SBL action switches to the Hsinchu County Arena this evening with the Taiwan Mobile Leopards taking on Bank of Taiwan followed by the showdown between the Yulon Luxgens and Pure Youth Construction.
It will be the third venue in four weeks to host SBL games because of the reconstruction of the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium which is expected to be completed later this year.
Taiwan Mobile will have to make do without newly acquired center Mario Boggan after the big American was tagged with a four-game suspension for swinging his elbow at a Taiwan Beer player on Sunday in what ended up being a bench-clearing brawl that led to the suspension of nine players and coaches.
In an attempt to minimize Boggan’s absence, the Leopards will likely go with a smaller and more mobile lineup featuring perimeter threats Luo Hsing-liang and Ou-yang Jing-hen as they look to attack their opponents defense with a half-court game heavily reliant on the outside shot.
The Leopards patented zone defense will have to work wonders as far as shutting down a Bank of Taiwan attack led by emerging forwards Hsu Chih-chiang and Lin Chuin-fong who can both run the floor well and break the zone with smart passing and sharp shooting.
YULON VS PURE YOUTH
All eyes will be on the matchup between the centers: Tseng Wen-ding of the Luxgens and Jien Jia-hong of Pure Youth who are both graduates of Tsai Hsing Senior High School.
The edge will definitely go to an older and stronger Tseng who leads his team in scoring and rebounding with 17.2 points and 8.0 rebounds per game compared to Jien’s 12.2 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.
Nevertheless Jien has matured tremendously over the past two seasons to become one of the top three centers in the league with sound foot work and an outside shot that forces the defender to play him more closely outside the paint.
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