TB leads 2-0.
Chen Hsin-an in action.
Two days into the SBL playoffs, we were probably only one game away from the SBL Finals matchup everyone would love to see as Yulon Dinos and Taiwan Beers both jumped on a 2-0 lead in their first round playoff series.
It did not surprise anyone that Yulon took the first two games. After all, it is the No. 1 seed and have everyone healthy. Kudos to PY, which entered the post season without second leading scorer James Mao, however. PY played its heart out and actually made both games entertaining.
In Game 2, Tseng Wen-ting scored 12 of his 17 points in the final period to break the game open for Yulon, which was upset by Dacin in the opening round playoff series last season.
The defending champ Taiwan Beer, on the other hand, was not the usual No. 3 seed. It was only one game behind the No. 2 seed dmedia Numen (20-10) in the regular season and everyone knew it tanked its last two regular season games to rest its starters.
Lin Chih-chieh and Wu Tai-hao rose to the occassion. Lin, who had a subpar regular season, tallied 47 points and 22 rebound while Wu had 43 points and 18 boards in two games.
J. Sanders
TB's defense was also brilliant. It limited high-scoring Jon Sanders (21.3 points, 16.6 rebounds, 5.8 assists) to only 7 points in Game 1 and, most unbelievably, held SBL's No. 3 scorer Ouyang Ching-heng (19.4 points in the regular season) to THREE points iin two games.
As soon as April 4, we will have our 2007-08 Finals matchup. I'll be home for a three-day vacation and probably don't get to write the story before the first round is over. Stay tuned.
Apr. 2
Yulon 88-75 PY
Yulon: Tseng Wen-ting 17p, Chen Hsin-an 12p+7rb+5a, Lu Cheng-ju 12p+8rb, Chen Chih-chung 13p+9rb+7a
PY: Chen Shih-chieh 14p+10rb, Wu Chien-lung 12p+16rb, Chien Chia-hung 13p, Lin Ching-pang 10p
TB 101-74 dmedia
TB: Lin Chih-chieh 27p+10rb, Wu Tai-hao 18p, Yang Ching-min 13p
dmedia: J. Sanders 22p+12rb+6a, Lee Chun-wei 18p, Ouyang CHing-heng 1p
Apr. 1
Yulon 95-87 Pure Youth
Yulon: Chen Chih-chung 21p+7rb+4a, Chen Hsin-an 18p+12rb, Lee Chih-yi 13p+11rb+7a, Yang Che-yi 18p, Lee Hsueh-lin 18p
PY: Chien Chia-hung 21p+7rb, Chen Shih-chieh 16p, Lin Chin-pang 16p, Wu Chien-lung 11p
TB 90-73 dmedia
TB: Wu Tai-hao 25p+12rb, Lin Chih-chieh 20p+12rb+6a, Ho Shou-cheng 14p+7rb
dmedia: Lin Kwan-lun 22p, J. Sanders 7p(1-11 FG)+11rb+6a, Ouyang Ching-heng 2p, Wu Chia-lung 11p
(photo source: ESPN Taiwan)