BASKETBALL/Dreamers fend off DEA in new pro basketball league's opener

Taipei, Oct. 19 (CNA) The Formosa Dreamers showed their confidence in the opening game of the new Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) with a shot-blocking feast in Taichung on Saturday.

The former P.LEAGUE+ (PLG) powerhouse routed the DEA 88-74 while blocking 10 DEA shots, with Eric Halman and Brandon Gilbeck, Taiwan's latest naturalized player, combining for nine.

"Gilbeck used to be the only import who knew how to play helpside defense, but now we have Halman. He's playing smart and knows how to do it well," said point guard Lin Chun-chi (林俊吉) after the game.

In front of a sold-out crowd of 3,000, Lin scored a game-high 22 points, helped by a 4-for-6 showing from three-point range, and added six assists and three steals.

Now 26, the young phenom was considered to be a perennial MVP contender when he was in the PLG, but he was noticeably absent from the top three preseason predictions for MVP released by the TPBL on Friday.

According to the survey, New Taipei Kings star Jeremy Lin (林書豪) was the MVP favorite in the opinions of players, media and fans. Taiwan Beer Leopards point guard Gao Jin-wei (高錦瑋), the T1 League's rookie of the year in the 2023-24 season, received the most support from the league's franchise staffers.

Asked about the result, Lin said it was not a big deal and that he cared more about the ultimate result instead.

"I think the real winner is the one who wins the championship," he said.

Meanwhile, the Dreamers are widely regarded as one of the major title contenders this season along with the Kings, given the addition of former PLG regular season MVP Jet Chang (張宗憲), former T1 regular season MVP Chiang Yu-an (蔣淯安), and Ma Chien-hao (馬建豪), who played in the Chinese Basketball Association for two seasons.

The new league has been created with teams from the six-team PLG and five-team T1 League, which had divided the attention of basketball fans in Taiwan for the past three seasons.

The TPBL was formed from three PLG teams — the Dreamers, the Kings, and the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers — and all of the five T1 League franchises except for the Tainan TSG GhostHawks (now TSG GhostHawks).

That did not eliminate the problem of having separate pro basketball leagues in such a small market, however,

The GhostHawks joined the three remaining teams in the PLG — the Taipei Fubon Braves, Taoyuan Pauian Pilots and the Kaohsiung Steelers — to continue as a four-team league.

While those who called for a merger of all pro basketball franchises, such as Lin, referred to the establishment of the TPBL as "a great first step" for the game in Taiwan, many others believed that there were no winners in the movement.

Still, the TPBL 2024-25 season represents the first time that a top-level basketball league in Taiwan has had as many as seven teams since the 2018-19 season of the quasi-professional Super Basketball League (SBL).

Each team in the league is set to play 36 regular season games, meaning the former T1 teams will have to play eight more games than in the 2023-24 season, while the Dreamers, Kings and Lioneers will play four fewer games than in the 2023-24 season.

A total of 126 regular-season games will be played from mid-October to May 18, after which the fifth-placed team will enter a best-of-three playoffs play-in series with the fourth-place team. The fourth-place team will be granted a one-win advantage in the series.

The remaining playoff series will be best-of-seven.