Defeat! Out of the game! This is how it goes for the Japanese men's basketball team!

They lost to Iran in the group stage, forfeiting the top spot and were forced into the playoffs.

In the playoffs, they suffered a crushing defeat to Lebanon, 73-97, and were eliminated from the Asian Cup.

What caused the loss? They made only 5 out of 27 three-point attempts during the entire game.

That's right, it was related to player absences.

Rui Hachimura, Yuta Watanabe, and Yuki Kawamura, the three core players, did not participate.

Hachimura withdrew from the national team due to disagreements with coach Hovas; Watanabe was absent due to injury; Kawamura was preparing for the new NBA season, leaving the team to rely heavily on naturalized center Hawkins.

I remember Digger mentioned before that the strength of the Japanese men's basketball team lies in the pick-and-roll initiated by Kawamura and Hawkins; if either one of them is absent, it’s equivalent to losing their biggest weapon.

For instance, Kawamura had a 63.5% possession rate in the fourth quarter against France during the Olympics, which confirms the team's lack of a second ball-handler.

But there’s no need to make excuses for this loss; a loss is just a loss.

Saying "this is the Japanese men's basketball team X" is nonsense, as if the opponents were all at full strength...

If, and I mean if, the Chinese men's basketball team loses to South Korea tomorrow, I wouldn't make excuses about missing key players; a loss should be accepted honestly. (Just a heads-up, the game is tomorrow at 7 PM.)

What I want to express today is that Japanese basketball has inherent shortcomings and is not as formidable as the so-called "Japan hype" suggests, being invincible in Asia.

Japanese football is world-class, I admit that.

After all, there are many players in the top five European leagues, such as Kaoru Mitoma, Daichi Kamada, Ritsu Doan, Wataru Endo, and Ayaka Suzuki... The total number of players in the top five leagues exceeds 20, covering all key positions.

Takumi Minamino stated, "Every position has players from the top five leagues, and no one is irreplaceable. The national team selection has entered a hellish mode."

We shouldn't view Japanese basketball through a football lens; their basketball lacks the same dominance.

Currently, the only player truly established in the NBA is Hachimura, and he has conflicts with the coach. If the basketball association insists on keeping Hovas, Hachimura will no longer wear the national team jersey.

If Yanshan Sen can consistently play for the Trail Blazers, wouldn’t we also have a legitimate NBA player...?

As for Kawamura and Hawkins, each has their strengths, but their weaknesses are also very apparent. If Hawkins were really that impressive, why isn't he in the NBA or European leagues?

The Asian Cup revealed that he struggles to defend against smaller guards during pick-and-rolls, and his slow footwork makes him easy to target; defensively, he lacks the dominance of Zhou Qi.

As for the other big men in Japan, their abilities are even more lacking... Is there anyone at Hu Jinqiu's level?

There really isn't.

Japan's losses to Iran and Lebanon this time are very typical.

They are characterized by "small, fast, and agile + a rain of three-pointers," but they are extremely dependent on three-pointers. Once they face physically strong teams, like those from West Asia, it becomes very challenging.

From Iran to Lebanon, their defensive principles are very simple and straightforward:

They won't easily give you open three-point shots; if you have the ability, score inside. If you can't score, I will protect the rebounds and decisively utilize my physicality to counterattack.

Think about it, isn't this the right way to defeat Japan?

To put it more directly, modern basketball demands even stricter requirements for overall physical talent.

What’s the trend? Emphasizing physical size, confrontation, and unlimited switching on defense.

However, the physical deficiencies in Japanese basketball are mainly reflected in height disadvantages and the resulting weaknesses in their tactical system.

I once saw a statistic showing that Japanese domestic players are generally short; in the B1 league (Japan's top league), there are only 16 domestic players over 2 meters tall, most of whom are marginal players.

There is a scarcity of centers in the domestic league, and the youth training system fails to compensate for the gap in physical talent.

This is a major reason why they need to work hard to naturalize big men and develop mixed-race athletes.

However, Japan requires naturalized players to have lived there for 5 years, which leads to many naturalized players being past their prime veterans.

Basketball is ultimately a contact sport.

But I wonder if you guys have noticed: it seems that in our current basketball circles, "having good physicality" and "utilizing physicality to play" have become derogatory terms, which is quite absurd.

Anyone who has played a bit of 5v5 will understand that physicality can solve many problems in basketball games.

When the national team plays in intercontinental competitions, if you use players who are around 1.7 to 1.8 meters tall and can't score, it becomes very difficult.

Thus, in the match against Lebanon, you can see that once the intensity increases, the player known as "Japanese Curry," Kisei Tominaga, can't even touch the ball.

I have always believed that our Chinese players' physical confrontation ability is not at a disadvantage in Asia; there is no need to belittle ourselves or look down on ourselves.

When facing East Asian teams like Japan and South Korea, we must strive to leverage our physical advantages, which is our strength. This is how Chinese basketball played against Korea during its peak.

Let me give you two direct examples: if you let those Japanese guards defend Zhao Rui's drives, they wouldn't be able to keep up; the athleticism of someone like Fan Bo is also something they lack.

"If you have the ability, score inside," this defensive principle applies to the vast majority of Asian matches, including the Chinese women's basketball team.

To put it another way: it's 2025, and our coaches should stop being so stubborn.

Tomorrow against South Korea, we must believe that their three-pointers can take us down...