Basketball: Ex-NBA player Yuta Watanabe helps Jets win B-League ...
Former NBA forward Yuta Watanabe had 16 points and eight rebounds in his Japanese B-League debut Saturday as the Chiba Jets beat the Utsunomiya Brex 91-84 in overtime.
D.J. Hogg scored a team-leading 26 points for the Jets at LaLa arena Tokyo-Bay in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, while the Brex's D.J. Newbill scored a game-high 35 points and sent the game into overtime at 77-77 with a late three-point basket.
Watanabe is expected to be the B-League's biggest draw in light of both his NBA exploits and his leading role for the men's national team.
The Chiba Jets' Yuta Watanabe (L) looks to pass the ball during the second quarter of a B-League basketball game against the Utsunomiya Brex on Oct. 5, 2024, in Funabashi, eastern Japan. (Kyodo)
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience," said Watanabe, who will turn 30 on Oct. 13. "I wanted to savor every minute and every second. I think we played a high-quality game."
Asked to comment on a crowd of 9,708 at the new arena that seats about 10,000, Watanabe said, "Eleven years ago, I couldn't imagine having this kind of arena and this many people watching basketball in Japan."
Watanabe moved to the United States in 2013 to play college basketball. The 2.06-meter wing went on to play a total of 213 games over six NBA seasons, the longest any Japanese player has lasted in the world's top basketball league.
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