By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Jeremy Lin caught fire in the second half as the New Taipei Kings scored a come-from-behind 89-77 victory over the Meralco Bolts in the East Asian Super League (EASL) at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City on Wednesday night, January 3.

Down 42-47 at the half, the Kings went on a huge 11-0 scoring run to start the third quarter, highlighted by back-to-back three-pointers from Lin, to take the upperhand at the 8:17 mark.

The Kings continued their stellar play and dominated the Bolts in the entire third quarter, 24-11, en route to establishing their largest lead of the contest at 15 points in the fourth frame.

The Bolts tried to make a run in the final frame as they cut the deficit to eight points on a basket by Zach Lofton with three minutes left, but the Kings secured the victory with connections from Lin.

Lin — who played for the Golden State Warriors, the New York Knicks, the Houston Rockets, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Brooklyn Nets, and the Toronto Raptors in the NBA — led the Kings with 23 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.

Lin, a one-time NBA champion during his brief stint with the Raptors, admitted that he was challenged by the physicality of the defense thrown at him by Bolts forward Clifford Hodge.

“It is physical, very physical,” Lin said.

“[Hodge] makes everything difficult for you, so he just plays hard, he just plays physical, and that’s the best type of basketball you would wanna play,” he added.

Chin Min-Yang also made his presence felt for the visiting Taiwan-based team with 13 markers, while Lin’s sibling Joseph also stood out with 11 markers, three dimes and three boards.

Lofton had 20 points and five rebounds to lead the Bolts.

Allein Maliksi ended with 12 markers, while Chris Banchero had 10 points as they played minus Chris Newsome and Aaron Black.

With the victory, the Kings remained on top of their group with an unblemished 3-0 win-loss slate, while the Bolts sustained their second straight defeat for a 1-4 record./ASC, WDJ