MACAU – The real 'Linsanity' showed up and the rest followed suit, as the New Taipei Kings stunned the Ryukyu Golden Kings, 84-80, to capture the East Asia Super League bronze medal on Sunday night at the Studio City Event Center.
Su Shih-Hsuan hit the go-ahead right-corner three-pointer – his first points of the game, completing a comeback from 11 points down led by Jeremy and Joseph Lin.
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Apart from the third-place trophy that surpassed their fourth-place finish last year, the Kings took home a US$250,000 prize that eased the pain of missing out on a finals spot.
Limited to seven points on 3-of-9 shooting in their semifinal loss on Friday as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury, Jeremy Lin was more efficient as he heated up early and finished with 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting in less than 19 minutes off the bench. The NBA veteran completed his all-around effort with three boards, three assists, and two steals.
“I’m really proud of our team,” Lin said. “We were so disappointed (about missing the finals), but we still gave championship-level effort in a game that wasn’t for the championship.”
His brother sustained his fine play as Joseph Lin put up 16 points after making half of his 14 shots, along with five assists – the last to Su’s triple, and two steals in 29 minutes.
Kenny Manigault Jr. also had 16 points, including the last two on a putback stab with under a minute left that cut the Ryukyu lead to one point and set the stage for Su’s dagger trey with 12.7 seconds to go.
Austin Daye added 14 points, built around four three-balls, three assists, two rebounds, and one steal in 26 minutes, while Sani Sakakini was the other New Taipei player who scored in double figures with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
The Kings stood firm in the face of the Golden Kings’ one-two punch in imports Alex Kirk and Keve Aluma, who shouldered the offensive load with 27 and 25 points, respectively.
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