Monday, March 15, 2004

Refs take center stage in SBL

Referees, instead of players, were the focal point during this past week in SBL action. Dacin head coach Liu Jia-fa confronted a referee after the final buzzer Sunday night, when Dacin lost 79-80 to Taiwan Beer in an important matchup.

The confrontation marks the third consecutive day that SBL games ended in controversy and complain to officiating. Last Friday SINA claimed referees favored Taiwan Beer. Mars claimed referees favored Dacin and almost pulled out of the game Saturday night.

In my opinion, it’s true that SBL and CTBA have to work together to improve the officiating, especially with the playoffs approaching. But teams have to stop complaining, too. They should focus on the game more than officiating.

With Dacin’s loss, SBL standing now has a long jam in the remaining two playoff spots. Dacin and Mars tied at 10-9, Jutai is 10-11, while Taiwan Beer few steps behind at 8-12.

Summary
Jutai 70-65 SINA (Half 34-43)
Jutai – yang Yu-min 16p+6rb+7a, O-Yang Jin-hen 13p, Shin Jin-jan 11p, Wu Dai-hao 9p+7rb+2blk
SINA – Chou Jun-san 15p, Lo Shin-liang 15p

Taiwan Beer 80-79 Dacin (Half 37-42)
TB – Lin Chih-jay 32p+8rb, Chen Shih-nian 14p+7rb+9a, Wu Chih-yuan 12p+10rb
Dacin – Tien Lei 27p+11rb+5a+3blk, Hsu Chi-chao 17p, Chang Chi-feng 16p+9rb