Thursday, January 26, 2006

SBL Week 7 - BOT keeps surprising everyone

Bank of Taiwan (7-7) won five of its last six games and moved to .500 to tie with Videoland at the fourth place. This is probably the proudest moment in the last three years for this small-budget team.

If BOT did not lost in a double-overtime heartbreaker to ETSN (5-10), it would be riding on a 6-game winning streak right now.

Dacin forward Tien Lei tallied 70 points in two victories last week and was named Week 7 Baller of the Week.

Tien Lei inspired a final rally in the game vs. Yulon (11-4) in which Dacin (8-6) took advantage of the absence of Yulon center Tsun Wen-din, who fouled out of the game in 27 minutes, and kept attacking the paint. Dacin worked itself from the slump of a 3-game losing streak slump and also ended a 5-game losing streak vs. the defending champ.

Taiwan Beer (10-4) was king for a day, climbing to the top of the standings when it beat VL on Jan. 21, the same day Yulon lost to Dacin. But TB was upset by BOT and back to the second the next day after forward Wang Jian-wei missed a pair of free-throws with 2.8 seconds left.

SBL schedule will take a one-week break for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year holiday before resuming on Feb. 3. The 3rd SBL All-Star Game will take place on Feb. 11.

Jan. 20
Yulon 96-85 YMY
(Chiu Chi-yi 20p, Tsun Wen-din 12p+12rb+7blk, Lu Cheng-ju 16p ; Wang Chuan-jian 24p+9rb, Lo Shin-liang 15p)
[Game Notes] YMY suffered its 9th straight loss to Yulon.
Dacin 82-79 ETSN (Tien Lei 35p+15rb, Chang Chi-feng 12p+9rb+4a+5s ; O-Yang Jin-hen 22p)
[Game Notes] Dacin ends 3-game losing streak.

Jan. 21
TB 106-83 VL
(Lin Chi-jay 37p ; Lee Chi-yi 12p)
[Game Notes] TB won its 4th straight game as Lin Chi-jay scored his season-high 37 points.
ETSN 108-103(2OT) BOT (Yang Yu-min 31p ; Ju Yong-hong 23p+15rb, Chien Ming-fu 14p+7rb+5a)
[Game Notes] BOT's 4-game winning streak was snapped in the first double-overtime game of the season.
Dacin 80-73 Yulon (Tien Lei 35p+14rb+7a, Chang Chi-feng 17p ; Chen Chih-chun 17p+4a, Tsun Wen-din 11p+8rb)
[Game Notes] Dacin ends 5-game losing streak to Yulon.

Jan. 22
BOT 72-71 TB (Yang Chin-min 18p ; Lin Chi-jay 25p+10rb, Wu Chih-yuan 16p)
[Game Notes] BOT snapped its 6-game losing streak to TB thanks to a pair of missed free-throws with 2.8 seconds left by TB forward Wang Jian-wei.
VL 95-82 YMY (Hong Chi-chao 27p+9rb+7a, Lai Kuo-hong 17p ; Chen Shi-jay 24p, Lo Shin-liang 16p)
Yulon 90-69 ETSN (Tsun Wen-din 18p+7rb, Chou Shih-yuan 12p, Wu Chih-wei 12p+8rb ; Cheng Jen-wei 13p)

Standings:
Yulon 11-4, TB 10-4, Dacin 8-6, VL 7-7, BOT 7-7, ETSN 5-10, YMY 2-12

Friday, January 20, 2006

Chen Hsin-an will try out for BJ League's Osaka Evessa

Chen Hsin-an, Taiwan's top player who is under rehab for his knee injury and sitting out the 2005-06 SBL season, confirmed he is going to Japan for a try out from Jan. 30 - Feb. 5. If the tryout goes well he will play for BJ League's Osaka Evessa.

Chen will become the first Taiwanese player to play for the first-year professional basketball league if he signs with Osaka.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

SBL Week 6 - TB ties Yulon ; BOT wins 4 straight

Once again it's a surprising week for the SBL. Perennial doormat Bank of Taiwan shocked Dacin and Videoland in the same week and was riding on a 4-game winning streak -- the first time in team history. Taiwan Beer edged Yulon 65-59 in the final game of the week to tie Yulon at the top of the standings and snapped a 5-game losing streak to the Dinos.

Dacin Tigers suffered its first three-game losing streak in SBL history and tied with BOT and Videoland at 6-6. Dacin gave up an average of 92.3 points in three defeats.

Something stays the same as YMY keeps losing, currently on a 9-game losing streak.

Jan. 13
TB 100-84 YMY (Lin Chi-jay 35p+4a+4s, Lee Wei-min 16p ; Chang Yu-lin 29p, Lo Shin-liang 13p)
Lin Chih-jay countered YMY's Chang Yu-lin, who scored a career-high 29 points, with his season-high 35 points and, most importantly, came away with a big win.

VL 94-85 Dacin (Lee Chi-yi 20p+12rb, Chen Huei 17p, Yang Che-yi 16p+8rb ; Wang Chih-chun 32p, Lee Fong-yong 16p+11rb+6blks)
Wang Chih-chun made 8 threes en route to his career-high 32 points but Dacin still relied way too much on the three-pointers, shooting an eye-popping 46 times behind the arc and making 15; they only had 22 field-goal attempts inside the arc.

Jan. 14
Yulon 86-74 ETSN (Tsun Wen-din 18p+12rb+5blks, Chen Chih-chun 13p, Lee Hsueh-lin 13p ; Wu Jun-hsiung 18p+9rb, Yang Yu-min 17p)
VL 97-90 YMY (Chen Huei 20p+6a, Yang Che-yi 17p ; Lo Shin-liang 24p, Wang Chuan-jian 24p)
VL made 13 threes in the close win.
BOT 88-82 Dacin (Chuan Hsiao-wen 21p, Yua Yin-li 15p, Wu Yong-jen 14p ; Tien Lei 28p+11rb+5a, Lin Yi-huei 15p)
BOT came from behind with a 30-17 fourth quarter rally.

Jan. 15
ETSN 79-74 YMY (Yang Yu-min 21p ; Chen Shi-jay 24p, Lo Shin-liang 17p)
YMY lost its 9th straight game.
BOT 78-65 VL (Lin Chun-feng 26p+8rb, Wu Yong-jen 14p+8rb+7a ; Yang Che-yi 17p)
TB 65-59 Yulon (Lin Chi-jay 18p, Wu Chih-yuan 8p+14rb, Shan Wei-fan 11p ; Tsun Wen-din 15p+19rb)
Shan We-fan scored 7 points in the last minute to help TB snap a 5-game losing streak to Yulon. Yulon committed 23 turnovers as a team, which is unusal for the two-time defending champ.

Standings:
Yulon 9-3, TB 9-3, BOT 6-6, Dacin 6-6, VL 6-6, ETSN 4-8, YMY 2-10

Chen Hsin-an considers playing in Japan's BJ League

Min-sheng Daily reported Tuesday that Chen Hsin-an, who is a free agent, is considering to play in Japan, as Osaka Evessa of the BJ League has expressed strong interest to sign him.

The report quoted Chen as saying, "There's a 50% chance I might play in Japan." But Chen is still worrying about his knee.

If Chen agrees to join Osaka Evessa, he will fly to Japan for a tryout and physical as soon as early February, the report said.

Osaka is now 12-4 and one game behind Niigata in the BJ League standings.

Chen orally agreed to a three-year, NT$ 15M contract with ETSN last year but failed to sign the final contract due to mutual disagreement after injuring his knee in a training tour with the national team in China.

Chen announced he would not play in the 2005-06 SBL season in order to nurse his knee injury. Rumors say he is possible to re-sign with his former team Yulon Dinos.

Monday, January 09, 2006

SBL Week 5 - BOT, ETSN had breakthrough week

(Taipei, Taiwan) ETSN and Bank of Taiwan, two teams that were at the bottom half of the standing, had a breakthrough week in the Super Basketball League (SBL) as both teams recorded its first winning streak of the season.

In a bizarre week that top teams Yulon and Dacin played poorly and teams at the bottom moved up, maybe we can say a cold front that sees the temperature dropped to as low as 7 degree centigrade is one of the reasons since Taiwan is always a hot and humid country.

BOT pulled out the biggst upset of the season in a 79-76 shocker over Yulon and snapped a 10-game losing streak to Yulon. Chuang Hsiao-wen made 8 of 11 three-pointers in the first BOT win over Yulon since the SBL was established three years ago.

A night later BOT registered its first winning streak of the season when it beat YMY 86-75.

ETSN also shook off the early season slump and had two lop-sided wins in the week, defeating BOT and Videoland.

Dacin dropped to one game behind Taiwan Beer after losing to TB 95-88 Sunday and finished 1-2 in the week. Tien Lei sat out one of the two losses due to a bad cold but averaged 23 points in two games.

Videoland had a roller-coaster week. The Hunters beat TB 77-75 on a last-second shot by Yang Che-yi but was pounded by ETSN 93-65 after a humiliating second half when it scored only 24 points but allowed 46.

VL was hit by another bad news when Huang Chun-hsiung hurt his knee in the ETSN game. It's not clear when Huang will be back.

** Lin Chih-jay of Taiwan Beer was named the Week 4 Baller of the Week and the December MVP. Lin averaged 23.7 points and 5.8 rebounds in 7 games in December and is currently leading the league in scoring.

Jan. 6
ETSN 84-60 BOT (Yang Yu-min 22p, Wu Jun-hsiung 19p ; Cheng An-jay 11p+13rb+3blk, Chien Ming-fu 11p)

Yulon 99-92 Dacin (Tsun Wen-din 18p+8rb+6a, Wei Yong-tai 18p+7rb, Chou Shih-yuan 14, Lee Hseuh-lin 13p, Chen Chih-chun 10p+7a ; Chen Tse-wei 27p, Wang Chih-chun 22p, Lin Yi-huei 18p, Tien Lei DNP)

Jan. 7
VL 77-75 TB (Lee Chi-yi 24p+11rb, Yang Che-yi 8p+7rb ; Lin Chi-jay 19p, Chen Shih-nian 15p)

BOT 79-76 Yulon (Chuan Hsiao-wen 24p, Wu Yong-jen 21p+8rb+10a, Lin Chun-feng 13p ; Lu Cheng-ju 15p, Tsun Wen-din 12p)

Dacin 87-62 YMY (Wang Chih-chun 28p, Tien Lei 18p+16rb+6blk ; Lo Shin-liang 16p, Wang Chuan-jian 14p)

Jan. 8
ETSN 93-65 VL (Wu Jia-long 17p, Yang Yu-min 17p, O-Yang Jin-hen 14p ; Wu Cheng-yu 13p, Lee Chi-yi 7p+10rb)

BOT 86-75 YMY (Lin Chun-feng 18p, Chien Ming-fu 18p ; Lo Shin-liang 26p, Chen Shih-jay 19p)

TB 95-88 Dacin (Lin Chih-jay 29p, Shan Wei-fan 16p, Lee Wei-min 14p ; Tien Lei 28p, Lee Fong-yong 17p, Wang Chih-chun 17p+10rb)

**Standings:
Yulon 8-2, TB 7-3, Dacin 6-4, VL 4-5, BOT 4-6, ETSN 3-7, YMY 2-7

Monday, January 02, 2006

SBL Week 4 Action

Dec. 30
ETSN 91-78 YMY (Wu Jia-long 24p, Yang Yu-ming 21p, Shin Jin-jan 21p ; Lo Shin-liang 27p, Wang Chuan-jian 24p+14rb)
ETSN first win of the season

Taiwan Beer 89-69 Dacin (Lin Chih-jay 30p+9rb, Chen Shih-nian 12p+9rb+5a ; Tien Lei 18p, Lee Fong-yong 11p+15rb, Su Yi-chieh 14p)
Dacin's 4-game winning streak snapped

Dec. 31
Yulon 112-83 YMY (Liu Shen-yao 18p, Lee Hsueh-lin 15p+8a, Lu Cheng-ju 15p, Tsun Wen-din 14p+6rb ; Lo Shin-liang 22p+7rb+6a, Wang Chuan-jian 16p+7rb)
Yulon 112 points SBL season-high

Bank of Taiwan 87-80 Videoland (Chien Ming-fu 13p, Chuan Hsiao-wen 16p ; Lee Chi-yi 28p, Yang Che-yi 17p)
Lee Chi-yi 14-14 FT

Taiwan Beer 64-51 ETSN (Lin Chih-jay 23p, Chen Shih-nian 12p ; Yang Yu-ming 18p, Hsu Tse-shin 14p)

Jan. 1
Yulon 71-63 Videoland (Tsun Wen-din 17p+15rb+5blk, Wei Yong-tai 15p+12rb ; Hsu Kai-jay 16p+7rb, Lee Chi-yi 15p+14rb)
Yulon 5-game winning streak

Taiwan Beer 87-71 Bank of Taiwan (Lin Chih-jay 24p, Ha Hsiao-yuan 22p ; Lin Chun-feng 19p, Chuan Hsiao-wen 13p)
Ha Hsiao-yuan 22p season-high

Dacin 67-61 ETSN (Tien Lei 13p+10rb+4blk+6s, Le Fong-yong 24p+10rb, Chang Chi-feng 17p ; Yang Yu-ming 24p)

Standings:

Yulon 7-1, TB 6-2, Dacin 5-2, VL 34, YMY 2-5, BOT 2-5, ETSN 1-7