THE DREAM LEAGUE
Asian American / Open Basketball Leagues
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HBI 44, Hypebeasts 39 |
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Liang Injured in HBI Win | |
| September 3, 2008 – New York, NY (DL) – But is a busted back worth it? With Brian Liang, HBI is the real deal. With him in the line-up three games now, HBI, after a 44-39 win over the Hypebeasts on Wednesday, is now on a three-game winning streak after starting off the season 0-2. But while HBI exacted revenge over an earlier loss to Hype this season with this win, they may have paid a price because for it, Liang was left with massive back spasms that only time will tell whether affects him for the rest of the season and beyond. In leading HBI once again with 15 points, 9 boards, and 2 blocks, Liang was leaned on (and beat on) all game long by the Hype D, who had to resort to being forceful with the big fella as his size caused them all sorts of problems.
With Liang in the game, Hype’s franchise, Howie Chu, could never get off and only finished with 4 points and 4 boards before fouling out. When you foul out the team’s leading scorer and he’s only made two field goals all game, that’s called being a game-changer. But, two days later, Liang’s back was acting up so much so that he was desperately looking for an acupuncturist, an Eastern medicine doctor, a shotgun – anything – at midnight since he was writhing in so much pain. For the foreseeable future, Liang will be listed as day-to-day, and that in itself could be a game-changer for HBI. Losing Liang would be a major windfall for the resurgent team, like the Patriots’ losing Tom Brady or something, so only time will tell whether HBI can continue building upon the growth they’ve been having, or whether they will slink back into the pack of the also-rans. For this one though, Liang was alright to start and while his and Myong Choi’s 4 1st quarter points led their team, Hype’s coach Virgilio Borbo was on his sideline speaking of how his team’s play reminded him of cow dung (not said in such a nice way however.) Gene Kim and Vic Ng exchanged 3’s towards the end of the quarter and it all came as part of an ultra-competitive 1st half that finished with HBI atop 18-17. While it was tight, scoring came at a premium for Hype in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. They managed just 2 field goals in the 2nd and then one less in the 3rd as they only hoisted 4 attempts in that stanza – a perplexing stat as there has been this entire season across the basketball universe. How Hype only threw the ball at the hoop just 4 times in an entire quarter might not ever be a question that can be answered, but HBI wasn’t waiting around to find out anyway. GK (12 pts) scored 7 in the frame and Liang added 4 to help HBI open up a 31-23 lead as the 4th began. As good as HBI’s D was for the better part of the game, they rested on their laurels a bit to start the 4th and Hype quickly strung a 5-0 run to get back into the game while shutting HBI out until the 4:23 mark when Choi (9 pts, 5 rbs, 2 stls) finally deposited a jumper to get his team out of a rut. Frank Ip (team high 9 pts, 3 stls) pulled Hype within a deuce with back-to-back baskets but as the final stretch set in, a Liang move in the paint, a Dave Lee shot-clock beating triple, and Choi free throws kept HBI just ahead. Hype had a 3-point look by Tim Chin towards the end to tie the game, but the guy who had been 0/5 thus far on the season from that range may not have been the guy they wanted shooting the ball at that juncture – credit the HBI D for wrapping up Ng who is 10/19. It was a win for HBI, and while that’s nice, right now, they’re rooting more for the acupuncturist to do his magic more than anything. |
Score by Quarters
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | OT | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HBI | 11 | 7 | 13 | 13 | - | 44 |
| Hypebeasts | 8 | 9 | 6 | 16 | - | 39 |
Boxscore
| HBI - 44 | |||||||||||
| Player | FG | 3PT | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | F | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chan, Vic | DNP | ||||||||||
| Chia, Victor | 1 / 5 [0.200] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 / 1 [1.000] | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | |
| Choi, Myong | 2 / 7 [0.286] | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 5 / 6 [0.833] | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 9 | |
| Grancaric, Jay | DNP | ||||||||||
| Hong, Steve | DNP | ||||||||||
| Kang, Allen | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | |
| Kim, Gene | 5 / 14 [0.357] | 2 / 6 [0.333] | 0 / 2 [0.000] | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 | |
| Kim, Kirk | DNP | ||||||||||
| Kong, Phil | DNP | ||||||||||
| Lee, Dave | 1 / 7 [0.143] | 1 / 4 [0.250] | 0 / 2 [0.000] | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Liang, Brian | 4 / 11 [0.364] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 7 / 10 [0.700] | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 15 | |
| Nam, Billy | DNP | ||||||||||
| 14 / 46 [0.304] | 3 / 11 [0.273] | 13 / 21 [0.619] | 30 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 13 | 13 | 44 | ||
| Hypebeasts - 39 | |||||||||||
| Player | FG | 3PT | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | F | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Borbo, Virgilio | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Chin, Tim | 2 / 6 [0.333] | 0 / 2 [0.000] | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | |
| Chu, Howard | 2 / 7 [0.286] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 4 | |
| Chu, Leon | 1 / 4 [0.250] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| De Leon, Andrew | DNP | ||||||||||
| Gong, Steven | 0 / 2 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Ip, Frank | 4 / 6 [0.667] | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 9 | |
| Lee, Pat | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 4 / 4 [1.000] | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
| Li, Bart | DNP | ||||||||||
| Liu, Dave | 1 / 4 [0.250] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | |
| Ng, Victor | 2 / 4 [0.500] | 2 / 3 [0.667] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | |
| Yu, Ian | 1 / 4 [0.250] | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 4 / 8 [0.500] | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 6 | |
| 13 / 39 [0.333] | 3 / 9 [0.333] | 10 / 16 [0.625] | 20 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 13 | 19 | 39 | ||
Referees
| Lee Jones: | Rate Me |
| Lamont Long: | Rate Me |