Taipei, June 11 (CNA) When Ryan Marchand said the New Taipei Kings' 97-91 Game 3 loss to the Taipei Fubon Braves in the P.LEAGUE+ (PLG) finals on Thursday was the most disappointing game in his two-year stint as the team's head coach and asked the players to "look at themselves in the mirror," many fans expected a different approach from the Kings in Game 4.
The focus came down to Kenny Manigault, whose sluggish performance in the second half Thursday was widely blamed for the Kings' weakness down the stretch.
Following a strong 15-point first half on a 50-percent field goal as well as four shots from the stripe Thursday, the Kings' energy guy made only one out of seven shots in the last two quarters while getting no free throws to score two points.
In the postgame interview, Marchand said he had full confidence in Manigault, calling on the imported guard to "be more fundamental with what he is doing" next game.
In response, Manigault, who recorded a quadruple-double against the Formosa Taishin Dreamers on March 11, posted on Saturday a "fundamental" triple-double with 16 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Kings past the Braves 107-97 at Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium for the most points scored by any team in the series so far.
With the Game 4 victory, the Kings also handed the two-time PLG defending champions their first ever non-Game 1 loss in the finals in its franchise history.
The Taipei team has lost all three of its first games in the PLG finals series, but other than that had gone 9-0 before losing to the Kings on Saturday.
Speaking of the changes the Kings made, Manigault pointed out that unlike the previous two games, where they "got down on each other" when the Braves were on a run," the Kings were able to "settle down and go in and run ourselves."
"But we've still got a couple more wins to go, so we can't get too excited about that win. Just move on," he added, stressing that the job is not done yet.
A Game 4 loss would have led to an unexpected 1-3 deficit for many fans and the Kings, whose five starters were all named either in the All-PLG first team or All-PLG second team, including Amigo Yang (楊敬敏) as the league's back-to-back regular season MVP and American big man Byron Mullens as Import Player of the Year.
The five New Taipei stars combined for 85 points Saturday to outperform the 45 points by the Braves' starting lineup, led by Lin Chih-chieh's (林志傑) team-high 18 points.
Despite turning 41 on Sunday, the legendary point guard leads the Braves' local players with 13 points per game in the finals.
The Braves head coach Roger Hsu (許晉哲) said defense was the key difference in the game, adding that the team will review the game video and make adjustments.
The fifth game takes place at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei on Monday, before the two teams move back to Taipei for Game 6 Wednesday, and New Taipei on Friday for the last game of the series if necessary.
