MANILA (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers) - To say that the final Asian Qualifiers window was action-packed would be an understatement, especially considering the incredible performances of some teams and players.

Here are some of the milestones that were reached and set over the the first two days of play.

Let's begin with some rather records of futility that, hopefully, will help the following teams do better in their future campaigns

First, in Kazakhstan's 81-60 loss to Australia, the Steppen Wolves' bench managed to score a total of just 4 points the entire game. That tied the lowest bench scoring total for the entire Asian Qualifiers.

Next, there have been seven times in the Asian Qualifiers when teams didn't even reach the 50-point threshold by the end of the game. Unfortunately for Qataris, four of those games came from their national team.

With that done, let's move on to the players and teams who actually did really well over days 1 and 2.

It wasn't all bad for Kazakhstan. New naturalized player Anthony Clemmons was a revelation, scoring 31 points against the Boomers, and that point total is a team-high for the Kazakhs in the entire Asian Qualifiers. Clemmons actually scored 51.7% of Kazakhstan’s points in that loss to Australia, which is the highest scoring percentage for a player the Asian Qualifiers.

It wasn't just Clemmons who went on a scoring binge, though.

The entire Japanese team, for instance, scored 55 points in the first half alone against Iran on 21 February, which was the first time the Akatsuki Five managed to score more than 50 points in the first half of any Asian Qualifiers fixture.

In that same game, one Iranian player - Mohammad Jamshidi - also lit it up. Jamshidi scored 19 points in the first period and ended the game with 33 points, which is the most for an Iranian player in any Asian Qualifiers contest so far.

Not to be outdone, of course, the Japanese had their own scoring dynamos. Naturalized center Nick Fazekas scored more than 25 points for the fourth time in five Asian Qualifiers matches, while Makoto Hiejima also impressed by scoring 24 points - his personal best in all his Asian Qualifiers appearances.

 
There were other players, however, who did more than score.

Jordanian guard Dar Tucker registered his first double-double of the Asian Qualifiers in their rousing win over China. Tucker put up 32 points, which is also his best tally so far, to go along with 11 rebounds and 5 assists. He is just the second player in Asia to do so in these Asian Qualifiers after Ra GunA did it against Hong Kong last year.

And speaking of Ra, he was also pretty awesome, recording 25 points and a dozen rebounds in their win over Syria. That was his seventh double-double in nine Asian Qualifiers games, which is more than any other Asian player.

Lastly, another guy who collected a double-double was returning Philippines player Andray Blatche, who had 17 points, 15 boards and 7 assists in their lopsided win over Qatar. He was also the third player in Asia to score 15+ points, grab 15+ rebounds and make 5+ assists in a game after Ra and Iran’s Hamed Haddadi.

 
FIBA