The Taipei Fubon Braves outhustled the Formosa Taishin Dreamers 98-89 Saturday in the opening game of their P+LEAGUE+’s best-of-five playoff semifinals Saturday.

Braves head coach Roger Hsu (???) said the Dreamers’ defense in the first half placed big pressure on his team.

“Everyone should be used to the level of defense played in the playoffs. The first half is over, so we put our focus on the second half,” Hsu said.

All of his players had to work together to secure the playoff win, Hsu added.

The Braves, winners of the P.LEAGUE+ inaugural championship last season, went down 45-33 at the end of the first half but managed to pull a 20-8 run over the Dreamers to tie the game 53-53 with around four minutes left in the third quarter.

The score later tied again 75-75 in the fourth quarter after Dreamers point guard Lin Chun-chi (???) buried a three-pointer with just five minutes and fourth seconds left in the game.

The Braves then led another leading run, this time 19 points over the Dreamers 13 to pull ahead 94-88 with only 23 seconds left until the final buzzer.

From there, the Braves never looked back as they closed out the game 98-89.

Braved guard Jet Chang (???) led all scorers with 31 points, while Lin led the Dreamers with 22 points.

The Braves will next face the Dreamers again on Monday at Intercontinental Basketball Stadium.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel