Japan beat Saudi Arabia 106 to 78 in the World Cup on Wednesday evening. The visitors finished 28 points clear after a match where their shooting proved decisive. Saudi Arabia had been searching for consistency, and this result did little to help.
And here's the thing about that gap — it wasn't built in one burst. Japan shot 41 out of 77 from the field while Saudi Arabia managed 29 from 58. The visitors were perfect from the free-throw line, 9 from 9, which matters more than most people realise when games are this one-sided.
To be fair, Saudi Arabia's recent form wasn't encouraging. They'd lost to Qatar 90-70 and Bahrain 100-86 in their previous two matches, and before that had lost to the Philippines 95-88. Three defeats in five games before this one. Japan, meanwhile, had beaten South Korea twice in a row — 95-66 and 88-68 — and were finding their rhythm.
The three-point shooting told the real story. Japan made 15 of 41 attempts, Saudi Arabia 6 of 25. That difference in range created space everywhere. Japan also recorded 29 assists to Saudi Arabia's 19, moving the ball properly when they had the chance. The visitors committed just 2 turnovers all game.
By then the match was beyond reach. Saudi Arabia finished with 29 rebounds to Japan's 28, but the rebounding battle meant nothing when the shooting was this far apart. Japan will look at this as a statement of intent, and Saudi Arabia will need to work out what went wrong when they couldn't match the visitors' range.
