Tokyo 2020 Wheelchair Basketball: Men's Medals Day Round-Up
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Every day throughout the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, I will be bringing you a round-up of the goings-on in the Wheelchair Basketball event. My Bench Units co-host, James MacSorley, is actually competing in the Paralympics and so has better things to do than write up details of the games.
As you may know, the Tokyo Paralympics are taking place in Tokyo. Tokyo is 8 hours ahead of the UK, so some of the games are happening in the dead of the night for me.
I’m making it my mission to watch as many of the games as I can so I can do the best possible write-ups here. If I don’t get the chance to watch a game, I’ll state that up front and my review will be based on the stats, plus any educated guesses I might have, or anything that sounds plausible enough that I can say I heard it from James and blame him if it’s incorrect. I promise I’m not biased for or against any teams.
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Let’s get into it…
Men’s Bronze: Spain 58 - 68 Great Britain
2am UK Time
Yesterday’s prediction: GB by 7
I have done my absolute best to be as impartial as possible while I’ve been doing these write-ups. I’m naturally inclined to support GB on account of my being English and knowing all the guys on the squad to some extent or other, plus the fact that GB are the only team in the competition to roster two of my Bench Units colleagues.
Let me know how I did at being impartial. I would say that I think I did ok, but it was difficult because two of GB’s wins were one-point nailbiters that required more of an in-depth write-up than Spain outscoring Algeria by 72.
I say let me know how I did, because all my impartiality (just found out that’s a word) is about to go all the way out the window.
Oh my word, what a game. 2am is a preposterous time to watch basketball, and I don’t even care. I was meant to be staying overnight at my parents’ house, and left to come home because I don’t trust their WiFi and I was going to go ape if any part of this game was missed while I looked at the little “buffering” wheel.
Also, I’d very kindly been sent one of these, but had left it at home on the kitchen counter. There’s no way I was going into a late-night viewing party without the appropriate level of repping:
So that brings us to the game itself.
Both teams came out of the blocks like almost every medal game I’ve ever seen; way too much energy, insane levels of intensity, equally insane lack of composure on shot attempts.
Usually, first team that can dial down the nerves and put some consistent baskets and stops together has the edge here, as it tends to continue to dial up the nerves on the other side. That didn’t really happen for the entirety of the first-half, as Spain’s transition and GB’s half-court game battled it out to a 28-30 scoreline at the break.
I don’t know what GB did at half-time, but somebody bottle it. GB came out of the break and won the third quarter 22-10, led by some huge shots from Gregg Warburton (10 points) and Gaz Choudhry (19 points). With a renewed focus on taking away Spain’s interior and transition offense, GB were able to bait both Asier Garcia (8 points on 20 shots) and Jordi Ruiz (8 points on only 6 attempts) into continuing to search for teammates that weren’t getting to their usual spots.
Spain were able to cut GB’s 10-point advantage down to 6 during the fourth quarter but, as they adopted the late-game fouling strategy, Terry Bywater was able to ice the game from the freethrow line to deliver the bronze medal for GB.
For me, GB maximised their players and lineups in a game where they needed every trick in the book, whereas Spain lent into their identity and then lent into it a bit harder as a backup plan. Having options is key, and that was about as clear in this game as I’ve ever seen it. Made most obvious by the fact that GB spent the last 2 minutes of the game subbing Terry in and out for Lee Manning to play optimised offensive and defensive possessions.
Congratulations to the guys. Can’t wait to release the next podcast in video format so you can all see James looking smug with his medal around his neck.
Men’s Gold: USA 64 - 60 Japan
4:30am UK Time
Yesterday’s prediction: USA by 4
The gold medal game should in no way be about me, but would you look at that immaculate predicting.
In what he has since said may well be his final Paralympic appearance, Steve Serio was going out on his terms. The orchestrator of the Team USA offense was never interested in any outcome other than a gold medal and, even after the run they’ve had, Japan weren’t going to be the team to stop him getting one.
Against a Japanese team that gave the reigning Paralympic champions everything they could handle, Serio, who has had a solid but unspectacular tournament, put up 28 points and 9 assists to lead Team USA to a repeat performance.
The USA needed every single drop of his production, and the shot-making of the rest of the squad, to pull this one out. There was no point where this one didn’t feel tight, as it was tied after one quarter, a 5-point USA advantage at half, and a 1-point Japan lead after three.
This game was a study on the impact of veterans in big games. After an entire tournament of riding their energetic young guns for stretches of games, this one was all about Japan’s old-guard as Hiro Kozai (18 points on 60% shooting), Reo Fujimoto (11 points and 6 rebounds) and Kei Akita (9 points) carried most of the load. Meanwhile, Serio was backed up by 13 points from Jake Williams, 9 from Trevon Jennifer and 8 from Brian Bell.
The USA put the game away with freethrows to secure their second straight gold medal, and it was felt like rare moments of calm in a game where speed and incredible chair skills had been the formula for both teams. Japan’s defense has been enough to give them a chance in almost every game this tournament, and holding a high-powered team to 64 points is definitely still that. Japan were one more source of shot creation or shot-making away from stealing this game and winning gold on their home floor. They have enough youth and talent that there’s a very real chance that skill set develops somewhere on the squad.
As for the USA; maybe they didn’t have the sheen of invincibility that I remember them having 5 years ago but, after a tournament where I’ve said they looked mortal on several occasions, they came a single 1-point loss away from going undefeated for the second Paralympics in a row, and ultimately got a win over the team that had made the final on back of two straight upset wins over real medal contenders.
Congratulations to both teams. That final was an unbelievable watch, and that only happens when both teams deserve to be in a game of that magnitude.
Up Tomorrow… Or at some point…
That brings us to the end of the round-up articles, I’m sure you’ll all be relieved/thrilled to hear.
The Bench Units Blog is going to continue to exist here on Substack, even if we don’t yet have a clear idea of what it will next be used for. I would suggest you hit subscribe and get alerts whenever our next post comes out!
If you’ve been a dedicated reader, I can only say thank you and apologise for having wasted so much of your time. If you want to let me know what you thought of this series of blogs, or suggest any content ideas for future then let us hear it in the comments, or bell up our social media.
Peace out!