.
Lu, who scored 22 points in a team-high 31 minutes on Thursday, said he did not dream of breaking the record when he joined the Pilots in 2021.
Rather he cherished the team’s collective progress over individual achievements, he said.
“I’m not the only one carrying this team forward. As you can see, [Li] Chia-kang has made huge strides, and so have [Pai] Yao-cheng and [Kuan] Ta-you. This is not just my team, it’s our team, and that’s what I love most about this organization,” Lu said.
On Thursday, Li put up 24 points on six three-pointers, a career-high. Although better known for his defense, Li is averaging 12.2 points this season, more than double his career average (5.9).
Thursday’s romp saw the league-leading Pilots improve their record to 11-3, while the Steelers suffered their fourth straight loss, becoming the first PLG team with 10 defeats this season.
Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, 29, has died, the NBA team said in a statement on Tuesday, while the family of Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to play in a major US pro sports league, announced the former Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets player had died after a battle with brain cancer. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brandon Clarke,” the Grizzlies said in a statement posted on social media. “Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten.” The statement did not provide
Mathys Tel was hero and villain as Tottenham drew 1-1 at home to Leeds United on Monday — a result that leaves their English Premier League future hanging in the balance. The Frenchman broke the deadlock early in the second half to ease the tension at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but then gave away a penalty with a reckless attempted clearance. In the dying minutes, Spurs were grateful to Antonin Kinsky, who produced an astonishing save to deny the visitors a win. Tottenham are now two points clear of 18th-placed West Ham United with just two games left this season. The
‘DONE IT ALL’: LeBron James is now out of contract with the Lakers and would head into the off season as a free agent with uncertainty swirling around his future LeBron James on Monday said he would take time to consider his future after the Los Angeles Lakers were swept out of the NBA playoffs by the Oklahoma City Thunder in what could turn out to be the final game of his career. James, 41, delivered a typically defiant performance with 24 points and 12 rebounds, but it was not enough to prevent the Lakers from falling 115-110 as the Thunder completed a 4-0 sweep in the Western Conference semi-finals series. The four-time NBA champion is now out of contract with the Lakers and would head into the off season
FRUSTRATION: Gauff smacked herself on the head with her racket before storming down the tunnel, emerging afterward to have a heated discussion with her coach Elina Svitolina on Saturday won the Italian Open after beating Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2 to claim her third Rome title, while Jannik Sinner set a date with Casper Ruud in the men’s final. Ukraine’s Svitolina had not claimed a WTA 1000 title since her last victory at the Foro Italico eight years ago, but prevailed over the ever-erratic Gauff to claim her 20th tournament triumph. Saturday’s win over Gauff was her third in a row against a player in the top four of the world rankings — including Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina — ahead of the French
RSS