Tokyo 2020 Wheelchair Basketball: Day 2 Round-Up
Do we have a tournament favourite yet?
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…
USA 58 - 55 Germany (Men)
1am UK Time. Did not watch.
Yesterday’s prediction: USA by 23
Well, you have no idea how sad I was to wake up and see that I'd missed this one.
I'd thought about staying up to watch this, but I tried to be responsible and ended up missing out. Let that be a lesson.
I’ve had it pointed out to me that the game can be found at this link but, for some reason, it tells me that that video isn’t available in my region. I didn’t watch it, so I’ll pull some bullet points from what I’ve heard and what the stats say:
John Boie (1.0) played all 40 minutes for the USA. I do not remember a game where the USA didn’t take their low out and go to their mid-point pressing lineup for at least one stint in each half.
Thomas Bohme is exactly the type of player (ball-dominant shooting mid) that the USA’s roster is built to shut down. His disinterest in that particular team-building philosophy was palpable. Most USA games don’t involve the other team’s best player getting anywhere close to leading their team in scoring.
Quiet game from Alex Halouski, only getting 8 points in 24 minutes. Says something for Germany that they pushed the USA this close when one of their main guys was pretty well stifled.
Josh Turek is the man. That is all.
USA had to win each of the two quarters to come away with the narrow win. I wonder if this was a case of them easing into the tournament and turning it on when they had to but, having looked at the stats, I think this might have just been a well-played, tough game from Germany that stunned the USA a little bit.
Germany 77 - 58 Australia (Women)
1am UK Time. Did not watch.
Yesterday’s prediction: Germany by 37
Completing the double early shift for Germany, the women went out and got a convincing win over Australia.
For a relatively one-sided game, the teams’ duos of forwards actually played each other almost to a draw. Mareike Miller and Katharina Lang put up a combined 44 points and 20 rebounds for Germany, while Amber Merritt and Georgia Munroe-Cook had 41 and 17 for Australia.
While both of these combined statlines just look more or less like a night’s work for Canada’s Kady Dandeneau, it was the depth of Germany that made the difference. Their role-players finished off at a percentage that Australia couldn’t match, and they won the turnover battle 8 to 19.
Sometimes, basketball is really simple. Doing enough to support the 30 points provided by your star player is about as straight-forward as it gets.
Canada 47 - 78 Spain (Men)
3:15am UK Time. Did not watch.
Yesterday’s prediction: Spain by 9
It’s one game in, and I’m struggling to find reasons to believe in Canada other than that Patrick Anderson will be undeniably great until he decides otherwise.
I’ve had a hard time believing in Canada ever since the initial bump of Pat coming back. They finished 12th at the 2018 worlds, kind of second-by-default at the following Americas Cup, and generally don’t have a rotation of guys that fill you with intrigue. Me and James talked about them and how they might win any game if basketball was half-court and there was no transition, as we guessed they’d struggle with mobile opponents. This result has me questioning that theory.
The caveat is that Pat only played 22 minutes, and that Spain used a 22-7 final quarter to turn a decided game into a blowout. But still, this is way off from what I expected. I thought Canada might take some of the interior game away from Spain, but that’s exactly where most of Spain’s scoring came from. Asier Garcia took 25 shots, which seems a high number for him.
Not a lot on the Canada side to cover. When your top scorer is also a -35, you’re in for a long one.
Japan 54 - 48 Great Britain (Women)
3:15am UK Time. Did not watch.
Yesterday’s prediction: GB by 11
Before anybody questions my commitment because I didn’t get up to watch GB play, I would like to explicitly state that a dear friend of mine told me not to. It wasn’t just anybody. She plays for the GB Women. Do with that what you will.
Also, if you’re questioning my commitment, I’ll take this chance to remind you that I’m writing this sentence at 20:37 on a Thursday evening, and I’d have had this finished sooner if I didn’t feel the need to explain myself to you.
Anyway, game stuff.
Tough game for GB, who weren’t able to pull the win out even when holding Mari Amimoto to a relatively quiet game (8pts/8rebs/6ast), and winning the final quarter by enough to make it close in the closing minutes.
Another game for the girls with only one player scoring in double-figures. I’m the first to say that there are a million factors in any basketball game other than points totals, but that can be a tough hill to climb.
Japan also only had one double-figure scorer, as Ikumi Fujii matched Helen Freeman’s 14. The difference could well have been that Japan had 22 assists on 24 made baskets, and that kind of shot creation can make up a lot of ground, especially when you lose the turnover battle (18 to 11).
I can’t really decide whether this game answers my question from yesterday about if Japan can pull a game out against one of the contenders, as I’m not positive that GB have established that status yet. I think you can tell that the GB squad haven’t played competitive games for a long time, so maybe the rust will come off in time for them to string some wins together.
Great Britain 70 - 47 Algeria (Men)
6:45am UK Time
Yesterday’s prediction: GB by 46
Solid, if slightly scrappy, win for the GB men, as they won all four quarters against Algeria.
Very balanced scoring, with 11 of the 12 putting points on the board and nobody scoring more than 11 points personal. Shots also came from all over the floor and lineup configurations didn’t seem to restrict the offense in any unit.
On the Algeria side, I feel compelled to point out that Omar Zidi is an absolute Ox. That guy is out there as almost always the one true big on his team, and doesn’t ever seem at all discouraged, even when going up against Lee Manning. He probably doesn’t have the shot creators around him to put up big stats at a tournament as tough as the Paralympics, but he’s pretty unrecognised for how good of a player he is.
Australia 81 - 39 I.R. Iran (Men)
6:45am UK Time
Yesterday’s prediction: Australia by 17
So, guess I didn’t do my homework on this one.
Didn’t find out until I put the game on that Iran have come to the Paralympics without their four best players. Omid Hadhiazar, Morteza Abedi and Morteza Ebrahemi were the driving force behind their fourth-place finish in 2018, and Vahid Gholamazad was last seen doing a Godzilla impression all over Champions Cup 2021.
None of those guys are showing up, and so Iran might be in for a long tournament. The Aussies aren’t much of a sympathetic group, and they didn’t hang around in putting Iran away, winning the opening quarter by 20 and never looking back.
Australia have leant into the more mobile lineup over the last few years, but this game felt a bit retro as Tristan Knowles and Brett Stibners ran the show for their second unit. Both these guys have still got it, and watching Stibners shoot the ball is a delight.
USA 68 - 34 Spain (Women)
9am UK Time
Yesterday’s prediction: USA by 26
After a tough loss yesterday, the USA Women bounced back with a not-that-up-for-discussion win over Spain.
After struggling against the Netherlands’ size, the USA never let Spain’s bigs establish their presence inside, holding their two primary scoring options to a combined 19 points on 31 shots.
All five of the American starters were between +21 and +33, and the only negative in their rotation was a -1. Pretty safe winning formula.
Oh, and Rose Hollermann is still lethal. Spain had no answer.
Republic of Korea 70 - 80 Turkey (Men)
9am UK Time
Yesterday’s prediction: Turkey by 6
Pretty close with my prediction on this one. Korea may well be fulfilling the destiny I designated them, as they bank another good performance against a good team but can’t pull it off.
A dude is playing for Korea who is 49 years old. What a trooper. He made his Paralympic in Sydney 2000, same as Terry Bywater, and is a full 11 years older than Terry is. Played heavy minutes as well. They don’t make them like they used to.
Both teams stuck to their starting 5 for almost the entire game, and foul trouble really hurt Korea from the third quarter onwards. They cut the game to four on a couple of occasions, but don’t seem to have enough outside shooting to really keep a run going.
I always think this is the tournament where Turkey’s aging core can’t possibly put together one last hurrah, but apparently they disagree. Ozgur Gurbulak is pretty much what he’s always been, and the set of role-players playing maybe the most well-defined roles anywhere in wheelchair basketball just finish relentlessly.
Special mention to Ismail Ar (19pts/6reb/6ast). Low pointers like that guy are gold-dust.
China 45 - 38 Netherlands (Women)
12:30pm UK Time
Yesterday’s prediction: Netherlands by 16
I do not mean any disrespect to any athletes involved in this game when I say that it reminded me of a very specific game that I played in once. It was in Division 3, over in Everton, when I was 13 or 14. It was 4-0 at the end of the first quarter and my dad, the greatest supporter at all stops of my basketball non-career, got up and went for an extended walk because he simply couldn’t bear to watch.
This game was like that. A rock-fight. A game that even a comically misguided father couldn’t love. It was a tough, tough watch. For 37 minutes.
China scored 19 points in the fourth quarter (the highest scoring quarter for either team), and 11 of them came in the final 3 minutes. The Chinese guards made four straight shots from around 15-18 foot range. It was bizarre, and the Dutch couldn’t keep up with the flurry after struggling for offense themselves.
That 3 minute stretch from the Chinese team was more points than they’d managed in any of the previous 3 quarters. To carry on the statistical weirdness; I called Netherlands by 16, which is approximately 16 more points than they scored in the entire third quarter. I really can’t explain.
Mind-bending upset win for the Chinese over the reigning world champions. Don’t read too much into this.
Colombia 56 - 63 Japan (Men)
12:30pm UK Time
Yesterday’s prediction: Japan by 12
I picked Colombia to lose this game. I picked Colombia to miss the quarter finals. What I didn’t know is that, if I was picking a team to do anything with from hang out and grab a drink to back me up in a street-fight, I’d have a hard time picking against Colombia.
First off, their kit is all swirly and spirally like they’re trying to hypnotise you. Secondly, Daniel Diaz has hair like he is in that nu-metal band Korn, who were never any good but adequately held down the early-2000’s scene of white guys with braids.
All that considered, Japan won the game, and Renshi Chokai (also with cool hair now) is a bad, bad man. He’s sitting a little differently now, and seems to have given Japan some of the burst and juice that their traditionally deliberate offense has lacked.
I was high on Japan coming in to the tournament, thinking that centralisation might have turned them into a dark horse for the competition. If it has, this game didn’t quite show it. I don’t know what it is about them, but playing ugly seems to be in their DNA. It’s not a bad thing, but it doesn’t give know-it-alls such as myself a whole lot to read into when your game plan lends itself to the final result being in the 7-12 point range regardless of who you play. Shout-out London Titans.
Following today’s games, I’d still say that Japan are a lock to make the quarters. Colombia actually have a real chance to make it if they can steal a win against a favoured team. They have enough talent.
Up Tomorrow…
Borrowing an old Bench Units gimmick that myself and Ben Fox (also in Tokyo - really need some colleagues who aren’t too good for me) used for the World Championships in 2018, I’m going to list out tomorrow’s schedule and my predictions for the results, based on almost nothing at all.
1am - Canada vs Japan (Women)Â -Â Canada by 28
1am - Algeria vs Australia (Men)Â -Â Australia by 22
3:15am - Netherlands vs Algeria (Women)Â -Â Netherlands by 52
3:15am - Turkey vs Canada (Men)Â -Â Turkey by 2, in OT
6:45am - Spain vs Colombia (Men)Â -Â Spain by 8
6:45am - Germany vs Great Britain (Men)Â -Â GB by 4
9am - I.R. Iran vs USA (Men)Â -Â USA by 22
9am - Spain vs China (Women)Â -Â China by 12
12:30m - Japan vs Republic of Korea (Men)Â - Japan by 2
12:30pm - Great Britain vs Germany (Women)Â -Â Germany by 15
That’s all from me! If you’re staying up to watch, I salute you and get a life.
Don't do Korn like that 😂