The Lost art of the Mid Range : Taiwan Super League 2020 finals series.

One month ago, one of the few surviving basketball leagues in the world, played its last game of the season. Taiwan Beer Bears snagged the Super Basketball League title after crushing Yulon Lexgen Dinos in a winner-takes-all Game 6. The game itself was hardly a competition, with the Bears dominating from tip off however, it delivered record viewership numbers for sports broadcasting company, Eleven Sport. Most of the finals series was also streamed from the official FIBA YouTube account in order to increase accessibility.

No matter the time zone, the offer of live sports was tempting enough to bring people from different corners of the world to watch the finals series. In less than 24 hours people went from not knowing how many teams played in the league to being able to recite the entire roster of both the competing teams. This was largely due to an increased participation in sports betting and fantasy sports. Even though the circumstances were far from perfect, a small gym in Taiwan was now the center of the basketball world. The New York Times labelled basketball bubble did not disappoint with both teams putting up stellar performances leading up to Game 6.

The series had an unusual start with many wondering how the first game of a seven game series was won by the Bears without it even being played. The answer is simple. Taiwan Beer had dominated during the regular season and finished on top of the league with a 25-7 record, which earned them a direct spot in the finals and a 1-0 lead to open the series. Yulon had finished their regular season 16-16 and were underdogs entering the series having a 2-6 record against Taiwan Beer. Their regular season records were indicative of how they played, with the Bears being the more technically sound team with a deep roster whereas, the Dinos relied on their two superstars, Marcus Keene and Sim Bhullar who were surrounded by role players.

The Keene and Bhullar show was an absolute treat to watch as they are both anomalies in the game of basketball. Keene, who plays point guard at 5-foot-9 had an illustrious NCAA career, averaging 30 points a game (The highest average in NCAA Division I men’s basketball for the 2017 season) in his junior year at Central Michigan which allowed him to win the NCAA season scoring leader award (2017). Being un-drafted the following year, he took his talents to Asia and played for teams in Thailand and Korea (along with a short G League stint with the Memphis Hustle) before he signed with the Yulon Dinos at the start of the 2019 season. Sim Bhullar, who plays center at 7-foot-5 (the tallest player in SBL history) joined Keene in the middle of the season after a successful championship run with the Dacin Tigers in the previous season. Unlike most centers that measure above 7 feet, he has the ability to bully people in the paint which makes it nearly impossible for the opposing players to snag rebounds. The dangerous duo was complemented by sharp shooter, Douglas Creighton, who had the ability to shoot some crowd silencing three pointers (people on the YouTube live chat were nervous when he would pull up behind the line). Their regular season record is hardly indicative of the talent on the team which also meant that if the duo is having a bad night, the Dinos would leave the building with a loss.

After quickly disposing of Pauian Archiland in the semi finals series, the Dinos won the first two games of the finals series with dominant performances from the basketball equivalent of two and a half men. The series looked as if it was going to be a gentleman’s sweep, courtesy of the SBL’s one game gift to Taiwan Beer, however, that was soon disproved with the Bears winning two in a row to retain the series lead 3-2.

Throughout the regular season both teams averaged 30% from behind the arc and nearly 50% in 2 point shots along with similar rebound, assist and block numbers which justified how close the series had been so far. Game 5 was a go big or go home game for the Dinos and Marcus Keene decided to put the team on his back, scoring nearly half of their points (46) in order to force a Game 6. Even though Yulon had just powered their way through to the final game of the series, the cracks were very visible and subsequently exploited by Taiwan Beer as they had done before in the regular season. The Bears had posted a 3-1 record against the Keene and Bhullar show by exploiting the Dino’s most distinct weakness, the mid-range game.

With the rise of advanced basketball analytics, the mid-range game is a lost art with only a handful of NBA stars such as La Marcus Aldridge, TJ Warren and Chris Paul dominating from 18 feet. The era of Morreyball has created an everlasting impact on basketball around the world. The Asian game especially focuses on three-point shooting and the intelligent usage of screen plays to create empty lanes in the paint to compensate for the lack of size and conditioning. Every team in the league seems to use Morreyball as their bible which has led to a fast paced game with good ball movement. The Dinos were uniquely positioned, as increasing the volume of three-point shots would never hurt them as Sim Bhullar would simply dominate the glass and create several second chance points. Additionally, they had a great perimeter defense and a mountain guarding the paint providing only a few options for teams to score.

One of those options is the barren land between 12-18 feet from the basket and Taiwan Beer had the optimal roster to execute this to perfection. Igor Zaytsev, a 6-foot-11 center plays as a stretch five which meant that the perimeter defense could not sag off on him. Almost every possession looked as if the Bears were playing 5 v. 4 against the Dinos as Sim could only patiently wait in the paint for any intruders. Yu-An Chiang (SBL 2019 MVP), who plays point guard at 5-foot-9 (I describe him as Taiwanese Chris Paul) was the centerpiece in dismantling Yulon’s defense, thanks to his dominant mid-range game. Defensively, Yulon showed different 2-3 zone and box and one looks which would have been enough to stuff any team that played Morreyball however, defending against the three and the layup often forces big men to play drop coverage from the perimeter screen in order not to get beat off the pick and roll. Here is where Chiang’s abilities are on full display as he would call for a screen at the perimeter and proceed to move to the high key or the free throw line for a charity shot as it was well out of Sim’s range. In the event that someone would switch on Chiang, Zaytsev would be the extra pass option which would subsequently create opportunities for corner threes.

On the other end of the Court, Zaytsev was the perfect Sim stopper executing the coveted ‘hack a sim’ strategy to perfection, making him feel uncomfortable in a space that he usually dominates. Additionally, Marcus Keene was almost always met with full court pressure followed by a double team to make him give up the ball early. The Dinos looked suffocated for the most part of Game 6 with their only presentable performance coming in the third quarter. This episode of David vs. Goliath did not end as some hoped it would, as Goliath had convincingly come out on top. Even then, this series was special for two reasons; first, the Dinos having pushed through the series with some unbelievable individual performances which shows that sometimes you can’t out-scheme a great player and secondly, that the Bears had to utilize a shot that was fading away in mainstream basketball (pun intended).

I had some help in writing this article and would like to thank Steven Yu (a member of the SBL media team), Brian Huang (Skill Coach for several SBL players) and all the fans from all over the world that I had the privilege of interacting with.

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