Monday, October 31, 2005

Taiwan NT lost to China 68-65 in EAG

Taiwan NT suffered the first loss in East Asian Games after losing to China 68-65 today. Facing a Chinese team with mostly second-tier players, Taiwan led by as many as 11 points in the first half but failed to contain China's three-point shooting. Yang Yu-ming committed a turnover in the last possession.
 
Taiwan is now 2-1 in the tournament. China is 3-0. Tien Lei led Taiwan with 11 points and 5 rebounds. Yang Che-yi and Chen Chih-chun each scored 10 points. Taiwan led 39-33 at halftime. Overall, the result is acceptable although China featured only one key player Yi Jianlian from the REAL national team.
 
However, Taiwan NT almost became the victim of upset yesterday, escaping with a 76-74 win over underdog Hong Kong. Head coach Lee Yun-kwang blasted the team for a whole hour after the game. In other games yesterday, China beat Japan 70-57, South Korea beat Mongolia 86-57.

Saturday, October 29, 2005

Taiwan beat South Korea 75-56 in EAG opening game

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.
 

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Taiwan NT ready for East Asian Games, barely

Taiwanese basketball is so quiet you think it's dead. Well, not really. A handful of journalists, me included, are still sober enough to remember East Asian Games is right ahead.
 
The bi-annual games will take place in Macao starting October 29th. Coming off an embarrassing 9th-place finish in Asian Championship, this is the last chance for Taiwan NT to garner some self-confidence before the new year comes.
 
However injuries keep piling up. Tien Lei broke his right little finger in National Games last week and was in a cast. He said he will try to play through the injury in EAG. Yang Chin-min have a swollen lymph nodes, which should heal before the EAG.
 
Seven countries will play in the EAG, including Taiwan, China, Japan, South Korea, Macao, Hong Kong and Mongolia. The teams will play under single round robin as top four advance to the semifinals. If there's no major upset, Taiwan, China, Japan and South Korea are expected to make the final four.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Chen Hsin-an remains un-signed

Two months after leaving Yulon, Chen Hsin-an still hasn't signed his name on the dotted line. Chen is hesitant about signing contract with ETSN due to mutual disagreement.
 
It is quite simple. ETSN wants to own every bit of Chen, including his right of portrait. It thinks, for 15 millions, it has to own every bit of Chen. Chen wants to reserve his right of playing in the U.S. minor leagues like NBADL or CBA. ETSN disagrees. It's basically why negotiation is standing still after two months.
 
ETSN is also paying close attention to Chen's knee injury rehab. It is Chen's second knee injury in six months.
 
For now, the situation hasn't changed a bit. Chen doesn't want to back down, nor does ETSN. It is sad to see the best player in Taiwan remains unsigned two months before the season.
 
Observers think Chen is possible to go back to Yulon if he fails to agree to terms with ETSN.
 
Resources reported Chen left Yulon to sign with ETSN for three years and 15 million NTD on August 4th.

Monday, October 03, 2005

Taiwan basketball briefs

-- SBL committee set the maximum for player monthly salary at 120,000 NTD on September 30. The decision came after ETSN reportedly signed Chen Hsin-an away from Yulon for 15 million for three years, thus making Chen the highest-paid basketball player in Taiwan. Teams are concerned player salary will skyrocket after Chen's case
 
Interesting thing is: Chen hasn't officially signed with ETSN because of several mutual disagreement. And for whatever reason, the SBL committee didn't set the minimum monthly wage.
 
Another big problem emerges. Yulon re-signed almost all of its players after Chen's departure with most contracts surpassing the SBL 120,000 limit. ETSN signed Yang Yu-ming for 250,000 NTD per month last week, which is also over the SBL limit. How can teams change signed-contracts? No one knows.
 
And you can almost assured that teams will be paying under-table money to its top players in order to keep them. The maximum monthly salary rule means nothing to average to low-end players.
 
Looks like the SBL always makes some dumb decisions.
 
-- ESPN Taiwan will pay 35 millions for the TV rights in the upcoming third SBL season, but will share rights with Videoland and ETSN. This is another interesting story that gives you a glimpse of the chaotic scene of Taiwanese basketball.
 
-- Taiwan NT lost its first warmup games in Korea 90-78 to KBL's TG. Yang Che-yi led the team with 21 points. Tsun Wen-din and Lee Hsueh-lin scored 16 each. Only nine players suit up for the game. Tien Lei sat out the game because of knee injury. Yang Yu-ming didn't go to Korea with the team due to fever. The team will play five games in Korea for the preparation for the East Asian Games.