Five years into its history, the P. League+ is finally set to host its first-ever Game 7 in a championship series, after the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots defeated the Taipei Fubon Braves 83-67 on Monday.
The win at Taipei Heping Basketball Stadium, the Braves’ home court, tied the best-of-seven series 3-3, sending the finals back to the Pilots’ home court today, where they will seek their first title.
The Pilots lost to the New Taipei Kings 4-1 in their P.League+ Finals debut last season.
Photo: CNA
“Although we are a young team, we showed our resilience and relied on our defense today,” Pilots star Lu Chun-hsiang said after the game.
Lu, who had been relatively quiet in the first three games of the series, scored a game-high 19 points.
He has averaged 22.3 points over the past three games.
Widely regarded as the face of the franchise, Lu said he tried to lead by example when his teammates appeared less focused during the game.
“It’s not time to relax yet. We still have the most important game on Wednesday,” he said.
The Pilots controlled the pace for most of the night, leading 47-31 at halftime.
The Braves trimmed the deficit to 64-53 by the end of the third quarter and pulled to within five after opening the fourth quarter with a 10-4 run, but a pull-up jumper in the paint by Pilots point guard Pai Yao-cheng followed by a three-pointer from Lu kept the Braves at bay the rest of the way.
Braves acting coach Aaron Wu lamented his team’s missed opportunity to close out the series, pointing to their five-for-27 shooting from behind the arc as a major factor in the loss.
“You can’t beat the Pilots when you shoot threes like that,” he said.
In the Braves’ other two losses, they shot 18-for-74 (24.3 percent) from three-point range, compared with 35.3 percent (30-for-85) in their wins.
Wu said the Braves have generally defended the Pilots well — holding them to 83 points or fewer in all but two games — and was hopeful his team would deliver offensively today.
Meanwhile, Pilots head coach Iurgi Caminos praised his players for looking like “the old Pilots we’ve been on many days [this season].”
He said the key to today’s decisive game is to “play with the same mentality.”
“Our main goal is to stay as focused as we were today — in every single possession on both defense and offense. That mindset will make us a competitive team,” he said.
Game 7 is set to tip off at 7:30pm at the Taoyuan Arena.
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