Kosuke Takeuchi is POW of JBL 2009-10
- Apr 27, 2010 (by Eurobasket
)
Asia-Basket.com
All-Japanese JBL 1st Team 2010
Takeuchi
Kawamura
Kinoshita
O'Bannon
Sakuragi
Japanese JBL league is known for signing import players only at
forward and center positions, while they rely exclusively on domestic
players for guard positions. Of course it does not mean there are not
skilled domestic players at forward and center positions. But it's not
possible to find any import guard in the league.
Also the teams have usually in the roster two import players, while only
one of them can be on the court at any time. It practically means the
import players average way lower stats (which effects also season-end
awards), than in the case if they can play full 40 minutes per game.
Player of the Year:
Kosuke Takeuchi (205-C/F-85) of Aishin Sea Horses Guard of the Year:
Takuya Kawamura (191-G-86) of Link Tochigi Brex Forward of the Year:
Kosuke Takeuchi of Aishin Sea Horses Center of the Year:
J.R. Sakuragi (206-C-76) of Aishin Sea Horses Import Player of the Year:
Charles O'Bannon (198-75) of Toyota Alvark Domestic Player of the Year:
Kosuke Takeuchi of Aishin Sea Horses Defensive Player of the Year:
Kosuke Takeuchi of Aishin Sea Horses Coach of the Year:
Tom Wiseman of Link Tochigi Brex
JBL FINALS: TOCHIGI DETHRONE AISIN
- Apr 12, 2010
It has been three years in the making.
Actually, It only took three years.
The goal was to win a championship in five years but The Link
Tochigi Brex found a way to 'breakthrough' like its slogan suggest
and win its first-ever JBL title.
In what would be considered shocking, the Brex beat the Aisin
Seahorses tonight in the third game of the finals to complete its
sweep with a 71-63 victory at Tokyo's Yoyogi National Gymnasium.
In a game that was close throughout, the Seahorses showed their
pride to try and stave off the challengers. The Seahorses went to
their strength as they attacked inside to establish themselves early
in the game.
Tochigi's imports struggled and so did the team as they allowed
Aisin to score off turnovers in the first quarter. As a result, the
Seahorses took a 20-10 lead.
In the second quarter, Tochigi starts to gain moment as its zone
defense begin to function. Tochigi forces turnovers and lock down
the interior to limit Aisin's scoring. A byproduct was limiting
regular season MVP Kosuke Takeuchi to 9 points on only 7 shots. The
Brex also got big contributions from its bench as SG Ken Takeda (11
points) connected on big mid range shots to close the half.
In the second half, Tochigi turns its defense up to bring the game
to a stand still. Ace guard Takuya Kawamura (27 points), center
Scott Merritt and Takeda connect on their shots to cut Aisin's lead
down to one point to enter halftime.
In the final quarter, Aisin G Shinsuke Kashiwagi steps up to make
big threes and Aisin creates a 5 point cushion. However, like it has
throughout the series, rallied to bring the game to within 3 points.
Kawamura then takes over again like he has done all season to hit a
crucial three pointer with six seconds remaining to knot the game at
a tie. The game goes into overtime.
In overtime, Tochigi gained an advantage early with Kawamura's
fourth three of the game. The Brex gained a 8 point lead and did not
relinquish it ntil the final buzzer. As the buzzer sounded, the
players cheered and showed their jubilance in landing their first
title. And former NBA guard Yuta Tabuse was awarded the Finals MVP.
The game was an example of how a team can win based on sheer desire.
For Aisin, it must have been a frustrating experience as they were
turnover prone throughout the series.
Aisin turned the over a total of 27 times, and they also had 20 in
game 2. The Seahorses are now left with reassessing its situation
and assets as they work to regain their throne. However, Head Coach
Kimikazu Suzuki is optimistic in regaining its seat at the throne.
'By finding a team that can beat Aisin, we have found a new
challenge in fighting for a title again. I believe this is going to
help in improving basketball in Japan. We are very disappointed with
the results, but I think it was a great experience for us' said,
Suzuki.
The crowning of Tochigi brings in a new era for the JBL in which an
all-professional team that is loaded with youth is now the champion.
The odds were against the Brex, but they found a way to break
through to its first and perhaps many more titles for the time to
come...
Aisin takes 2nd straight All-Japan title
- Jan 13, 2009 The
Aisin Sea Horses dominated the Hitachi Sunrockers 65-48 on Monday (Jan.
12th) in the 84th annual All-Japan Tournament held in Tokyo at the
Yoyogi No. 1 Gymnasium to capture their 2nd straight All-Japan
championship. Aisin led Hitachi 40-18 at halftime and never looked back.
Aisn was led by last season's JBL MVP, PG
Shinsuke Kashiwagi (183-G-81), who led all players with 16 points to
go along with his 4 assists while PF Kosuke Takeuchi had 11 pts and 13
reb while battling his twin brother, PF Joji Takeuchi, of Hitachi. Joji
had 13 and 10 in the losing effort while teammate Lamar Rice had 11
points for Hitachi.
With only 1 import allowed in the All-Japan Tournament (just like the
JBL regular season), Aisin clearly has a distiinct advantage over other
teams with naturalized C J.R. Sakuragi (a.k.a. former NBA player J.R.
Henderson) manning the middle. Sakuragi/Henderson had 13 points and 11
rebounds while his true import teammate, swingman David Young, had 12
points. Aisin has turned using a naturalized import to win All-Japan
titles into an art form. In the early to mid 2000s, Aisin won 3 straight
All-Japan titles thanks to the play of naturalized C Eric MacArthur.
Notes: The 2nd half of the JBL's regular season begins this weekend with
all 8 teams in action on Jan. 17th and 18th. There are only 13 regular
season games left in the JBL's 2008-09 regular season.
JBL All-Star game rosters set
- Dec 6, 2009
The
JBL has announced the rosters for its annual All-Star game which will
take place on Dec. 23rd in Sapporo. The 8-team JBL has divided half of
its teams into the East and the other half into the West. Here are the
All-Star rosters for the East and the West:
SG/SF Takuya Kawamura of the Link Tochigi Brex, last year's leading
scorer in the JBL at 20.4 ppg, was accidentally omitted from the East
roster of the JBL All-Star game. We regret the error.
Notes: Each team in the JBL has 2 more games left in the 1st half of the
regular season. Due to the hiatus caused by the East Asian Games, no JBL
teams played this weekend and no games are scheduled for next weekend
either. The remaining 2 games of the 1st half will be played on the
weekend of December 19th-20th. After those 2 games and the All-Star game
on the 23rd, the annual All-Japan Tournament starts in the first week of
January with the championship game scheduled for the 11th of January.
The 2nd half of the JBL season will begin on the 3rd weekend of January
with games scheduled on the 15th, 16th, and 17th of that month.
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