The Taoyuan Pauian Pilots on Thursday routed the Taipei Fubon Braves 107-81 in Game 7 of the P.League+ Finals to secure back-to-back championships, with Taiwanese basketball legend Lin Chih-chieh of the Braves playing the final game of his career.
Pilots big man Alec Brown, who averaged 15.2 points and 8.3 rebounds across the seven-game series, was named Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP). He knocked down four three-pointers and scored 14 points on Thursday.
Brown said that the series tested the Pilots in ways they had not experienced during a dominant regular season, forcing them to rely on defense and hustle after struggling to shoot well throughout much of the series.
Photo: CNA
“For us to push through those moments, fight, play defense and do the little things to make up for that lack of shooting, I’m just really proud of the guys for coming together,” he said.
Pilots star forward Lu Chun-hsiang, who recently won his third consecutive P.League+ regular-season MVP award, led the team with 26 points, followed by Setric Deon Miller Jr’s 24.
Braves shooting guard Archie Lee Goodwin III posted a game-high 44 points, including a 26-point third quarter that broke the previous finals record of 19 points in a quarter, set by Jeremy Lin.
Photo: CNA
Goodwin’s scoring rampage kept the Braves within 12 points at the start of the fourth quarter, but the Pilots opened the fourth quarter with a 15-6 run.
The Pilots bulldozed through the four-team league and finished the regular season with a 21-3 record, making them the overwhelming favorites to win the title.
However, the Braves, who finished second at 12-12, pushed the defending champions to the limit by winning games 1, 3 and 5 to take a 3-2 series lead.
Photo: CNA
However, the Pilots controlled Game 7 from start to finish, never trailing after Lu’s step-back three-pointer gave them a 10-8 lead after four minutes.
Braves head coach Roger Hsu said that his players appeared exhausted after failing to close out the series in a 72-69 loss on Tuesday.
“You could tell the players had nothing left today, both offensively and defensively,” Hsu said.
Lin Chih-chieh, 44, who is set to retire after the season, finished the final game of his career with two points and seven rebounds.
Asked about ending his career without another championship, he said he was more disappointed for the team than for himself.
“I felt regret that we as a team could not win the title,” he said. “It was a shame that we did not take the last game [Game 6] in Taipei.”
The P.League+ is one of two professional basketball leagues in Taiwan. The other one, the Taiwan Professional Basketball League, consists of seven teams, with the Formosa Dreamers beating the New Taipei Kings 4-3 in the Finals to win the franchise’s first title on June 6.
At Thursday’s post-game news conference, Pilots head coach Iurgi Caminos proposed to hold an interleague series, assuming the Dreamers to be their opponents.
“I want to have a Taiwan Series next summer. My proposal is one game in Taoyuan, one game in Taichung. If there is a third one, maybe we can play in Hsinchu or Miaoli, and we draw to play the first home game and see who is the real champions of Taiwan,” Caminos said.
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