Due to one of the quirks of the league schedule, the Toyama Grouses won't face the reigning champion Ryukyu Golden Kings during the regular season. But they've fared quite well against other elite clubs.

Toyama is a combined 8-2 against a quartet of title contenders: 4-0 against Eastern Conference-leading Iwate (35-9), 2-0 vs. East No. 2 Akita (34-10), 1-1 against West No. 3 Hamamatsu (34-10) and 1-1 against West-leading Kyoto (37-7). What's more, they are 16-6 on the road, tied for the second-fewest away defeats among the East's Dirty Dozen.

Over the past two weeks, the Grouses (31-13, third in the East), guided by third-year bench boss Bob Nash, reminded the league of its mettle and moxie, sweeping the Big Bulls, 81-68 and 81-79 on March 14 and 15 on the road, followed by 91-82 and 94-82 home decisions over the Northern Happinets last weekend.

"We set a very high standard for ourselves," Nash, a former NBA forward, told The Japan Times in a Tuesday phone interview, "Sometimes we reach the target, and sometimes we fall short."

Looking at one of the team's keys to success during its current four-game winning streak, Nash said, "These past two weekends we did a very good job of moving the basketball and sharing the basketball."

That has been a trademark, though. And without massive coverage in the national media spotlight, the Grouses have quietly become one of the league's better teams. Their ascension began with the addition of reigning regular-season MVP Masashi Joho for the 2011-12 season, and they took another big step by hiring Nash, a longtime fixture on the University of Hawaii men's basketball coaching staff, the next season.

Toyama, which entered the league for the 2006-07 season, advanced to the Final Four for the first time in franchise history last spring.

That, of course, remains their target once again.

In May, the Grouses will compete in the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season. But the 64-year-old Nash, meanwhile, keeps his charges focused on the immediate task in front of them.

"We just play one possession at a time, one game at time," Nash said. "We just try to stay in the moment."

Joho helps set the tone. He is averaging a team-high 17.6 points a game. He scored a career-high 17.4 ppg last season and led the team in that category.

The Hokkaido native is the 22-team league's lone Japanese player leading his team in scoring. And after missing seven games with a knee injury from late November to mid-December, Joho returned to the lineup for the second game of the team's eight-game winning streak that carried over into 2015.

A key component of Nash's system is balanced scoring. The team's veterans understand this and play a disciplined brand of ball.

Big men Joe Werner (13.7 ppg) and Sam Willard (13.0) anchor the low post, the latter was an important offseason acquisition, while former University of Arizona forward Jamelle Horne (12.2) brings muscle and athleticism to the mix, joined by fellow double-digit scorers Takeshi Mito (10.5) and Tatsunori Fujie (10.2).

Since his arrival last month, newcomer Jermaine Dixon has had 10 games in a Grouses uniform, contributing 3.7 points and 3.1 assists in about 15 minutes a game off the bench.

The talented scorer and dynamic playmaker, Dixon, a former Hamamatsu, Gunma and Shinshu standout, and his teammates have gone through an adjustment period, Nash said.

"He's doing a good job of learning what we need from him," the coach added.

One key measuring stick of the Grouses' consistency and ability to follow Nash's instructions is this: 749 assists and 515 turnovers.

Nash didn't need to deliver a long-winded lecture on why his team has done a good job taking care of the basketball. The team's ever-present plan is to "give the ball to the guy with the best chance to score," Nash said.

"We are pleased with the way things are turning out," Nash said. "But we just try to be competitive in every game."

Various injury setbacks have hampered the Grouses this season, but "now guys are just getting healthy," Nash said, with the team preparing for the season's stretch run (eight more games) and the playoffs.

Nash said recent series against Akita and Iwate gave his team playoff-like tests,and he said he'll keep emphasizing the point that "you have to prepare" to have success in the postseason.

"The thing I look at and keep telling the guys is that these are playoff games," Nash said, even if the league's official schedule doesn't say so.

League accolade: Sendai's Kejuan Johnson is the latest recipient of the Lawson/Ponta Weekly MVP award, it was announced on Tuesday. The Long Beach State product had 30 points, 10 rebounds, 10 steals (tying a league record) and six assists on Saturday against Yokohama. He finished with 31 points, 11 rebounds and six assists a day later as the 89ers (30-14) won their eighth straight game.

Upcoming games: Weekend action tips off on Friday, with Fukuoka playing host to Hamamatsu, and the following matchups slated to start a day later: Tokyo vs. Sendai, Iwate vs. Aomori, Akita vs. Shinshu, Niigata vs. Toyama, Saitama vs. Gunma, Yokohama vs. Fukushima, Nara vs. Shiga, Takamatsu vs. Oita and Ryukyu vs. Kyoto.

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