Feeling streaky: Can Japan, Korea maintain their winning ways?

TOKYO/SEOUL - As the second window of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers approaches, there will be two winning streaks to keep your eyes on. It’s never easy to log a string of consecutive wins in International play, but there are two teams in Asia that have dragged along impressive streaks that are still active heading into the next window.

These two teams are Korea and Japan who are currently on a win streak of 10 games and 9 games, respectively, in FIBA Asia competitions. These streaks coincidentally started one day apart from each other during the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers. Both teams have continued to record win after win since without fail.

Can they keep it going through the Asia Cup Qualifiers?

Prelude

Before starting off their win streaks, Japan and Korea found themselves in somewhat similar situations.

Korea had lost two of their previous three games in the World Cup Qualifiers. Their most recent loss was against New Zealand, coming just off of Ra Guna’s national team debut against Hong Kong.

Their spirits weren’t dampened, however, as they had already beaten the “Tall Blacks” in the first game of the World Cup Qualifiers and were still riding that wave.

Japan, on the other hand, had tipped off their World Cup Qualifiers campaign roughly. The Akatsuki Five had suffered four straight losses, including a 70-69 heart breaker to Chinese Taipei at home.

These two teams needed to turn things around in a hurry as the schedule was only about to get tougher.

Start of the Streak

The win that would spark things off for both teams could not have been tougher, all the while coming off of tough losses.

Korea were scheduled for an away game against China, who they had already lost to earlier at home. China were tough to beat at home and they had lined up some hopeful stars like Wang Zhelin and Abudushalamu Abudurexiti.

Japan had a home game, but it was against Asia Cup 2017 champions Australia who at that point were on a 10-game win streak of their own in FIBA Asia competitions. The Boomers had already handled Japan in Adelaide 82-58 and it was expected that this upcoming game would result in a similar outcome.

On June 28, 2018, Korea pulled of their upset, 82-74.

 

The immediate day after on June 29, 2018, Japan then pulled off one of the biggest upset of the Qualifiers by beating Australia, 79-78.

Picking up steam

The first wins of both streaks were obviously tough, but that doesn’t mean the victories that came after were handed to them on a silver platter.

Japan were able to beat Asia Cup 2017 Finalists Iran both at home and on the road, while also logging convincing wins over Kazakhstan and Qatar. In their first game of the Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers, they were once again dominant in another win over Chinese Taipei.

All In all, Japan’s win streak in FIBA Asia competitions stretched to 9 games with an impressive margin of victory on average of 24.3 points per game.

Korea had a relatively bumpier road through their streak. Aside from having to beat a strong Jordan squad twice, they also had to beat a determined Lebanon team who had their World Cup hopes on the line.

Nonetheless, Korea have been able to keep their win streak alive with 10 games, winning by an average of 16.8 points per contest.

Stars of the Streak

Being strong and resilient enough to maintain this level of success obviously requires a team effort from coaches to players to staff. Everyone has to pitch in their part to be able to secure win after win.

However, it’s also undeniable that there are certain stars from both teams that played major roles during this streak.

For Japan, it’s easy to point to Nick Fazekas and Rui Hachimura as the two key stars that started things off. Both made their World Cup Qualifiers debuts in that historic win against Australia that started everything. Fazekas played in a total of 6 games, averaging 27.2 points and 12.5 rebounds per game. Hachimura appeared in 4 games and displayed his impact, good for 21.5 points and 6.0 boards per game on 57.6 percent shooting.

For Korea, it was Ra Guna who helped the team flip the script. Korea lost only one game in the World Cup Qualifiers when Ra suited up and he was one of the most productive players across all regions. The numbers are hard to deny, as Ra put up 26.7 points and 12.5 rebounds in 10 games played.

Don’t want to miss a thing

Aside from the monster numbers produced by the stars mentioned above, both teams benefitted from having steady contributions from key players that have appeared in (nearly) all of the games during their winning streaks.

Daiki Tanaka, Joji Takeuchi, Makoto Hiejima, and Yuki Togashi have all been a part of the win streak from start to finish, including the recent win over Chinese Taipei in the Asia Cup Qualifiers.

Hiejima has been spectacular, as expected, with a scoring average of 11.3 points per game throughout this whole streak.

For Korea, it is their all-around forward Lee Seounghyun who has played in all of their 10 straight wins so far. He’s always been the guy who glues the pieces of the team together and is a key part with 5.9 points per game to his name during this win streak.

Next Up

The difficulty level is about to kick it up another notch for both teams.

In the second window of the Asia Cup Qualifiers, Japan will face Malaysia on November 27 before a marquee matchup against China on November 29.

Korea’s schedule isn’t any easier as they open the window with a rivalry clash against the Philippines on November 28. If they survive that test, they will then face Indonesia on November 30.

Will both of these teams be able to keep their streaks alive when the dust settles in Window 2?

FIBA