Cup Holders, in-season tournaments are now the thing in basketball. Especially for a sport that has bloomed into separate Olympic syndicates like the hugely popular 3×3 streetball game. We have the re-branded, like the court designs, NBA Cup, and the Commissioner’s Cup for the W, better known as the WNBA.
This weekend in Japan, the W-League hosted the final of its United Cup, and BasketballBuzz was on hand at Yokohama’s Budokan to take in the action.
The Budokan is usually the home of the men’s B2 League team, the Yokohama Excellence. Yet, excellence was still displayed here on a Sunday afternoon matinée that saw the Chanson V-Magic pull the Denso Iris out of the United Cup hat.
Chanson is a cosmetics company based here in the Far East, and they played a great game led by the poised coach Kyoko Hamaguchi. Blossoming like their cherry-colored jerseys, they caused the Iris to wilt with a 79-63 win and lifted the cup.
The Shizouka team had a balanced attack across the board, led by big Izoje Uche’s 18 points, 11 rebounds, and blocks, and paced by 15 points each from Yurika Sato and Mai Yoshida, as well as 12 points from Haruka Koike.
It was a scrappy affair, but a beautiful one, at that.
Such is basketball in all its court combinations and competitions.
Japan is clearly rising like the sun when it comes to matters above the rim, whether it be Rui Hachimura on the Lakers or Yuki Kawamura on the Grizzlies. Not to mention, Utsunomiya is a yearly home for 3×3.
After beating Rui Machida’s Fujitsu Red Wave, a former WNBA Washington Mystics player, in a revenge game against the reigning league champions who defeated them in last year’s finals, the Magic—like a Laker point guard—faced off against another top Japanese team featuring a national team member. However, the blonde bob of the well-known Maki Takada was missing in action, and it was bombs away from Chanson V.
Evelyn Ma’s 15 points weren’t enough for a short-handed Denso, which still put up a valiant effort against V. Alas, the ten-time winner of the All Japan Championship, with sweet sixteen W-League chips, was just way too much—like their ten consecutive titles.
That’s just too much Magic up your sleeve. With the conclusion of this season on the cards, too, Chanson Cosmetics has never looked better.
And that’s the foundation, with nothing made up.