SeaHorses upset Alvark to book place in NBL Finals
The Aisin SeaHorses prevailed when things mattered most as they knocked the No. 1 seed Toyota Alvark out of the postseason with an 84-79 victory in Game 2 of the NBL playoff semifinals at Yoyogi National Gymnasium No. 2 on Sunday. The reigning league champion ...
Aisin edges Toyota in Game 1 of NBL semifinals
Bench players Tomoya Hasegawa and Shinsuke Kashiwagi came through to lead the Aisin SeaHorses past the Toyota Alvark with a 69-67 victory in Game 1 of the their NBL playoff semifinal series at Yoyogi National Gymnasium No. 2 on Saturday. Aisin, the reigning league champion, ...
Center Richard Solomon led the Toyota Alvark with 18 points and eight rebounds and young Japanese ace Daiki Tanaka finished with 15 points as Toyota beat the Chiba Jets 77-74 to complete a sweep of the their best-of-three series in the first round of ...
Alvark, Brex enter NBL playoffs as top teams
Before the B. League, a brand-new men's top hoop circuit in Japan, tips off next season, the NBL launches its playoffs this weekend. The Toyota Alvark and Link Tochigi Brex, who battled for the top spot in the standings throughout the regular season, are in ...
Alvark coach Ito sticks with predecessor's focus on defense
This season, the Toyota Alvark have played under a new head coach, Takuma Ito, and they've had remarkable success. The 33-year-old, who had been an assistant under sideline supervisor Donald Beck the last five seasons, has led the Alvark to an NBL-best 46-8 record through ...
Japanese hoops waking up to skill training
Japanese athletes have always been labeled inferior in size and power, forcing them to rely on skill and technique to compete on the international stage. But here's the question: Is their skill and technique really cutting-edge? And are they enough to make them competitive at ...
Dream Games provide taste of sport's future in Japan
It's been obvious for many years that Japan's basketball leaders needed to take bigger, bolder steps to promote the game across the archipelago. After all, marquee events and ambitious, big-scale marketing are essential to broaden interest in the sport, propelling it from a niche audience ...
JBA announces preseason exhibition showcase between top NBL, bj-league teams
Last season's four championship finalists from the NBL and bj-league will compete on Sept. 13 in Tokyo, the Japan Basketball Association announced on Monday. In the event, dubbed the "NBL-bj-league Dream Games," the NBL champion Aisin SeaHorses and bj-league winner Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix will square ...
Aisin beats Toyota, wraps up NBL title
Needing just one more win, the Aisin SeaHorses wasted no time to extend the best-of-five series into a decisive game. Instead, they clinched the NBL championship in front of their loyal fans, who traveled from Aichi Prefecture. The Western Conference club seized its first league ...
Kanamaru explodes in Game 3 to put SeaHorses on brink of NBL title
Aisin's Japanese ace Kosuke Kanamaru put his previous struggles emphatically behind him, scoring a team-high 29 points in the SeaHorses' 81-69 win over the Toyota Alvark in Game 3 of the NBL Finals at Yoyogi National Gymnasium Annex on Monday night. With the victory, Aisin ...
Gritty Alvark beat SeaHorses in Game 2 to tie NBL Finals
The Toyota Alvark dragged the SeaHorses into their own preferred style of contest — a tenacious defensive battle — and pulled even in the NBL Finals with a 69-66 win over Aisin in Sunday's Game 2 at Yoyogi National Gymnasium Annex. The best-of-five series will ...
Hitachi forces decisive Game 3 against Toyota in NBL semifinals
The Hitachi Sunrockers snapped an epic winning streak by the Toyota Alvark. More importantly, they've got another game to play on Monday, and that was all that mattered to them. League MVP and center Josh Heytvelt had 27 points and 10 rebounds and forward Aki Chambers ...
