CBA, SBL, PBA proceed to the end game in finals series

ASIA - We’re in the end game now.

Leagues over Asia are entering the final stages of action soon before a champion will be crowned. Not only will those champions hold bragging rights all the way through up until the next season, they will be a step closer to the FIBA Asia Champions Cup 2019, too.

Let’s check out action this week!

Information and statistics updated as of April 30, 2019.

Odds in their Favor

No team in the history of the CBA has failed to win the championship after going 2-0 to start the finals series. The Guangdong Southern Tigers currently have that 3-0 advantage over the Xinjiang Flying Tigers and seem to be in good form to go on and win their 9^th CBA title.

Guangdong has barely allowed Xinjiang to be even close in the first two games, winning by a margin of 19 in each contest.

Defensive Player of the Year Yi Jianlian, has been dominant as expected while Zhou Peng added firepower with 18.0 points per game, 6.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game.

(Zhou Peng, Guangdong Southern Tigers)

Back again

The San Miguel Beermen will be facing off the Magnolia Pambansang Manok in the finals of the Philippine Cup in the Philippines Basketball Association (PBA) after warding off their feisty foes in the semifinals. This is a rematch of the Philippine Cup finals from last season where the Beermen claimed the title.

 

The Beermen’s will be making their 5^th straight trip to the championship round of the Philippine Cup, in search for what would be their 5^th straight Philippine Cup title. It’s been difficult to stop Best Player candidate, June Mar Fajardo, so far and that shouldn’t change in this finals series.

 

Magnolia are coming off a championship run after winning the Governor’s Cup last season in December 2018. They have the personnel to win again in stars like Jiovanni Jalalon and Paul Lee, who will need to bring all the firepower to this finals series.

 

 Magnolia were able to secure the first game of the finals with a 99-94 win the Beermen. Though Fajardo put up a monstrous game of 35 points and 21 rebounds, Magnolia got an all-around effort from the team with 5 players in double-digit scoring. Ian Sanlagang held his own with 17 points and 12 rebounds in the duel of big men in the paint.

Down to the Top Two

The Chinese-Taipei Super Basketball League (SBL) will soon be crowing their league champion as well. The Fubon Braves (24-12) had the league’s best record and are making their way to the finals for a second consecutive time and third ever in franchise history. With one of the league’s best squads this year, the Braves are looking forward to finally winning the team’s first title ever.

Joseph Lin was on a tear leading Fubon to the finals, averaging 16.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 7.5 assists in the last two games of the semifinals series. Fubon will also be relying on All-SBL first team member Tsai Wen-Cheng who averaged 10.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.9 assists this season.

They will be up against Taiwan Beer, a storied team that has been to the finals 7 times prior to this season, most recently in 2016. That title in 2016 was Taiwan Beer’s 4^th in franchise history. Now they will have a chance to add one more championship to their name and tie Pauian Archiland for most SBL titles.

Taiwan beer have been anchored by Foreign MVP, Ihor Zaytsev, who averaged 18.2 points and 10.3 rebounds per game this season and SBL MVP, Chang Yu-An, who put up 12.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 4.5 assist per contest.

Familiar Faces

The Alfa Lebanese Basketball League (LBL) has been interesting as it pits Beirut’s star Ali Haidar against his former club Al-Riyadi in the championship series.

 

In the first game of the finals, Haidar put up 18 points and 4 rebounds leading to an 86-72 Beirut win. Game 2 saw Haidar put up another productive game with 16 points and 4 boards, but it would be Riyadi claiming a 95-75 win this time to tie the series up.

Riyadi came through once again came through in game three with an 81-67 victory. Star guard Arakji is also having a splendid finals run, averaging 17.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game so far.

 

Who will win the LBL title this season?

Sweet victory Once Again

Naft Baghdad repeated as Iraqi Basketball Super League champions after beating Al Shorta in 3 straight games of the final series.

Demario Mayfield was the obvious star for Naft with 28.7 points per game in the final three contests, but they also got a heatlhy boost from Karrar Hamzah. The Iraq national team player bagged 15.3 points per game including a team-leading 24 points in the championship clinching game.

Naft Baghdad now confirms their spot in Round one of the Road to Final 8 - West Asia. They also ruled the individual awards of the IBSL with Ali Ismael winning the MVP and the Best Three-point Shooter; Mayfield winning the Best Scorer, Ali Hameed winning the Defensive Player of the Year, and Abdullah Abdullah winning the Most Improved Player.

Down to the Wire

The finals series in the Iranian Super League doesn’t seem like it will be concluding easily with both Shahdari Gorgan and Naft Abadan going back and forth in close wins.

Gorgan lost the first game 67-63, despite an outstanding effort by Amir Seddighi who put up 19 points and 4 rebounds.

 

Game two would then be in Gorgan’s favor with 4 players scoring in double digits to overcome Saeed Davarpanah’s 25 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists for Abadan. Despite a late game rally by Abadan, Gorgan would still go away with the win 81-79.

 

Game three broke the trend as Abadan went off to a quick run early in the game and cruised to a 99-74 win.

Abadan now leads the series 2-1 with a trip to Round One of the Road to Final 8 - West Asia on the line as champions of Iran.

Four of a Kind

The B.League championship is now in the semifinals stage after the Chiba Jets, Ryukyu Golden Kings, Link Tochigi Brex, and Alvark Tokyo all beat their quarterfinals opponents over the weekend.

Regular season champions Chiba Jets made things look easy over the Toyama Grouses in a two game sweep with Yuki Togashi in top form. The MVP candidate averaged 20.5 points and 11.5 assists while shooting 10/14 from beyond the arc on route to the series win.

 

The 2016-2017 champions, Link Tochigi Brex, had one of the tougher matchups in the Kawasaki Brave Thunders but were also able to complete a sweep with an average margin of 28.5 points per game. Reigning MVP Makato Hiejimi recorded 12.5 points per contest.

 

The two Central region rivals will face off against each other in the semis.

Defending champions and FIBA Asia Champions Cup 2018 runners-up, Alvark Tokyo, further confirmed the strength of the Central region  by making their way to the semifinals over Niigata Albirex. Rising star Yudai Baba of Alvark continues to shine, averaging a well-rounded 15.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 2.0 steals per game in the series.

 

To face the title holders with be Western region champs, Ryukyu Golden Kings. It was not the easiest quarterfinals series for the Golden Kings as it took them 3 games to ward off division rivals, Nagoya Diamond Dolphins. The off-season addition of former Shiga Lake Star stsndout, Narito Namizato, has been paying off grandly not only for his spectacular regular season but for piling in 8.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 6.7 assists in the quarterfinals.

 

FIBA