MACAU – The Hiroshima Dragonflies and the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots battle for the unofficial tag as the best basketball club in the continent in the East Asia Super League championship game on Sunday night at the Studio City Event Center.
Japan’s B.League and Chinese Taipei’s P.League+ representatives square off at 7 p.m. after the Ryukyu Golden Kings and New Taipei Kings settle for the consolation bronze prize at 4 o’clock.
Here are some questions that need to be answered heading into the title game.
WHO WILL HAVE FRESHER LEGS AFTER A DAY’S REST?
The Dragonflies and the Pilots are coming off Final Four victories on Friday, with the former cruising to an 81-65 win over New Taipei and the latter hacking out a 71-64 win over Ryukyu.
But all these teams are used to juggling EASL and domestic league duties.
One thing going for them is the travel time from hotel to the Event Center. The beauty is both are on the same Studio City compound, walking distance from each other.
CAN DRAGONFLIES CONTINUE TO HAVE PILOTS’ NUMBER?
Hiroshima swept Taoyuan in the group stage, an 84-73 win on Christmas Day and a 95-92 decision on January 22 – the two games that started and ended their three-game winning streak to finish the regular season with a 5-1 win-loss record.
The Pilots, though, have bounced since those back-to-back losses, winning two consecutive games, including the semifinal matchup against Ryukyu.
WHOSE LOCALS WILL SPELL THE DIFFERENCE?
Hiroshima and Taoyuan imports Dwayne Evans (24 points) and Treveon Graham (22.8) are fifth and sixth in the league in scoring, respectively, and both teams are expected to continue to rely heavily on them to reach the promised land.
But who can provide enough support?
Pilots captain Lu Chun-Hsiang is the league’s top-scoring local, averaging 19.7 points and fresh from the semifinal where he dropped a game-high 24 points on a perfect 8-of-8 clip from the foul line.
The Dragonflies, on the other hand, hope Ryu Watanabe can sustain his hot shooting from the Final Four where he fired four three-pointers and finished with 16 points on 6-of-8 shootin overall.
CAN PILOTS NAVIGATE THROUGH HIROSHIMA’S LONG BOMBS?
After hurdling a Golden Kings side that runs its offense through its big men in the paint, the Pilots are facing a Dragonflies club that starts its offense from the perimeter.
And why not? The Dragonflies are the best three-point shooting team in the league with a 39.3-percent clip from beyond the arc.
Pilots coach Iurgi Caminos hopes to at least limit that.
“Hiroshima and Ryukyu are completely different teams on the structure. Hiroshima is a team that likes to play five guys open. Dwayne Evans and Kerry Blackshear or even Nick Mayo – if he’s going to play, they love to play from the three-point line and drive. Ryukyu’s completely the opposite.”
“Our one-on-one defense has to be more solid,” he added. “They showed against the Kings they can have different players shooting, making the threes. Our closeout defense and our rotations have to be better to decrease their three-point percentage.”
FOR BATTLE FOR THIRD: WILL THE REAL LINSANITY SHOW UP?
Jeremy Lin played through pain in his return to New Taipei from a right hamstring injury that caused him to miss the Kings’ last two games in the group stage.
Coming in averaging 19.4 points, 4.8 boards, and 4.8 assists, the NBA veteran came off the bench to contribute just seven points after missing all but one of his five three-pointers, adding three rebounds against two turnovers in less than 19 minutes in the Kings’ semifinal loss.
READ: Jeremy Lin powers through injury in New Taipei's EASL semis loss
The Kings certainly hope they have a healthier Lin for the battle for third.
FOR FANS: WHERE TO WATCH?
Both games are live on subscription channels One Sports+ and Pilipinas Live. They will be shown on a delayed basis on free TV at One Sports on Monday night at 7 p.m. for the third-place game and 9 o’clock for the championship match.
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