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Hiroshima Dragonflies named EASL champions under the lights in Macau

Published: 10 Mar. 2025, 10:26 Updated: 10 Mar. 2025, 16:38

PAIK JI-HWAN
[email protected]

The Hiroshima Dragonflies celebrate winning the East Asia Super League at Studio City Event Center after a 72-68 victory over the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots in Macau on March 9. [EASL]

MACAU — The Hiroshima Dragonflies of Japan beat the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots of Chinese Taipei 72-68 in a tight 2024-25 East Asia Super League (EASL) final at Studio City Event Center in Macau on Sunday, hitting the Asian basketball jackpot in a city better known for slot machines than sports events.

The final games of the EASL campaign — semifinals and final — had a carnival-like atmosphere, tucked away in a multipurpose room-turned-incongruous basketball court deep in the depths of the massive Studio City hotel casino resort.

Fans had flown in from overseas to watch the finals, upping the ante at the games, with cheerleaders and half-time shows adding to the entertainment. The glitz and glamor of the venue also added to the party atmosphere — among other things, Studio City is home to the world's first and highest figure-eight ferris wheel.

While the Pilots fans won the off-court contest — far louder and more boisterous than the competition — their team failed to dominate the game, losing it out to the Dragonflies in terms of pure physicality — the final was a tense affair, with constant fouls from both sides — and struggling to seize any momentum.

The Dragonflies had clearly pulled ahead by the end of the third quarter and held the lead through the end of the fourth, with Ryu Watanabe scoring two points for a 72-68 victory and sealing the Japanese team's first EASL title.

The Dragonflies' title marks the second straight year a Japanese team has clinched the EASL victory, after the Chiba Jets last season.

The final caps off a busy weekend of basketball in Macau, hosting the final four for the first time. No Korean team made it to the so-called Monte Carlo of the Orient, with Busan KCC Egis and Suwon KT Sonicboom crashing out in the group stage.

But EASL nights under the Macanese lights will come next season, as the Macau Black Bears are set to return to the home-and-away format league for the 2025-26 campaign after competing in this year's edition as the city's sole representative.

Like Las Vegas on the other side of the world, the arrival of the EASL final in Macau signals the city's growing interest in hosting sports events as the high-energy cherry on its already well-established entertainment cake.

Studio City [PAIK JI-HWAN]

And there is certainly something to be said for sports events in a city of bright lights and big rollers. The walk up to the venue alone, past loud casinos and glamorous hotels, creates a sense of excitement before you've even reached the games, with fans also able to enjoy cheerleader performances and touchline shows throughout the game.

Macau may also not be the most sporty city, but this season's EASL sets a precedent of how the city can be more sport-friendly in the future, as Studio City Senior Vice President and General Manager Kevin Benning said during a press conference on Saturday that the league's visit this year is a "shining example of how sports and tourism can work in hand to create unforgettable experiences.”

Which other teams will get to witness an EASL night in Macau next season will be confirmed nearer the start of the 2025-26 campaign in September.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]