For the second consecutive game, Taiwan NT did not look like a team that wants to play basketball. It seemed all they wanted to do was going home.
A humiliating 100-74 loss to Kazakhstan gave Taiwan the worst finish ever -- the 8th place -- in its Asian Games history. Originally setting its goal at the top six, Taiwan instead finished one spot lower than four years ago in Pusan, Korea, when it was 7th place.
According to a Central News Agency report filed from Doha, head coach Lee Yun-kwang said after the game he will resign from the national team position.
Taiwan men's NT finished for 5th place in 1990 Asian Games, 6th place in 1994, 5th place in 1998 and 7th place in 2002.
Taiwan NT simply collapsed in its last two classification games vs. Japan and Kazakhstan after suffering a double overtime loss to Qatar in the quarterfinal. Today it was outrebounded by the Kazkahs by an astounding margin of 55-23 and shot only 41 percent, compared to Kazakhstan's 51 percent.
Before halftime, Taiwanese found they were trailing by double digit. In the second half it trailed by 30 points at one point.
Chou Shih-yuan led the team with 17 points. Lin Chi-jay had 14. Tien Lei and Tsun Wen-ding scored 12 and 10 respectively.
18 years-old Anton Ponomarev had a game-high 25 points and 9 rebounds. Mikhail Yevstigneyev followed with 23 points plus 16 boards. Rustam Yargaliyev had 10 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists.
Taiwan NT in Doha (3W-5L)
Preliminary round(3W-2L)
Lost 75-85 to Japan
Beat Kazakhstan 81-79
Lost to China 65-101
Beat Lebanon 86-72
Beat Uzbekistan 106-69
Quarterfinal
Lost to Qatar 96-103(2OT)
Classification games
Lost to Japan 67-78
Lost to Kazkahstan 74-100
Taiwan NT player stats
Chen Hsin-an 15.5p, 3.1rb, 3.1a, 3TO, 46% FG, 36% 3PT, 56% FT
Tien Lei 14.3p, 9.4rb, 1blk, 37% FG, 31% 3PT, 67% FT
Tsun Wen-din 11.5p, 8.1rb, 2.5blk, 47% FG, 65% FT
Lin Chi-jay 10.3p, 3.6rb, 40% FG, 33% 3PT, 83% FT
Yang Che-yi 10p, 51% FG
Chou Shih-yuan 7.6p
Lee Hsueh-lin 6.3p, 4.6rb, 2.6a, 49% FG, 27% 3PT, 64% FT
Chen Shih-nian 2.6p
Lee Chi-yi 2.3p
Yang Chin-min 1.8p
Wu Yong-jen 1.8p
Yua Yin-li 1.5p
Taiwan vs. Opponents
FG% 43:46
3PT% 32:36
RB 38.1:45.6