Kobe beat Chiba 94-86 at home in the B League on Wednesday evening. Our forecast had called for a Chiba win with 72 per cent confidence and we were wrong. By then the game had already gone its own way.
Chiba sit second in the table with 60 games played, 42 wins and 18 losses. They came into the fixture on a poor run, losing four of their last five, including heavy defeats to Alvark and Tokyo Sunrockers. Kobe, meanwhile, had dropped three of their last four and were looking for a response.
The scoreline tells part of the story. Chiba's recent matches have seen them score 71, 131, 79, 97 and 93 points — and Kobe's 94 sits comfortably inside that range. The visitors have shown they can put up numbers, but they also conceded 96, 138, 95, 92 and 102. Defense was not on their side this evening.
And here's the thing. Kobe had been struggling too, falling to Hiroshima Dragonflies in two straight games and dropping to Osaka. A win like this does not fix everything, but it keeps them in the conversation. Money has come for the hosts in more ways than one, even if it was not the cleanest victory.
The result changes little in the immediate standings. Chiba remain second and Kobe are still outside the top four. But momentum matters more than tables at this stage of the season. Chiba held their nerve in some moments and lost it in others. Kobe ran out of legs at the end, but they held on.
