Led by Tsun Wen-din and Tien Lei, who combined for 41 points, Taiwan NT routed South Korea 75-56 in the opening game of East Asian Games in Macau. It's a surprising result, although South Korea only sent a college all-star team.
Taiwan head coach Lee Yun-kwang used a news clipping from a local newspaper to motivate his players. In a pre-game analysis, MACAU DAILY listed China, South Korea and Japan as A-Teams and Taiwan in B-Teams, which means Taiwan is not really good.
Obviously Taiwan NT does not agree with it. Tsun Wen-din, who had game-high 21 points, scored nine straight points in the second quarter and Taiwan never trailed, leading by as many as 25 points. Tien Lei had 11 of his 20 points in the third quarter. Yang Yu-ming scored 18.
As expected, super-power China stomped host Macau 94-43 in its first game. Wang Shipeng led the team with 18. Yi Jianlian had 15 points in 20 minutes.