Hachimura high points
Wizards rookie had a couple vs. US but still much to improve on
In the third quarter of Thursday’s Japan-USA matchup in the FIBA World Cup tournament, Rui Hachimura shoved off an NBA All-Star with his left forearm, then approached one of the league’s top shot blockers at the rim. Against some of the world’s best players, Hachimura displayed no timidity.
In one play, he showed he could soon belong.
Hachimura, the new face of Japanese basketball and the Washington Wizards’ incoming top rookie, blew past Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton and dunked in the face of Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner for his single highlight of the Americans’ 98-45 blowout win.
The clip played well over social media, as dunks do, just like Hachimura’s other highlight from the FIBA tournament when he taught another NBA player, Ersan Ilyasova, not to test him at the basket. But for as spectacular as those highlights were, they did not depict Hachimura’s overall performance, especially his struggles Thursday in his first professional test against a roster of NBA players.
In Shanghai, Hachimura started and played 24 minutes against the likes of Middleton, Turner, Boston Celtics star Kemba Walker and Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell and finished with just four points on 2-of-8 shooting. He recorded four rebounds and one assist, but his net rating was a dismal minus-48, showing his team was heavily outscored during his time on the court.
Both made field goals — the dunk and later a pull-up midrange jumper — came in the third quarter, after he had settled in and showed more aggression. Before then, however, Hachimura was not the best Japanese-born NBA player on the floor.
That distinction belonged to Yuta Watanabe, who last year split time with the Memphis Grizzlies and their G League affiliate. Watanabe scored four of his national team’s first six points. Though it was clearly overmatched — Japan trailed 18-6 at this point — he looked comfortable against his NBA peers, who lack star power but still comprise the field’s deepest roster.
That said, Watanabe finished with nine points in 27 minutes and was the only Japanese player to post a lower net rating than Hachimura (minus-49). Yudai Baba, who suited up for the Dallas Mavericks in July’s Las Vegas Summer League, led Japan with 18 points — the team’s only player to crack double digits.
Celtics swingman Jaylen Brown paced Team USA with 20 points and seven rebounds, while his Boston teammate Jayson Tatum, who sprained his left ankle in the Americans’ last game, sat against Japan. Walker added 15 points and eight assists, and Harrison Barnes of the Sacramento Kings had 14 points and eight rebounds. USA Basketball will next face reigning league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece on Saturday in the second round of the World Cup.
Hachimura, for his part, did not stand out Thursday. Not in Japan’s zone defense that pulled him to the perimeter and forced him to pick up a bad foul by hacking Brook Lopez from behind after he scored at the rim. And also not on the offensive end when Hachimura’s first shot attempt — a pull-up 3-pointer — came when the team trailed 11-0 and led to Barnes converting an uncontested look on the other end to pad the score.
Within the final two minutes of the first quarter, Hachimura finally got aggressive when the smaller Derrick White, a point guard for the San Antonio Spurs, switched onto him. Hachimura backed him down and was fouled before making the shot. The two points didn’t count, though, and Japan didn’t score. For the first half, Hachimura went scoreless and logged a minus-28 while on the floor.
After halftime, however, Hachimura looked like a different player and created his highlight moment. Still, while Hachimura will soon join the elite 450 in the NBA — the maximum number of players in a league that does not count two-way players — his debut against this rank of talent was an up-and-down display of a rookie still needing to learn to play with the world’s best.