The Last Basketball Game of 2020?

Tonight might be the last night of organized basketball we see all year and if there was ever any doubt about my unhealthy obsession with basketball, I’ll have you know that I’ve stayed up until ungodly hours of the night to watch Taiwan’s SBL Finals.

The SBL is Taiwan’s premier basketball league and features the briefly popular Sim Bhullar on the Yulon Luxgen Dinos. The Dinos are up against the heavily favored Taiwan Beer, led by East Carolina alum Kentrell Barkley, who is averaging 18.9 PPG on an absurd 57% shooting. Barkley’s Beer cruised to a 25-7 regular season record, strikingly better than the Dinos’ 16-16.

The two teams oddly mirror each other in their construction, both utilizing a guard-center pick and roll offense. Barkley’s partner is Ukranian big man Ihor Zaytsev who is an equally efficient scorer with 15.4 PPG on 59% shooting. Zaytsev’s defensive prowess is challenged by the opposing Bhullar who stands 7’5 and a staggering 360 pounds. Bhullar runs (or slowly jogs) his pick and rolls with Central Michigan’s Marcus Keene who casually scored 46 points last night to take the series to Game 7.

If the past few run-on sentences haven’t convinced you to stay up and watch the conclusion to this absolutely riveting series, I don’t know what will. To the few that will make that extra cup of coffee to keep themselves awake, I look forward to sharing this despondent moment of solidarity with you. See you then.

The SBL Finals is currently tied at 3-3 with Game 7 tipping off at 5am EST on FIBA's YouTube Channel and the Eleven Sports Taiwan Twitter account.