2014 5th FIBA Asia Cup [Wuhan, China, Jul 11-19]

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Quincy Davis now has 13 points and Jordan quickly called a timeout. 3-1-1 compact zone and Hu Long-Mao now has 4 fouls because of reach-ins. Youngster Chou Yi-Hsiang against Rasheim Wright is a gutsy move by Hughley.

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End of 1st half: Taiwan leads Jordan 43-34. Taiwan's bench is in foul trouble while most of Jordan's starters are having foul troubles.

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Liu Cheng is heating up late in the 3rd. Pushes Taiwan's lead to 65-52 as we enter the 4th. Taiwan is 0-14 from downtown and plagued with foul troubles from the bench. Somehow, Rajko Toroman's players have playing stop the gap presses when Hughley calls for a 2 corner quick play from Liu Cheng.

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21points and 15 rebounds now for Quincy Davis with 5 mins remaining. Game looks about over despite Taiwan not making any threes so far. Hu Long-Mao is now playing and despite having 4 fouls, he is not shorting out any effort, dives to the floor for a rebound.

[CKR13]

Congratulations to Taiwan and Hughley for winning their first game. Quincy Davis was a mountain of a presence while Liu Cheng stepped up when Jordan was cutting down their lead. 1/20 from beyond the arc but more than half of their points were in the paint. As Chuck Daly would have said, "buttery double edge".

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Tall starting 5 for Japan against Iran:

J Takeuchi
K Takeuchi
Harimoto
Tanaka
Ishizaki

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Kenji Hasegawa's screen and roll offense is in full display. High picks, feint pick and wedge picks. Offense looks good so far, similar to Butler under Brad Stevens and a bit of 90's NYK Jeff Van Gundy. So much better compared to Kimikazu Suzuki's disastrous ball reversal play where players need to dive head long and quickly arc or reverse it to a shooter. All it takes is a good point guard that has a command of pre-positions.

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Somehow, Japan contained Haddadi in the 1st and they haven't been overpowered by that 1-2-2 box by Iran. Hasegawa's gambit for defense tactic of 1post-1wing to body up and take away legging / pivot of Haddadi is working. When Haddadi passes, cover the gap and shift to 2-3 zone immediately. Hasegawa also employs a 2-post cover as Haddadi gets the ball, sending in Takeuchi twins while perimeter goes on active hands to intercept an outlet.

Shades of what Jordan used against Iran in 2011.

[CKR13]

Every Japanese player has seen PT so far except for Kanamaru, who was projected to start. It seems true that Hasegawa ain't impressed by volume shooters or scorers and he likes players who pass first. See Chiba's Ryumo Ono.

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Foul troubles for Takeuchi twins is in the horizon. Joji has 2, Kosuke has 1 while Ota with 2. Iran will win this if they keep the fight inside. Japan has only three bigmen in this lineup. Harimoto has been more of a tweener between 4 and 3.

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Japan is getting stifled in this third quarter. Iranian bigs fighting for floor space even when the Takeuchis are setting a screen way out of the paint. Good semi-zone by Iran.

[reamily]

Every Japanese player has seen PT so far except for Kanamaru, who was projected to start. It seems true that Hasegawa ain't impressed by volume shooters or scorers and he likes players who pass first. See Chiba's Ryumo Ono.

So we will see how deep is Japans guards in this tournament as we won't see much of Kanamaru..

[CKR13]

So we will see how deep is Japans guards in this tournament as we won't see much of Kanamaru..

Guards are not the problem as half of the team are guards even without Naoto Tsuji. Bigmen, that will be a question for the later games as Japan only has three rotation bigs with Harimoto filling up minutes at four. At this stage, Hasegawa is keeping the minutes of Joji rather low while Ota and Kosuke are the oxes at work.

Congratulations to Iran for winning this one. Wasn't a pretty game and was rather physical but the Japanese did not fold up, but just got out-muscled and out-worked by guys like Haddadi and Mashayekhi. Japan did have a good showing despite being stopped by Iran in the third. This is Iran that digs deep and fights in the trenches. Hasegawa is a motivator and disciplinarian before a tactician.

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China to start with Zirui, Zhongmian, Quan, D. Hanlin and Dayu.

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19-0 unanswered points by China against Indonesia with 5 mins. remaining in the 1st. Wingspan and lateral movement really shading the court against Indonesia.