ABL newcomers Chong Son Kung Fu Basketball Club and Formosa Dreamers will go head-to-head this Friday, November 24, at the Nanhai Gymnasium.
The two teams had very contrasting results in their respective debuts.
Chong Son Kung Fu made headlines for their dominant 83-59 victory over last year’s finalists Singapore Slingers. From beginning to end, there was no let up from the new team from China.
Anthony Tucker displayed his incredible outside shooting as he went 7-of-10 from downtown, en route to tie an all-time season opener-high 31 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Meanwhile, former Slinger Justin Howard got his rhythm early to notch 15 points and 14 rebounds.
Kung Fu faced a veteran squad in the Slingers, but showed no first game jitters at all. They unleashed a brutal 15-0 run in the final frame to put the game to rest.
While Kung Fu garnered success in their opening game, the same could not be said about the Formosa Dreamers who suffered a 94-73 beating at the hands of CLS Knights. World Import Jaleel Cousins had a solid outing of 22 points and 15 rebounds and Lenny Daniel normed 17 points and seven rebounds. Despite the strong showings of their imports, Formosa had little from the rest of the players to fight back.
“We’re a very young team. We have a lot of young players that just recently graduated from college. It’s going to be a great experience for our team,” Dreamers Coach Hsu Hao Cheng said after the disheartening loss.
Their youth and inexperience showed as they were ransacked in the second period and never recovered.
Fortunately, Daniel, who just recently arrived in Taiwan with his new team, isn’t panicking. He is hopeful that the Dreamers can turn things around eventually.
“We’re still figuring each other out. It’s gonna take a while. We’re a new team, and we can’t overreact to one game,” Daniel optimistically said.
Formosa will look to get their first win in Kung Fu’s home floor in Nanhai.
