74 minutes. Japan’s under-goal goalkeeper Josh Hawkinson’s total minutes played in the last two games of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, against Finland on 27 August and against Australia on 29 August. 74 minutes out of 80 minutes. He appeared in 37:32 against Finland and 36:28 against Australia. He was only on the bench for a total of 6 minutes in 2 games.
To be honest, I couldn’t put it down.
Japan national team head coach Tom Horvath says:
“He has inside rebounding and inside scoring. He’s necessary for our offense. Not just outside, not just speed, but inside play and scoring. I think that existence is really big.”
While the opposing team is wary of shots from outside the Japanese guard formation, the offense will stagnate without Hawkinson’s inside attack power. His toughness is essential as he can grab rebounds even in a fierce aerial battle with the opponent big man.
For Japan, whose biggest goal is to become number one in Asia at the World Cup and secure a ticket to the Paris Olympics, even if the match is narrowly outnumbered in the early stages, it is necessary to take advantage of the goal difference. You can’t drop your strength. The only way to do that is to keep putting out Hawkinson.
In fact, Hawkinson was in foul trouble from the beginning of the game, and his absence was felt greatly in the opening game against Germany, where he played just under 25 minutes. After that, he had 28 points and 19 rebounds in the game against Finland, and 33 points and 7 rebounds in the game against Australia. Second place.
“The last game (against Finland) was 37-38 minutes, and today’s game (against Australia) was about 36 minutes. I was a little tired, but I got the energy from the fans at the venue and did my best. I was trying to do the best I could,” Hawkinson says.
“It’s hard to recover in one day (until the next game), but the team’s trainers are very helpful. They take care of the players who played a lot of time very well.” I would also like to thank the staff for their support.
In the match against Australia, 68 points were taken in the paint. When Patty Mills and Josh Guiddy’s guards tried to stop them from attacking the paint, Xavier Cooks and other big men entered from behind and scored no-mark shots under the goal and were robbed of offensive rebounds. It’s gone.
“I can’t suppress everything, but I wish I could have gotten a little more defensive rebounds. I myself couldn’t get as many rebounds as I did in the previous game. That’s one thing I regret,” he reflects.
“We were trying to keep the lead as close as possible. Australia have a great style of basketball. Everyone is cutting and moving without the ball. In a way, the first half was kind of overwhelming. But I’m proud of our comeback in the second half.”
It was Yuta Watanabe who stood on the court for as long as Hawkinson and ran around in the match against Australia. When asked about Watanabe’s leadership in inspiring, encouraging and fighting alongside his teammates, Hawkinson said:
“Sometimes there are NBA players who think they are better than the B League players, but he (Watanabe) is not. But I feel connected to us.
“In the last game[against Finland]I didn’t score as much, but I had a matchup with[Finland ace and NBA player]Lauri Markkanen and I was trying to keep him off. 50% field goal percentage. I kept him under control, he was doing very well, and I said to him, ‘Keep Markkanen out and leave me in the paint and rebounding.'”
For Yuta Watanabe, there is no partner he can rely on more than Hawkinson.
“Everyone on the team is really grateful to Josh for putting his body under the goal and grabbing all the rebounds. In the midst of all that, Josh doesn’t complain at all, and he puts his whole body into it for the team.I think there’s more that we can do.I think we really have to help each other out.”
Even before the tournament, we have been fighting with the goal of being number one in Asia. Their loss to Australia prevented them from advancing to the second round, but they are still on the road to No. 1 in Asia.
Hawkinson says.
“My goal is to be No. 1 in Asia.
Text = Yoko Miyaji
2023-08-30 14:32:12
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