The Ex-Sun Also Rises

Veteran Tabuse Steals The Show In East Division Showdown

It's been over a decade since Yuta Tabuse made basketball history and became the first native Japanese to appear in the NBA. Now 36, the Tochigi Brex point guard still plays with the same passion and energy with which he took the court during his short stint with the Phoenix Suns.

On Sunday night, Tabuse showed in the first game of a two-game series between the B.League's East Division leaders that he can still steal the spotlight, with a succession of hustling steals that turned the momentum the Brex's way in a 74-66 victory over the Alvark Tokyo.

 "It's funny, you expect that from Yuta, because that's who he is," said teammate Ryan Rossiter, who had a game-high 19 points and 12 rebounds. "But every time he does it, it's still like, 'How did he get from there to there to get that steal and get the finish?' He's just always knows where to be in the big moment, what play to make in the big moment."

The Alvark split the series with an 89-73 victory on Monday night to further tighten the title race with one-third of the season left to go. The results left Tochigi on top with a 32-9 record, with Tokyo second at 31-10 and the Chiba Jets close behind in third at 28-13.

But on Sunday before the sellout crowd of 3,236 at Tokyo's Yoyogi No. 2 Gym, the night belonged to the 1.75-meter Tabuse, who has been packing arenas since his days when he led Noshiro Kogyo High School to three consecutive national titles.

"In recent games, we've given up a lot of points and we weren't playing our style of basketball," Tabuse said. "It something we needed to think about. We had to knuckle down. When we play top teams like tonight, the challenge for us is how we can play on defense. They have a high-level offense and they're going to score, so we needed to make them take tough shots and not lose our concentration."

After the Alvark jumped out to a 24-15 lead in the first quarter, the Brex stepped up their defense and whittled the lead to four at halftime, then two heading into the fourth quarter. With 5:38 left, a Rossiter jump shot started a 13-0 run that allowed Tochigi to pull away.

A half-minute later, Tabuse produced the game's first tie since it was 7-7 when he sank a layup off a Jeff Gibbs' offensive rebound to make it 64-all. Then he really got in gear. On the next play, his own steal led to his breakaway layup that gave the Brex the lead, then he made another steal to set up a jumper by Takatoshi Furukawa.

"He's definitely their leader, you could tell," said Tokyo's recently signed Jeff Ayres, a former NBA player who was making his home debut. "I know he played in the NBA for a little bit. I can tell that they love him here, when they did the lineup, he got a big ovation. But he brings the juice, he's a pesky little guy."

In the end, the Alvark scored less points in the second half (23) than they did in the first quarter, including just 10 in the fourth period.

"It was a tough game between the top two teams in the division," Tochigi head coach Tom Wisman said. "They got us down early and we got right back defensively, and had a great second-half defensive effort. We beat a good team today."

Wisman said that Tabuse's heroics would not have been possible if Hironori Watanabe had not stepped up in the third quarter, when he scored all six of his points and allowed Tabuse to get a much-needed break. Tabuse finished with 16 points, four assists and three steals.

"We watch his minutes," Wisman said of Tabuse, "he had 27, I thought it was going to be higher. The job that Nabe did in the third quarter was huge, he played a great third quarter for us, and enabled Yuta to have some energy left in the tank in the fourth quarter."

With his dazzling ball-handling skills and uncanny court vision, Tabuse became a household name as a key member of the Noshiro Kogyo squad that is regarded as among the best high school teams in Japanese basketball history after winning the triple crown of major titles for three consecutive years.

Domestically, he transcended basketball like Tiger Woods once drew fans well outside of the realm of golf. When the Akita Prefecture high school qualified for the All-Japan Championship, Tabuse led the team to a victory over a college team in an early-round game that drew 4,000 to the 3,000-seat Tokyo gym. Normally, such a game would have attracted a crowd only one-tenth that size.

At 17, Tabuse was invited to the national team training camp, and after high school, he briefly took his act overseas to Brigham Young University's Hawaii campus. He returned to Japan in 2002 to play in the JBL, the B.League's predecessor, and joined the Alvark, then playing under their corporate sponsor name Toyota. He was named the rookie of the year.

It was apparent that he needed a greater challenge, and after the 2003 season, he landed with the Dallas Mavericks' team in the NBA summer league. He also had a stint with the Long Beach Jam of the American Basketball Association.

In 2004, Tabuse finally reached the pinnacle of the sport when he signed with Phoenix and made their opening day roster. Unfortunately, his NBA career would only last four games before he was waived a month into the season. But still it marked a turning point for Japanese basketball that is still reaping the benefits.

"If he had a 3-point shot, he probably would have stayed a lot longer in the NBA," Wisman said.

Tabuse returned to the Jam that season, then spent the next two with teams in the NBA Development League. In August 2008, he joined the Brex, where he was reunited with his high school coach, Mitsuhiko Kato. Tabuse was named MVP of the playoffs when Tochigi won the 2010 JBL title.

Wisman, who is in his second stint as Brex head coach, appreciates the extra voltage that Tabuse brings to the court.

"He knows how to handle pressure situations, knows when it's time for him to step up," Wisman said. "He runs the team so well. If the team isn't scoring, he'll step his scoring up; if somebody is scoring well, he's making sure they have the ball. He just knows the game. He's just the best point guard in this competition and I'm lucky I have him. He makes me a better coach."

With Tabuse in the lineup, Brex games are among the top draws in the league, which is something that the veteran feeds off of.

"Even though we were the away [team], to play in front of that many fans is thrilling as a player," Tabuse said. "To have games like this, it makes us and every other team think of how we can keep making progress."

On Sunday, one corner of the arena was decked out in Brex yellow, contrasting with the sea of Alvark red that filled the rest of the seats.

"There were more Tochigi fans than I thought there would be," said the Alvark's Ayres, who won a NBA title with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014. "But it was good atmosphere and a good game."

Adds Wisman: "That's the nice thing about the Brex, our following is the best in the league. We would lead the league in attendance if we had a bigger arena. We did over the last two years. But we also have everybody's biggest crowd when we're on the road, and that's kind of a Tabuse Effect, also."

One aspect of the series that, under different circumstances, might have drawn more attention was that it featured the latest match-up of Japan's Twin Towers, Kosuke and Joji Takeuchi. Outside of the national team, the 32-year-old siblings, who stand 2.08 meters, have been on opposite sides their entire careers.

In the game, the two were sporadically on the court together and at times guarded each other. Tochigi's Kosuke had seven points and six rebounds in 22 minutes, while Tokyo's Joji was marginally more productive in his 26 minutes, finishing with eight points and nine rebounds.

Tochigi's Rossiter was as intrigued as anyone to see the mirror image of the two on the court. 

"It's my first year being on a side where I'm with one of them," Rossiter said. "I've played them over the years, and they're both really good players, really good guys. It's always interesting when they do the match-up on each other one-on-one. I'm Team Kosuke, obviously. It's just fun for everyone, I know the fans love it."

The Brex and Alvark will face each other three more times before the regular season ends on May 7. This weekend, Tochigi will be at home at Brex Arena in Utsunomiya against the Albirex Niigata, while Tokyo is back at Yoyogi No. 2 Gym for a Friday-Saturday series against the Osaka Evessa.

- Ken Marantz: March 7th 2017

Sunrockers See light At End Of Tunnel To Playoffs 

With more than a third of the season still left to play, BT Toews doesn't think it's premature to start talking about must-win games. The Sunrockers Shibuya head coach looks at every game as a playoff in itself in the team's drive to get into the actual playoffs.

 "It's not too early, our playoffs are now," Toews said after the Sunrockers' 94-84 victory over the Niigata Albirex BB on Wednesday night at Tokyo's Sumida Ward Gym. "Every game matters to us. We've been struggling all season, as everybody knows, and we have good players. But how can I get them to play well together? It's been a struggle."

The Sunrockers faced an even tougher situation against Albirex, one of three other teams with whom they are currently battling for the eighth and final playoff spot. Shibuya was playing without their star center Robert Sacre, and needed the rest of the team to make up for his absence.

They did so with a performance Toews labeled "unique."

The Sunrockers, led by an inspired R.T. Guinn, went on an amazing 3-point spree, connecting on 15 of 27 from outside the arc. Six of the treys came during the third quarter, when the Sunrockers turned a five-point halftime deficit into a 10-point lead heading into the final period.

On top of that, Shibuya not only won the battle of the boards 50-31, but 20 of those rebounds were offensive. Adding in 26 assists and it was a team victory that allowed the Sunrockers to overcome a career-best 44-point performance from Niigata power forward Clint Chapman.

"The most important thing offensively, is the ball moved," Toews said, referring to the assists. "Last game and today, our shooting has been quite good. So I think part of that is better ball movement, I think that contributes to better shooting. But who knows why we're making shots."


R.T. Guinn led the Shibuya charge by pouring in a season-high 24 points, which included making 6 of 12 3-point attempts before fouling out late in the game. Ira Brown added 22 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, while Yuki Mitsuhara made all three of his 3-point attempts and finished with 17 points.

"It's been awhile since we made this many 3-pointers, which is nice," Toews said. "In the absence of Robert Sacre, I thought everyone picked it up on the offensive end. There's not many games where we let the other team score 84 points - and one person 44 points - and come out on top. That was a unique experience."

The top two teams in each of the three divisions automatically qualify for the playoffs, with the next two teams with the best records gaining wild-card spots. The Chiba Jets, 26-13 heading into the weekend, are the frontrunner for one wild card. The second spot looks to be up for grabs between Shibuya (18-19) and Niigata, the Osaka Evessa and the Kyoto Hannaryz, who are all 19-20.

"Right now, because other teams are winning, too, every game is a must-win game for us, and that's what we're talking about in the locker room," Toews said. "It doesn't matter what it looks like, let's just get the win."

For Guinn, the game marked the first time he went into double digits in 3-point attempts, a response to Toews instructing him to be more bold in taking shots. It started the previous weekend against the Ryukyu Golden Kings, when he scored 14 points in an 87-71 victory on Sunday.

"Since last game, we've been talking to him, when even Sacre was there at the Okinawa game, about shooting more," Toews said. "He's always been a very careful shooter, he shoots when he's open. And he's very unselfish. But we want him to be more selfish, we want him to shoot 15 times a game, 20 times a game....I think we'll see more games like this from him."

Brown, a naturalized Japanese who was on national team duty for a pair of exhibition games against Iran earlier this month, said he is battling some knee pain and nearly missed the game as well.

"It's nothing severe, just mostly from overuse," Brown said of his injury. "Other than than, of course we had to step up, because we were missing a big piece. But we knew that we could win without [Sacre]. But it's all about being confident in everything that you do, and knowing that when we get him back, he's just another piece of the puzzle that puts above what we are now."

For Toews, the way the team stepped up in the second half more than offset the team's 13 turnovers.

"The pressure of our defense, even though they made some tough shots, especially Chapman, really helped us win the game in the second half," Toews said.  "That was the difference. We had 13 turnovers, which is maybe around our average, but I thought that it just didn't feel like the turnovers were as bad as they usually are."

The early part of the game before the weekday crowd of 2,027 was mainly the Chapman Show, as the Albirex's big man dominated in the first quarter, scoring 19 points as they took a 29-25 lead. Like Shibuya, Niigata was missing a key player as center Davante Gardner was sidelined, and Chapman did a good job picking up the slack.

The 2.08-meter Chapman cooled off a bit later on as the Sunrockers made some defensive adjustments, but still finished well above his previous season-high of 33 points.

"I knew I had to be aggressive," said Chapman, who also had four blocked shots and 10 rebounds. "We knew without Sacre on the floor we had a good presence inside. I just came out hot. Our trending issue right now is the third quarter. That's where we lost it today. Any time you give up 20 offensive rebounds, it's going to be tough to win a game."

In the end, there was little Chapman or his teammates could do as the Sunrockers sank a succession of treys. Early in the fourth quarter, the Sunrockers expanded their lead to 16 points and were able to coast from there.

"They got so hot, and we really struggled hard that four-minute stretch where they hit like five 3s," Chapman said. "Plus every other shot they were making. A situation like that, what can you do about it? We're trying our best to play defense, but you've got to give them credit."

Both teams will get a chance to open up the playoff chase as they each face one of the other rivals in the upcoming weekend series. Shibuya will be back home at Aoyama Gakuin University Gym to host Kyoto, while Niigata will take on Osaka at its home court in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture.

"We needed to get a win against [Shibuya], but this weekend we have Osaka, last week we had Kyoto," Chapman said. "We're all tied for that eighth-place berth, the wild card. So that hurts for us.

"The first thing I said when we walked into the back [after the game] was, 'Shake it off, we got to win two games this weekend.' You can't dwell on a loss like this as much as it hurts. We have to bounce back."

- Ken Marantz: Feb 25th 2017

Sunrockers Shibuya (94) -v- (84) Niigata Albirex

Photos: Chris Pfaff - February 22nd 2017

Seahorses Quick Start Too Much For Hannaryz

B.League West leaders, SeaHorses Mikawa met fourth placed, Kyoto Hannaryz on Feb 22nd in front of a crowd of 1,952. Unfortunately for the home fans, hopes of a win were quickly buried by an in-form opponent.

Mikawa led 35-11 at the end of the first quarter scoring 19 straight points at one stage and converting an impressive 82% of their attempts with Kyoto struggling on less than 28%.

During the second quarter Hannaryz played much better, going on their biggest scoring run of the night with 7 points in a row and reduced the SeaHorses advantage to 17 points (29-46). 

The third quarter was much more even but the visitors stretched out a comfortable 20 point lead (58-78) thanks to their star player, Kousuke Kanamaru who scored 26 points.

In the last quarter Kyoto Hannaryz tried their best to catch Mikawa but could do little to stop SeaHorses's best player of the night, Ryouma Hashimoto, who finished on 30 points. Mikawa maintained control and ran out winners by a score 101-87.

With only nine defeats so far this season, the SeaHorses seem to be uncatchable. Hannaryz however are still fighting for second place with Nagoya Dragons and Osaka Evessa. Mikawa will next welcome Sunrockers Shibuya while Kyoto will travel to take on central league leaders, Kawasaki Brave Thunders.  

- Lionel Piguet: Feb 22nd 2017

Follow The Bouncing Ball

B.League Exceeds Sum Of Its Parts From Merger To Offer High-Quality, Entertaining Action

As the Chiba Jets' Michael Parker broke away with a steal late in a recent game at Funabashi Arena, he spotted Tyler Stone trailing on his right. Without hesitating, Parker lofted the ball toward the basket, where Stone perfectly timed the alley-oop pass, taking it and jamming it home in one smooth motion.

Just as the veteran Parker blended well with his first-year teammate, the newly formed B.League has effectively mixed the old and the new of Japanese basketball to put an exciting product on the court that seems to exceed the sum of its parts.

"It's going good, everything seems bigger, better," says Parker, who is playing his 10th season in Japan with his fifth team. "I definitely can see the effort the league is making into making basketball big. I'm very excited about that, just because I've been here long enough, seen both leagues. It just seems that much more better, it really does."

The league, which tipped off to great hoopla last September, emerged from the merger of the older, established National Basketball League (formerly the JBL, among other names) and the newer, upstart bj.League. To say it was an easy process is to say it was easy to dunk on Shaq O'Neal. Getting past the differences in everything from game rules to business models to financing was a major roadblock.

In late 2014, FIBA, world basketball's governing body, took the extreme measure of suspending the Japan Basketball Association---which could have caused the collateral damage of keeping the Japan women's team out of the Rio Olympics---to force the merger, which was eventually negotiated by Saburo Kawabuchi, the former chairman of the J.League who was instrumental in making that organization a major force in Asia.

While it could be argued that FIBA may have exceeded its bounds by strong-arming the two leagues to merge, there are few who believed it wasn't in the nation's best interest in terms of promoting and spreading the game here.

"I think it was very necessary, I think it was very overdue," says veteran Sea Horses Mikawa power forward J.R. Sakuragi, a naturalized Japanese who is in his 16th season of Japanese basketball. "It's not like any other country, having two separate professional leagues. You have different tiers in that one league, but you never have two separate professional leagues. It just didn't make sense. It was just a matter of how they were going to do it."

The league, officially titled the "Japan Professional Basketball League," consists of 36 teams divided into two tiers, B1 and B2. The 18 teams of B1 are split into three divisions (East, Central and West) in a 60-game regular season; the top two teams in each division plus the next two teams with the best records make the playoffs.

While the teams are now regarded as equals, there is still a divide along the old lines, much like the economic chasm between East and West Germany immediately after unification. Prior to the merger, it was well known that the NBL had the better players but seemed dull, while the bj.League had the pizzazz but little pop.

"Honestly we saw it as a lower league," Sakuragi says of the bj.League. "We didn't see it as the same level as our league. We admired the fans they had, we were pretty envious of that. As far as anything else---the quality of it, the structure and the talent level---they were considered lower than us.

"I saw the bj-league as a professional league. I saw our league as just a company league or whatever you want to call it, but it wasn't like a pro atmosphere. Entertainment value was not there, the marketing and all that stuff."

A glance at the standings just past the halfway point of the inaugural season clearly shows a residual gap as all three division leaders and two of the three second-place teams are from the NBL, with the San-Ei Neo Phoenix the lone exception. Interestingly, one team that started in the bj.League and moved to the NBL, the Chiba Jets, are fighting for a wild-card spot with a team that went the opposite direction, the Niigata Albirex.

Jets Soar To Vital Victory 

 While it wasn't part of the league schedule, the Jets provided a turning point in Japanese basketball history when they completed a surprising run in the All-Japan Championship in January. Chiba scored successive victories over all three division leaders, topping the Tochigi Brex and Mikawa before routing top-seed Kawasaki Brave Thunders 88-66 in the final.

That marked the first time in 42 years that a non-corporate-backed team had walked off with the title and first-ever for a team with bj.League ties. The Jets' victory showed that by putting in the effort to develop a loyal fan base and secure a solid core of sponsors, the pro teams formed from the bj.League model can be competitive.

"In the Japan basketball world, the corporate teams won the titles for a long time," Jets general manager Shinji Shimada told Inside Sport Japan. "They were the strongest, and the organization behind them protected that status. It was an easy environment, and the level did not get stronger.  Even when the bj.League started up, the level stayed where it was.

"For a team like ours, which came out of bj.League, to knock off those teams and become the champion --- perhaps we have courage as a pro team --- the corporate teams feel the pressure. We could show that we can be competitive. The corporate teams went all out, and if the pro teams try they can do it. This provided the opportunity for both to benefit. That was significant."

Last month, soon after winning the All-Japan title, the Jets were back at their home court of Funabashi Arena. The team has forged an identity with Chiba the prefecture more than the city; hence the team name that pays homage to the planes flying out of Narita Airport. The game drew over 4,000 raucous fans in a near sellout, which saw the Jets prevail 82-61 to sweep the two-game weekend series over the Osaka Evessa.

"The energy they give off, it just does something to us," Stone, who had come to Japan after playing in Europe, says of the hometown fans. "We don't want to come and they're cheering really loud and having a lot of energy and we're playing flat. We try to match their energy. We make good plays, they let us know."

But success can change perspective and Shimada seemed somewhat disappointed by the turnout.

"Winning the All-Japan had some effect on increasing fans and increasing sponsors, but not a big one," Shimada said. "We've been able to draw crowds from the beginning. It's not like we had nothing and by winning, suddenly become popular. I'd like us to reach a point where next season or in two years, we outgrow [this arena]. I'd like to average about 5,000."

Of the fully professional teams that originally started in the bj.League, the Jets have been particularly successful in securing the funding to put a strong team on the court. The Jets feature the most exciting player in the league, 1.67-meter point guard Yuki Togashi, who went to high school in the U.S. and had a stint with the Dallas Mavericks-affiliated team in the NBA Development League. He was the MVP of the first All-Star Game, a glitzy gala that drew wide media coverage.

"This is the sixth season [for our team]," Togashi says. "[The All-Japan] was the first title for the team. I think it was huge. We were the seventh seed and we beat three big teams. We just got to keep winning."

While the old NBL teams generally rely on a single corporate sponsor such as Toshiba, Hitachi or Toyota, Shimada said the Jets have a stable of 300 sponsors. As an example of one source of funding, Shimada that the 60 or so sponsor placards, paraded at halftime by the cheerleaders like ring girls displaying the round at a boxing title fight, each bring in 3 million yen each per year. 

"They're kind of a bj-League prototype," Sakuragi says. "So they are competitive. It's all about putting the pieces together. Any team can beat any team on any given night. They played well and they deserved to win."

Attracting Big Names

Competing with leagues around the world, the B.League has done its best to lure the type of players who will attract fans. While it's necessary to nurture domestic stars, the league is continuing the trend in Japanese basketball of acquiring players with some NBA experience who have the temperament to play in Japan.

Once in a while, a player with particular name value opts to make the jump to Japan, and midway through the season the Tokyo-based Sunrockers Shibuya boosted their roster by picking up center Robert Sacre, who made a name for himself during his four years with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Speaking after a late January game in Tokyo, in which he scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Sunrockers overcame a slow first half to beat the Sendai 89ers 79-66, Sacre said he had heard good things about Japanese basketball through the years, although he was unaware of the recent merger and the stormy history behind it.

"I wasn't really aware, I just wanted to play basketball," said the 2.13-meter Sacre, who was drafted by the Lakers out of Gonzaga University in 2012. "The Sunrockers called me and they wanted me to come play, and that's all I was focused on."

Sacre started his Japan career with a bang, scoring 25 points on Jan. 18 against East Division-leading Kawasaki, although a late Sunrockers' rally fell short in a 69-66 loss. In seven games he is averaging 16 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. 

The Sunrockers, a former NBL team supported by Hitachi, were already going through a transition of their own, having hired head coach BT Toews away from Fujitsu of the women's league for this season. Toews, who spent three years at Fujitsu, said he would not have made the move had the merger not gone through.

The team, which has changed quite a bit since the league tipped off and is constantly evolving, sat one game out of a wild-card spot going into the Feb. 11-12 break for the national team's exhibition games against Iran.

While Toews knows that even the most sterling credentials do not guarantee a player will be successful, he is looking for Sacre to add something to the team beyond his skills.

"Sometimes big names, the guy comes and he's not as good as his name," Toews said. "So for me, it was really wait and see. And even after the big game he had against Kawasaki, it's still wait and see. But what we have with him is someone we can count on. And the players need that person on the team. The coach can't be that person. You need someone on your team to do that.

"Almost as much as his play on the court, it's his personality that is just drawing the team together. So what's it like? It's nice."

Toews said his biggest challenge was not in getting Sacre to fit in with the team, but to devise a scheme around Sacre to make best use of his talent.

"Strategy wise, I have to adapt. In my coaching history in Japan, I've always been a ball-movement, lot-of-cutting, everybody-shares-it kind of coach. But if I have Robert Sacre on the outside, in the high post, handing the ball the off, it's not taking advantage of what he does. I'm still thinking and working on it."

Sacre said his teammates have been welcoming and made it easier to get in synch on the court. For his part, he reciprocates by providing leadership and encouragement.

"I just want my guys to be super-confident every time they're on the court," Sacre said. "Especially when they're with me. That will eventually pay off in the long run when we're in tighter and tighter games. Just having guys be confident, it makes it extremely easier in the game."

Having gotten off to a positive start with the new league, men's basketball in Japan still faces high hurdles in breaking into the mainstream of sports. Nothing attracts attention and mints heroes like the Olympics in Japan, and the first order of business will be ending a long absence from the Games.

While the women appeared at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, the men have not been seen at the Olympics since Montreal in 1976. Their last Asian title dates back to 1971. And to complicate things even further, Japan does not have automatic entry as host of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but must go through the qualifying process.

Developing a generation of players capable of taking on the world's best begins with the success of the domestic league. Sakuragi, who played at UCLA and had a short stint with the NBA's Vancouver Grizzlies, said the league is on the right path, but still has a ways to go.

"I feel like it's almost there," he says. "It's here, it's the way it should be. But I feel like there's a couple more steps to take. I played in the NBA, so I know what it should look and feel like. It's almost here.

"There's some nights where I feel like it's the old league, and some nights where I feel like, wow, this is great."

Like a good alley-oop pass, you need all of the parts working just right. And when they do, it's an impressive sight.

- Ken Marantz: Feb 15th 2017