Men’s basketball fights against strong Spanish opponent
The first time in 45 years to participate in the Olympics
Men’s basketball fights against strong Spanish opponent
Men’s basketball, the first time in 45 years to participate in the Olympics. In the first match of the qualifying league (Group C), he made a great struggle against the 2019 World Cup champion Spain but eventually lost with a score of 77-88 (28-48 in the first half). Even so, he caught up in the second half, and Katarin, the “best ever Japan national team,” is certainly showing. We asked Takuma Oikawa, Editor-in-Chief of the NBA Japan official website “NBA Japan”, to explain why he played a good match with the world’s second-ranked powerhouse.
I couldn’t prevent the goal to be prevented
The Japanese national basketball team played a great fight against the powerful Spanish national team.
The final score was 77-88, which was a double-digit difference, but the match was evenly matched at the beginning of the game, and even if they were separated, they bite hard, and at the end, they returned to a single-digit difference. Showed me what he meant. The goal of this tournament, which was the first time in 45 years since the Montreal Olympics in 1976, was “1 win”, but it was a battle that made us feel the possibility.
There are some points where I was able to play a great fight against Spain, which is second in the world ranking, but here I will focus on three points: (1) paint area score, (2) defense, and (3) 3-point shot. I want to analyze the game.
Japan’s fighting style, which is inferior to Spain with an average height of 202 cm at 196 cm, was based on the premise that the paint area (rectangular area near the bottom of the goal) would not be controlled. However, the score in the paint area is 24 in Japan and 48 in Spain, which is double. It is clear that Japan could not prevent the goals it should prevent.
One of the factors that dominated the paint area was the presence of the Gasol brothers of Marc & Pau, who have been active for many years as the main axis of the inside of Spain. Marc, the younger brother of the starting center, is 36 years old, and Pau, the older brother of the reserve center, is 41 years old, both of whom can be called big veterans, but they are still alive. Marc scored 12 points and Pow scored 9 points, and although he did not show overwhelming offensive power, he still made a contribution to support the team, such as recording 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 block shots with two people.
In addition to 13 points, forward Victor Claver took 9 rebounds including 4 offensive rebounds, and Usman of the center recorded 6 rebounds including 2 offensive rebounds and 1 block shot with only 1 point.・ The activities of Garuba and others were also outstanding. By the way, 19-year-old Galva is also a player who is attracting attention as a nomination candidate for the NBA draft to be held on the 29th of this week (30th Japan time).
And it was Ricky Rubio who controlled those inside players like point guards. The command tower, which won the FIBA World Cup in 2019 and won the tournament MVP, has reached the maturity stage of 30 years old and has grown into a player like a magician who skillfully manipulates the surroundings.
The difference in goals scored by the team during the time when Rubio, who participated in the first half and the second half for a total of 21 minutes and 44 seconds, was standing on the court was +27. It was the highest number among the participating players. He scored a shot with the accuracy of 8 out of 13 and scored 20 points in Thailand, which is the highest number along with Rui Hachimura, and also marked 9 assists.
Among Rubio’s plays, the one that caught the eye was the play make-up during the early offense. Spain picks up the rebound of Japan’s shooting mistake, and when Rubio carries the ball into the opponent’s team, he sends an accurate and unrivaled assist pass to the big man who runs late from behind and directs the score. Such a scene was seen many times in both the first and second half. Naturally, these scores are also added to the Spanish paint area scores.
In basketball, which is a game of scoring a ball through a goal ring at a height of 3 meters and 5 centimeters, shooting from near the goal is the most reliable scoring method, and the existence of a command tower-like Rubio that derives such a score is a team. Very reliable for. Rubio of the day was the true ruler of the Spanish offense.
If the point of victory in Spain is the paint area score, the defense and three-point shots mentioned as the second and third points are the factors that Japan was able to fight well against the world’s strongest players.
Japan’s defense, especially in the second half, was the number one factor in reducing the maximum 24 points difference to 9 at the end of the game.
In the middle of the second quarter (Q), during the time when Spain lost 19 points in a row immediately after tying 26-26, the defense was broken by a quick run and pass turning before Japan formed the formation. ..
However, in the second half, Yudai Baba got the mark of Rubio and succeeded in stopping the opponent’s fast-paced attack. At the same time that Spain’s score began to stagnate, Japan has more opportunities to shoot in good shapes, such as haste and a pass from a drive, and is bringing it to the development of progress and retreat.
At the end of the 3rd quarter, Kosuke Kanamaru, the B-League MVP of this season, gave momentum by scoring two consecutive 3-point shots immediately after the introduction. Then Yuta Watanabe quickly responded to the opponent’s inbound pass and stole the ball, making a dynamic driving dunk. In addition, Schafer Avi Schafer stopped the shot with a leg defense against Spain’s skillful pass turning and turned to attack as it was, showing energetic play related to scoring. Japan, which created a good flow from a solid defense, scored 28-21 in the third quarter, surpassing the opponent.
In addition to the two Kanamaru shots mentioned above, the third point was Gavin Edwards’s two shots, Hachimura’s four out of eleven shots, and Watanabe’s five shots. Japan sank 11 out of 27 in the team as a whole. The 41% success rate is an excellent number, well above Spain’s 28% (8 out of 28). Against Spain, which has many players who are good at 3-point shooting, the score exceeded 33-24, which was one of the reasons for returning the debt that could not prevent the paint area to some extent.
With less than 2 minutes remaining in the match, Rubio’s skillful step-back jumper made him 16 points behind (69-85), and immediately after that, Japan approached 11 points again with a 3-point shot by Watanabe and Hachimura. Even with less than one minute left, Baba and Watanabe desperately took the ball and turned to haste, and Baba decided to reverse layup to return the point difference to a single digit. Although it did not lead to a reversal, it was a splendid catch-up at the end of the game, which was called in by defense and a 3-point shot.
Certainly, the 20-point difference attached in the first half became a heavyweight until the end. However, in the second half, by stopping the opponent’s rhythm in the defense and deciding the 3-point shot efficiently, it should lead to confidence that I could feel the possibility of victory.
The remaining two qualifying games are also against Slovenia and Argentina, who are taller than Japan. Reflections on the match against Spain will be the key to the outcome of the match as well.
First of all, in the next round, we will play against Slovenia, which has Luka Doncic, who scored a large number of 48 points in the first match against Argentina.
