KOBE (Japan) - Joshua Hawkinson showcased his all-around brilliance to help Japan get off to a hot start in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers with a 90-64 conquest of Chinese Taipei, Friday night.
The bruising big man finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 assists, plus 2 steals and 1 block as he was crucial in their hot start toward the blowout that left their fans at the Glion Arena Kobe with much satisfaction.
Turning point
The home team zoomed to a 23-10 lead to end the game's first 10 minutes and that came about thanks to his conscious effort to facilitate for his teammates as he dished 5 of his dame in the opening period alone.
Assist no. 5 even turned into a highlight-worthy play as it led to a three-point play conversion by Keisei Tominaga, which also pushed their lead to 20-8 with 1:14 to go and thus set the tone for the one-sided affair.
Hawkinson would also be responsible in pushing the margin to 30 points, 65-35, approaching the final minute of the third canto as he manufactured six consecutive points, four of which came from the free throw line.
Key players
But it wasn't all Hawkinson for Team Japan as the others made their mark as well in the triumph. Newly named captain Yuta Watanabe top-scored for the squad with 20 points alongside 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
Yudai Baba came through with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor, while Keisei Tominaga fired 13 points off the bench - spiked by a pair of three-pointers - and also collected 5 rebounds and 2 assists.
Stats don't lie
Japan shot above 40-percent from the field and that's credit to the way they shared the ball, as proven by their 29 assists. They also dominated the rebounding battle with 49, which was 16 more than their visitors' output.
But defense also played a major role in the rout as the squad forced their counterparts to commit 19 turnovers, huge thanks to the 10 steals and 4 blocks they chalked up. They went on to convert 25 points off those TOs.
Bottomline
This is now Japan's sixth consecutive win against Chinese Taipei in FIBA competitions, a streak that dates back to the World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers' First Round - the same stage where they last lost to the same foes.
They said
"Really proud of our team. We came together on a short schedule, the players just were on a mission. We're on a mission for tonight. And I think they executed the game plan to a tee from the beginning. Baba really disrupted their offense, his on-ball defense was really good. We didn't give up straight-line drives to the basket. Everybody was playing together on the defensive end. It was very nice. And I just told the team, some of the loose balls, diving on the floor, you could tell everybody wanted to win this game." - Tom Hovasse, Head Coach, Japan
"Like Coach said, our execution was great both offensively and defensively. Obviously, Chinese Taipei is a great team with great talent, but we played our game. Like Coach said, I feel like we wanted it more out there - diving for loose balls, rebounding, stuff like that. All those small things, we did it, and we did it greatly. We won by 25 tonight but that doesn't mean we can win the next game in Chinese Taipei so we have to be ready for the next game." - Yuta Watanabe, Team Captain, Japan
FIBA