Today, “East Asia Super League – The Terrific 12” entered its rest day as the four teams in the semifinals prepare for their march to the championship. Tomorrow’s semifinals lineup is: at 5:00pm, Group A winners the Seoul SK Knights will face down Group C winners the Zhejiang Guangsha Lions; and at 7:00pm, Group B winners the San Miguel Beermen test their mettle against D Group winners the Liaoning Flying Leopards. Before the semifinals, the tournament organizers arranged for Final Four coaches and stars to meet the media, bringing together tomorrow’s bitter opponents for a tense press conference.
Seoul SK Knights coach Moon Kyungeun once took home gold representing the Korean national team at the 2002 Busan Asian Games, defeating the China men’s team in the finals. Having some experience in defeating Chinese teams, Moon pointedly declared that, “In their games against Japan and the Philippines, Zhejiang Guangsha’s obvious advantages were their tall team and high skill level. To beat them and head to the finals, we will need to use our speed and our players’ familiarity in playing together.”
Zhejiang head coach Li Chunjiang agreed with Moon’s appraisal of Zhejiang, stating that taking part in The Terrific 12 provides his team with edifying experience. “Korean, Japanese, and Philippine teams are fast—we are at a disadvantage in terms of speed. So coming here is a learning process, and we hope that we can learn from the Korean team’s speed, individual skills, and ability to read the game situation on the court.”
The Liaoning team was first to advance to The Terrific 12 Final Four, defeating the TNT KaTropa and the Niigata Albirex Basketball with unusal ease in the group stage these past two days. Lance Stephenson and Salah Mejri dominated the court. San Miguel Beermen Leo Austria pointed out candidly, “We need to play at our highest level to have a chance at beating Liaoning.”
Said Beermen star Dezmine Wells, “You have to appreciate great competitors because it brings the best out of you.” When asked about his performance, Liaoning’s Lance Stephenson spoke with humility, stating that, “I’m just having fun, learning from my teammates, learning from my coach.” Although The Terrific 12 is a preseason tournament, Stephenson stated: “Every game that I play I approach it as a championship game, when I hit the floor I want to win”.
Beyond offering elite club teams from across Asia a platform to hone their talents, The Terrific 12 supports skill development among Asian youth, aiming to foster high level basketball competition today and into the future. On the same day as the Final Four press conference, players and coaches from the semifinalist teams headed to Macao’s schools to teach youth basketball skills and culture.
