Tan shows he's still the best

Esmond Tan, the Plaza Sutera
Biru player, celebrates winning the Open Category crown on Saturday. Picture: BT/Yee Chun Leong

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Monday, April 19, 2010

ESMOND TAN once again proved that he is arguably the best cager in the Sultanate after guiding Plaza Sutera Biru to the title of the Open
Category of the BBA Open Challenge Trophy on Saturday night.

A fan of LeBron James, Tan is as important to his team as King James is to the Cleveland Cavaliers in their NBA championship campaign this season. Tan was the go-to-man for Plaza Sutera Biru and his 33-point
performance on Saturday helped erase a 25-point deficit for an 83-77
victory over the Ilonggo Stingers in the final.

The versatile and super-fit Tan tormented his defenders for the whole 40 minutes on Saturday with his long range shooting, ball penetration, rebounding and post-up moves.

And being the sixth man on rotation for the Barracudas in the Asean Basketball League (ABL) last season, the six footer is able to handle the ball at the point as well.

However, he played the small forward position for Plaza Sutera Biru and averaged a total of 26.1 points per game in the competition.

Tan had his best mark in the semi-final win over Babes Boutique where he scored 35 points last Tuesday.

The Bruneian put in three 28-point performances in the group stages and it was only against Urbanchic Boutique that he was in single digit scoring only five points. (His team, however, still ran out comfortable 65-40 winners in the match on March 29).

But what makes this talented cager from the Tutong district a superstar in the sport?

"He is just very good as a player. Even the best defenders here (in Brunei) can't stop him," said Fong Yeh Leong, Tan's Plaza Sutera Biru teammate, in an interview with The Brunei Times, yesterday.

"Over the past two years, he has improved a lot. He used to be more on the offence, but now he's also got better on defence," added Fong. Read More...

Source: The Brunei Times