Game of the Week: Showdown of the League-Leading Teams

The Taiwanese capital was the stage for the highlight game of the week, where the Fubon Braves hosted the Taoyuan Pilots on November 9th. There was a lot at stake here for the winning team, as a win would see either team go to the top of the P.League standings.

After four one-point lead changes to begin the game, Kai-Cheh Hung put the Braves up by five before Taoyuan’s Yao-Cheng Pai levelled the scores. Seeing continued success from the three-point line, Fubon put together an 11-2 run which put them into a double-digit lead over the Pilots.

Taoyuan started to respond from beyond the arc, with Alec Brown taking care of the points in the paint, which saw Fubon reinforce their lead and the catch fire in three-point territory. Their lead reached fifteen in Q2, until Chun-Hsiang Lu started began reducing the Pilot’s arrears from the three-point line and Julian Boyd began making his presence felt in the low post.

Their lead cut down to five at half time, Fubon opened the second half scoring, but were matched shot-for-shot by Taoyuan on the other end. In response, Nick King hit nine in a row for Fubon, restoring their double-digit advantage.

King and Kuei-Yu Chao led the Braves to a game-high lead of twenty points, and kept finding open chances at three-pointers going into the fourth quarter. The Pilots hit eight fast-break points and in response the Braves went on a late 7-0 run.

With time running down Taoyuan scored eight points unanswered, then in the last minute Lu hit two three-pointers, making it a single-possession game. Another three from Brown got the Pilots to within two of the Braves with five seconds left, but

Nick King led all with 29 points and 11 assists for the Braves, his team mate Hung added 26, Chou put up 20 points off the bench and Jeff Withey finishing on 17 points and 11 rebounds. The Pilots saw six players finish on double digits in the loss, led by Treveron Graham with 20 plus thirteen rebounds.