MACAU – Jeremy Lin provided a lift in his return, but still played hurt that factored in the New Taipei Kings’ 81-65 loss to the Hiroshima Dragonflies in the East Asia Super League Final Four on Friday at the Studio City Event Center.
Coming back after missing the last two games of the group stage with a hamstring injury, the NBA veteran came off the bench and played less than 18 minutes in the semifinal where he helped the Kings build a one-point lead at the half.
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They, however, allowed the Dragonflies turn the game around in the second half.
“He’s still injured,” Kings coach Ryan Marchand admitted of the 36-year-old playmaker. “He hasn’t had a full practice with us yet. We didn’t know if he was even be able to go or not. Obviously, you see he’s not his normal self.”
“Give credit to not just Jeremy, but to all the other guys who have been playing injured just to try and help the team win,” he added.
Coming in averaging 19.4 points, 4.8 boards, and 4.8 assists, Lin contributed just seven points on 3-of-9 shooting and missing all but one of his five three-pointers, adding three rebounds against two turnovers.
Marchand, though, is not making excuses, turning his sights to the battle for bronze on Sunday night when the Kings try to surpass their fourth-place finish last season.
“We’re just going to be ready to place in the third-place game. This trip isn’t over. It’s disappointing we didn’t get the win, but for us, we still have a goal here and that’s to improve on what we did last year.”
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