Chinese-Taipei and China pulled off surprising upsets ahead of their “neutral ground” clash on Thursday evening.
Chinese-Taipei stunned Korea, spoiling the debut of Latvian head coach Nikolajs Mazurs with a 77-65 victory at Xinzhuang Gymnasium while at Okinawa Arena, China did the same to Japan in the debut of coach Dai Oketani, prevailing 87-80.
These wins mark the first for both nations ahead of their showdown at the SM Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday.
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Chinese-Taipei, which lost to Japan in Window 1 by an average margin of 16.5 points, relied on a balanced offensive attack to overwhelm Korea.
“It was an amazing game. We played one of the best games ever since I’m here,” said Chinese-Taipei head coach Gianluca Tucci.
“We played amazing defense. If you consider that Korea scored an average of 85 points per game against China in the previous window, and they scored just 65 [against us] you can realize how huge was our focus, aggressiveness and efficiency of strategy in defense.”
Brandon Gilbeck anchored the Taiwanese squad with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting, adding 15 rebounds and three blocks.
Benson Lin also caught fire, scoring 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
Ray Chen and Samuel Manu contributed 13 points each, combining for 11 rebounds, as Chinese-Taipei maintained a double-digit lead for most of the second half.
China, on the other hand, overcame a slow start that saw them trail 21-11 early and 47-33 at halftime.
They tightened their defense in the second half, holding Japan to just nine third-quarter points. Hu Jinqiu, Zhao Jiwei, and Liao Sanning hit clutch baskets down the stretch to secure the win.
“First half, we did play horribly because we didn’t do two things well. First of all, the players were a little bit nervous. Secondly, we didn’t do well on the defensive execution, which is why we were down by a lot of points. At half-time in the locker room, I told my players we have to trust each other, trust our team, and trust our Chinese Basketball,” said China head coach Guo Shiqiang.
“We have a great tradition of the national team from the old generation. So we have to believe in each other, pick up the intensity, and guard the opponents according to the personnel. That’s how we came back in the second half.”
Hu led the charge with 20 points on 9-of-10 shooting and 12 rebounds. Liao added 16 points and five assists, Zhao scored 14,
He Xining had 12, and Zha Rui contributed 10 points, eight of which came from the free-throw line.
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Japan’s offense struggled, with Yudai Nishida and Keisei Tominaga scoring 14 points apiece but shooting a combined 11-of-29 from the field.
Yuta Watanabe chipped in 13 points and six rebounds.
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For Korea, Lee Hyunjung led with 18 points and five rebounds but fouled out late. Yu Kisang added 13 points as Korea shot a poor 31.5% from the field.
Korea will face Japan in Okinawa on Sunday.
