Dacin Tigers will meet Taiwan Beer in Taiwan's 2011 Super Basketball League (SBL) Finals after eliminating Pure Youth Construction 4-1 in the best-of-seven first round playoffs Friday.
The best-of-seven Finals will be played from April 8-17 at Hsinjhuang Stadium in New Taipei City.
The two teams will meet in the finals for the third time after splitting the previous two meetings with Taiwan Beer defeating Dacin 4-2 in 2007 and Dacin winning 4-3 in 2009.
Led by star forward Tien Lei and import Alexus Foyle from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Tigers made the playoffs as the No. 3 seed after a 17-13 regular season and upset the No. 2 seed Pure Youth in five games.
Dacin will be looking for redemption after losing to Yulon Luxgen 4-2 in the title series last year.
Taiwan Beer, which led the seven-team league in the regular season with 22 wins and 8 losses, swept the defending champion Yulon 4-0 in the first round and was able to enjoy an 11-day rest before Game 1 of the Finals.
The regular season champion, which won back-to-back titles in 2007-2008, advanced to the finals for the first time in two years. It features arguably the best lineup in the league which includes American forward Emmanuel Jones and local players Wu Tai-hao and Yang Ching-min.
The SBL, the top tier basketball competition in Taiwan, was established in 2003. Yulon won four titles in the league's first seven years.