Taiwan SBL 2015-2016 Season

[CKR13]

I will have to go with Lu Cheng-Ju as season MVP, more of a token than basing on stat and impact. That said, SBL has some weird choices for MVP.

[CKR13]

Dacin advances into the semis against Taiwan Beer. Great ball movement with their dribble drive offense proved too much against Taiwan Bank whose main plays was let Neville operate inside and outside. In the regular season Dacin was able to beat Taiwan Beer twice but the playoff has a different atmosphere. Since both clubs don't really defend against the half-court, this will be a series dictated by their transition game.

[CKR13]

Semis are booked:

Pure Youth vs Fubon
Taiwan Beer vs Dacin

[CKR13]

Rust that was apparent on the court for defending champs Pure Youth cost them the game. First half, both Pure Youth and Fubon played sloppy and struggled with their shooting. Douglas Creighton was firing blanks and PY limited Fubon's running game. Second half, Fubon managed to play better by getting their uptempo game despite PY's efforts to slow the game down. Result? Fubon stuns PY and takes game 1.

The Dacin and Taiwan Beer game was much more enjoyable; a fan's dream of two teams exchanging baskets in transition settings. TB has more weapons while Dacin is becoming more predictable during crunch time. They run, feed the foreign player or let Chou Yi-Hsiang isolate. TB leads 1-0.

[CKR13]

Game 2: Pure Youth - Fubon = PY bounces back with their offense regaining that crisp passing. Ke Chi-Hao and Chen Tse-Wei not shooting blanks. What gave this away for Fubon is their non-existent defense inside despite going for a 1-3-1 zone. Series tied 1-1.

Game 2: Taiwan Beer - Dacin = Too much firepower and Liu Cheng for Dacin in the second half. Taiwan Beer started flat and got winded early by Dacin's transition attack. But in the second half, Dacin became very predictable in offense as Taiwan Beer used a 4-1 coverage defensive scheme. They sacrificed easy points but managed to tame the Tigers with rebounding and not allowing gunners like Shao Yun-Yi to make threes.

[CKR13]

One more win for Taiwan Beer to return once again in the SBL Finals as they hold a 3-1 record. Meanwhile, 4X champs Pure Youth has a tied series with Fubon 2-2.

[zonglin]

Chou Yi-Hsiang named the 2015~16 season MVP.He scored 19.07pts 5rbs 2.77as per game.He had a great season for his second profession career.

[CKR13]

Chou Yi-Hsiang named the 2015~16 season MVP.He scored 19.07pts 5rbs 2.77as per game.He had a great season for his second profession career.

One of the youngest ever to win that MVP. Well deserved. Maybe we'll see him in the CBA soon come 2017-18.

[CKR13]

SBL Finals is a rematch of last year's series between 4X champs Pure Youth vs Taiwan Beer.

Pure Youth's Advantages are:

+ Championship experience
+ Veteran composure in end game situations
+ Depth
+ Best defense in the league (Pure Youth also can turn it up on offense if engaged)
+ Damian Towne's outside game
+ Coaching

Disadvantages:

+ Tendency for the team to play lackluster and just shoot away.
+ Pressure to complete a five-peat.

Taiwan Beer Advantages are:

+ Youth but it is also clout with inexperience
+ Patrick O'Bryant is dominant inside

Disadvantages:

TB becomes a very predictable team when the game is slowed down on half-court. It is either they go inside with O'Bryant or let Liu Cheng create. Pure Youth, when they shoot below 40%, disrupts their offense synergy and it comes down to Wen-Tseng or Creighton alternating shots.

[ZekeQ]

Damian Townes? hehe!

[CKR13]

Tied series at 1-1. Gotta give credit to a maturing Taiwan Beer. After dropping a crushing last minute loss to Pure Youth in game 1, it took determination to muster a third quarter run to bury Pure Youth in game 2. 4th quarter saw PY forcing tempo but they only played to the run and gun game that Taiwan Beer used to beat Dacin in the semis.

[CKR13]

Finally was able to watch game 3 of the SBL Finals. Pure Youth started out flat while Taiwan Beer amazed by draining those difficult shots. PY was good in closing out those kick-out shots and having always a man on Liu Cheng, but Liu hit those off-balance shots, including a slanting three from the side.

Second quarter, the opposite happened, Taiwan Beer went flat while Pure Youth all of a sudden was shooting the light out. Unable to find an answer against Taiwan Beer, they went to O'Bryant and the big man delivered inside.

The lead that TB built in the first half allowed them to withstand the onslaught that PY unleashed in the 3rd and 4th. Tense game in the closing minute but both fouls and turnovers proved the buffer for both sides as TB escapes a win and leads the series 2-1.

[CKR13]

Whirlwind of a win for Taiwan Beer as they are one more win away in capturing the SBL crown, since 2011. That is when the time the Pure Youth dynasty started. How inauspicious for a dynastic cycle.

[CKR13]

Taiwan Beer looked nothing like the team that was leading the series 3-1 as Pure Youth rallied with a great offensive performance. Defense kicked in as PY plays better defensively with a man to man pressure instead of a zone. Game 6 will be pivotal.

[CKR13]

That ends the Pure Youth dynasty for now and Taiwan Beer's time has come. Liu Cheng MVP is well deserved in this one and his next challenge could be the CBA.