BEIRUT (FIBA Asia Cup 2017) - Hosts Lebanon would have preferred an outright Quarter-Final seat, but they will just have to go through it the hard way against an unpredictable Chinese Taipei side.

The FIBA Asia Cup 2017 has been quite unkind to Chinese Taipei. They were not able to bring top big men Quincy Davis and Tseng Wen-Ting due to various injuries, and they are coming into this game fresh from back-to-back losses in Group D against Japan and Australia. Clearly, they will be the underdogs in this matchup, where Lebanon are sure to get a big boost from the crowd and sure to pounce early and often against the Taipei quintet.

Key Matchup: We are seeing a changing of the guard in the FIBA Asia Cup 2017, and that is something we will surely witness in this game. On one end, we have the living legend, Fadi El Khatib, still taking opposing wingmen to school, while on the other hand, coach Chou Chun-San has two key wingmen who have the best chance of slowing Fadi down. These are Chou Yi-Hsiang and Liu Cheng. If those two can find a way to hamper Fadi while also scoring well on the other side, Chinese Taipei may just keep in step with the hosts.

Key Stats: Two glaring statistics in this matchup are assists and turnovers. Lebanon have been the much better playmaking squad, averaging 19.7 per game. Chinese Taipei, however, are the complete opposites. They norm only 8.3 assists per game, which is dead last in the overall ranking. Lebanon need to continue their sublime playmaking for them to put this game away, while the Taipei side are hoping for a breakout game to provide stiff resistance against the heavily favored Cedars.

FIBA