Match Report
Japan's women's basketball team kept their Asian Games campaign spotless with an 89-67 victory over the Philippines on September 22. Three wins from three games means the hosts sit top of the table, and by then the gap between first and second place was already visible.
Eighty-nine points against sixty-seven isn't a close contest, and the result tells you everything about tonight's match. The Philippines had beaten Hong Kong 90-73 on their previous outing, so they weren't the side to roll over easily. They just didn't travel to make up the numbers against a team that had been playing at a different level.
Looking at the Philippines' recent results, they've shown they can score — ninety against Hong Kong is no small thing. But tonight they found themselves chasing from the opening tip. And here's the thing about tournaments like this: you can beat anyone on a given night, then find yourself out-thought on the touchline when the pressure comes.
Japan's form has been something else entirely. They rattled off 114-37 against Hong Kong and 88-23 against Kazakhstan before those heavier losses to Hungary, Spain and Germany in early September. Three wins in a row at these Games means they're running out of games to prove a point. The table goes out of the window in these knockout stages, but you've got to get there first.
The Philippines sit second with two wins and one defeat, but that single loss tells you more than the position. They've been competitive — seventy-five against Senegal, sixty-one against Mexico — just not quite enough against the top sides. Tonight they'll have to look at what went wrong and fix it before the next fixture.
