There are no easy games when Dai Oketani and Honoo Hamaguchi are on opposite benches.
Their familiarity with each other's coaching acumen and their competitive spirits fuel this ongoing rivalry.
After working in opposite conferences over the past few years — with Oketani elevating the Eastern Conference's Iwate Big Bulls to a title contender and Hamaguchi guiding the Kyoto Hannaryz to sustained excellence in the Western Conference — they renewed their rivalry as two Kansai-based coaches this season, supervising a pair of title-chasing West teams. (And credit Oketani and the team's advisory coach, Bill Cartwright, for transforming the Osaka Evessa into a legitimate contender in their first season as the leadership tandem with the club.)