The Aisin Sea Horses have inarguably been the team to beat in the JBL in recent years, but they aren't about to rest on their laurels.
The Aichi Prefecture-based club finished atop the regular season standings, going 34-8, for the sixth straight season, but head coach Kimikazu Suzuki emphasized during a Tuesday news conference at Yoyogi National Gymnasium No. 2 that the postseason is a completely different story.
"We were able to have the best record thanks to the fact that we won so many close games," Suzuki said of his team, which was 9-1 in five-point games in the season. "But the playoffs are completely different from the regular season, and we need to start all over, playing good defense and turning it into good offense. We're going to have to play one game at a time very carefully."