BASKETBALL/New Taipei Kings rout Seoul SK Knights in EASL debut

Taipei, Nov. 9 (CNA) The New Taipei Kings had a promising start to the East Asia Super League (EASL) 2023-24 season, trouncing the Seoul SK Knights 90-72 at home in their first game in the international league on Wednesday.

The game, which started at 7 p.m., drew a 4,427 strong crowd to witness the first victory of a Taiwan team in East Asia's top international basketball league, which this season has two teams each from Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and the Philippines.

Taipei Fubon Braves, three-time P.LEAGUE+ (PLG) champions, who were invited to the EASL for its Champion Week in early March and the ongoing season, have lost all four games they played and sit joint third with the Filipino TNT Tropang Giga in Group A.

"We have a really resilient team built with new guys who are still learning who the New Taipei Kings are, but overall I think it was fantastic, the energy's there, and collectively it was just really good overall," Kings head coach Ryan Marchand said, praising the team for bouncing back from a "slow" start.

Trailing the Knights 29-21 in the first quarter, the PLG runners-up last season went on to restrict the visiting team to no more than 15 points per quarter while responding offensively with 22, 26 and 21 points in the next three quarters.

Knights center Jameel Warney put up 42 points for the most points scored by any player in a game this EASL season, but had little help from his teammates as Leon Williams was the only other Knights player in double-figure (10).

In contrast, four of the Kings players put up double-figure scoring performances, led by American guard Kenny Manigault's 22 points, including a windmill dunk and a putback jam to see the chants of the crowd lift the roof.

In addition, much attention was paid to brothers Jeremy Lin (林書豪) and Joseph Lin (林書緯), who played their first formal game as teammates Wednesday since Jeremy Lin announced his signing with the New Taipei team in September.

Jeremy Lin racked up 12 points, eight rebounds and nine assists on a 35.7 percent shooting percentage plus six turnovers. He later gave much of the credit to his brother for stepping up in the clutch as he struggled through the game.

"During halftime, I told Wei-wei [Joseph] 'Play your game and don't care about me' because I know he wanted to help me, but I told him 'We need you to step up on the offensive end now because I can't.' So [he] got 19 points in the second half," Jeremy Lin said, adding that multiple offensive options made the Kings a real threat.

The same sentiment was shared by Joseph Lin, who made five treys to score 21 points in the Kings' comeback win.

"I'm very happy [because] I know not just me, my brother on the court too is very good at playing pick-and-roll, so whoever got the ball could create good opportunities for our teammates. It's hard to guard when both of your two guards can play pick-and-roll."

The Lin brothers' connection impressed Kim Sun-hyung of the Knights, who said he had just come back from injury and would play better when facing off against the Kings next time.

The reigning regular season MVP of the Korean Basketball League (KBL) logged four points and dimes apiece plus three turnovers in nearly 24 minutes on the floor.

Similarly, Chun Hee-chul, the Knights head coach, said the team was not well-prepared. He said they would hand the Kings a drubbing by at least 20 points when the two teams have meet in Seoul on Jan. 31, 2024.

The Knights are the reigning KBL champions. The team lost to Anyang Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters (competing in March under the name Anyang KGC) in the truncated EASL Champion Week and finished second.

Praising the Knights as a super strong team with championship experience, Jeremy Lin pointed out that the Kings took advantage of scouting given the fact that the Seoul team had played two games before Wednesday, and Joseph Lin added that the Knights "looked very tired today," making the game an unreliable sample to assess the Korean team's strengths.

"I believe that they will play much better next time, so we must show them more respect then."

The Kings host the Meralco Bolts of the Philippines Basketball Association on Nov. 29 in their next game.