Asia-Basket.com All-Japanese NBL Awards 2015 - Jun 2, 2015
Asia-Basket.com All-Japanese NBL 1st Team 2015
Tabuse
Kanamaru
Fazekas
M'Baye
Rossiter
Finals MVP: Gavin Edwards (206-F/C-88) of Aishin SH Player of the Year: Nick Fazekas (211-F-85) of Toshiba BT Guard of the Year: Yuta Tabuse (173-G-80) of Tochigi Brex Forward of the Year: Nick Fazekas (211-F-85) of Toshiba BT Center of the Year: Ryan Rossiter (204-F/C-89) of Tochigi Brex Domestic Player of the Year: Kosuke Kanamaru (193-F/G-89) of Aishin SH Import Player of the Year: Nick Fazekas (211-F-85) of Toshiba BT Defensive Player of the Year: Gavin Edwards (206-F/C-88) of Aishin SH Coach of the Year: Kimikazu Suzuki of Aishin SH
Aishin Sea Horses celebrated the NBL title. They held off Toyota Alvark in the fourth game of the Finals to win the series 3-1. The hosts trailed by 3 points after first quarter, but they rallied back to get the 8-point lead at the halftime and eventually won the game 88-82. Aishin Sea Horses dominated down low during the game scoring 58 of its points in the paint compared to Toyota Alvark's 38. Great defensive blocking was one of the keys in this match when Aishin Sea Horses made 8 blocks. Worth to mention a great performance of the former international center J.R. Sakuragi (206-76, college: UCLA) who helped to win the game recording 26 points and 6 rebounds and American power forward Gavin Edwards (206-88, college: Connecticut) who added 20 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks during the contest. Aishin Sea Horses' coach used a ten-player rotation which allowed the starters a little rest for the next games. At the losing side American forward Michael Parker (202-81, college: Evergreen St.) responded with 10 points and 9 rebounds and the former international forward Daiki Tanaka (191-91) scored 16 points. Five Toyota Alvark players scored in double figures. Top scorers: Aishin SH: J.Sakuragi 26+6reb+2ast, G.Edwards 20+12reb, K.Kanamaru 18+3reb, S.Kashiwagi 9+3reb+2ast, M.Hiejima 6+1reb+2ast, S.Morrison 6+5reb Toyota Alvark: D.Tanaka 16+4reb+1ast, K.Matsui 14+3reb+3ast, X.Gibson 13+1reb, J.Gibbs 11+9reb, M.Parker 10+9reb+3ast, S.Kikuchi 6+4reb
gschID: 393538
M'Baye runs riot in NBL All-Star Game - Jan 18, 2015
Japanese basketball has been plagued by negative news lately, like the FIBA suspension and managerial changes of the Tsukuba Robots and Wakayama Trians. But on this particular day, the players were all smiles for this mid-winter festivity. Mitsubishi Diamond Dolphins forward Amath M'Baye (206-F-89, college: Oklahoma) racked up 44 points to lead Team West to a 127-112 win over Team East in the NBL All-Star Game before a full-house crowd of 3,067 at Ota City General Gymnasium on Sunday. 'At the end of the day, we are all competitors,' M'Baye, who was named MVP of the game, said of his fired-up performance. 'And we all want to win, regardless if it's a game like the All-Star Game or not. And obviously I hate to lose. I hate to lose in a game, I hate to lose in practice, I hate to lose in the All-Star Game. I hate to lose a regular game. I just don't like losing. I'm glad we came on top. I think we all had a lot of fun in front of the fans.' M'Baye, a University of Oklahoma product who played in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas last July, has averaged a league-high 24.8 points in the regular season. Aisin SeaHorses duo Gavin Edwards (206-F/C-88, college: Connecticut) and Kosuke Kanamaru (193-F/G-89) followed M'Baye with 25 and 21 points, respectively. Sharpshooter Kanamaru, who currently has the highest 3-point percentage (50.0 percent) in the league, went 7-for-12 from behind the 3-point line. For the East, last season's scoring champion Nick Fazekas (211-F-85, college: Nevada), of the Toshiba Brave Thunders, had 22 points and 10 rebounds, followed by 44-year-old legendary shooter and Levanga Hokkaido guard/forward Takehiko Orimo (190-G-70), who had 18 points. Former NBA player and fan favorite Yuta Tabuse (173-G-80, college: BYU-Hawaii) of the Link Tochigi Brex chipped in with nine points and a game-high 11 assists. 'We got beaten by M'Baye,' said Toshiba head coach Takuya Kita, who led the East team on Sunday, with a bitter smile. 'He's the kind of guy who's really tough to stop, even if you're prepared well against him. We came into this game with little scouting, and we just let (M'Baye) do whatever he wanted to do out there.' Tabuse said: 'It was a lot of fun to play along with the players who I usually don't get to play with. Some guys were good at shooting and some were good at dunking, and we were able to show plays that we don't normally do.' Meanwhile, Daiki Terashita (190-F-80) of the Trians and Kazuyuki Nakagawa (180-PG-82) of the Robots also received some of the spotlight because of what happened to their clubs earlier this season. The pair were the only players representing their respective teams in the All-Star Game. Terashita was selected for the game as a last-minute substitution for Yu Abe, who decided to leave the Trians to become a free agent. 'I was happy to be here, because our team banner might not have been hung up there (inside the arena) today,' said Terashita, who had two points and six rebounds. 'But our team will keep existing and I'm excited about it, and I'm sure our boosters are pleased as well.' Before the All-Star Game, 3-point and slam dunk contests warmed up the audience. Kanamaru put up 19 points to triumph in the 3-point contest, while M'Baye was crowned as the dunk king. The NBL regular season will resume on Wednesday. Courtesy of: japantimes.co.jp
Japanese NBL All-Star Game 2015 rosters - Jan 15, 2015
