Two Japanese players who are active on the NBA stage faced each other.
On the 31st (Korean time), the 2022-2023 NBA regular season Brooklyn Nets and LA Lakers game was held at the Beckley Center. In this game, Brooklyn won 121-104.
It was also a match that drew attention with the confrontation between Yuta Watanabe, who is active in Brooklyn, and Rui Hachimura, who is wearing a Lakers uniform. The confrontation between the two players was concluded when Hachimura was recently traded from Washington to the Lakers. 스포츠토토
It was Hachimura who appeared on the court first. Hachimura, who played on the bench after transferring to the Lakers, was named on the starting list as LeBron James and Anthony Davis missed side by side that day.
Watanabe, who started the game from the bench, also showed up soon. At the beginning of the game, Watanabe got off to a good start as he started scoring goals one after another. Hachimura did not back down easily either.
In the end, Hachimura scored more points with 16 points and 4 rebounds than Watanabe, who had 12 points and 2 blocked shots. However, it was Watanabe who smiled triumphantly. Brooklyn overcame the Lakers in the fourth quarter by a score of 36-22.
With this, Watanabe continued his 5-game winning streak against Hachimura. However, in the previous four head-to-head matches, neither player was active as a key player on the team. In the previous four encounters, Watanabe averaged 3.5 points and 3.5 rebounds, while Hachimura averaged only 8.8 points and 6.3 rebounds.
Currently, the two players are side by side in the team’s main rotation. The fierce confrontation between the two Japanese players is expected to unfold in earnest from now on.