The Hiroshima Lightning's rapid-fire 3-point shooting failed to product the desire result on Friday.
The visiting Osaka Evessa dominated on the boards and handed the Lightning a 99-81 defeat, the team's 33rd straight loss.
Hiroshima (1-38) made 16 of 41 3s in the bj-league series opener in Yamaguchi.
Osaka, though, controlled the inside and out-rebounded the hosts 61-28.
The Lightning trailed 54-31 at halftime.
DeAngelo Hamilton paced the Evessa (29-14) with 22 points and 14 rebounds. Takuya Soma scored 16 points and Narito Namizato and Naoki Hashimoto both had 13, while Lawrence "Trend" Blackledge contributed 12 points, eight boards, five assists, three blocks and two steals.
For Hiroshima, Takuya Nakajima had 20 points. He shot 6-for-18 from beyond the arc. Teammate Tetsuya Maemura finished with 18 points, including five 3s.
Phoenix 101, Rizing 78
In Fukuoka, Kejuan Johnson's 23-point, five-assist effort and reigning champion Hamamatsu Higashimikawa's 69.2 percent shooting from 2-point range was too much for the hosts to overcome.
Johnson was 11-for-14 at the free-throw line, and the Phoenix (29-13) earned their second victory in as many days.
DeAngelo Kirkland and Shingo Okada added 15 points apiece for Hamamatsu, which led 52-32 entering the third quarter. Masahiro Oguchi scored 11 points and Shuto Tawatari chipped in with nine. Reggie Warren contributed seven points, 11 rebounds and four assists.
Donnavan Kirk scored 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting and Cohey Aoki had 15 points for the Rizing (14-30). Jun Nakanishi and Taishiro Shimizu finished with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Fukuoka had 20 turnovers and dropped its 12th consecutive game.