Japan or Korea - only one will advance to Quarter-Finals

BEIRUT (FIBA Asia Cup 2017) - The Qualification to the Quarter-Final phase at the FIBA Asia Cup 2017 will open with what should be an amazing East Asia shoot-out between Japan and Korea.

This has been one of the most storied rivalries in Asia basketball. Japan and Korea have had many memorable battles in the past with many timeless heroes. Names like Hur Jae (Korea's current coach), Lee Sang-Min and the Moon brothers have been etched in Korean hoops lore, while guys like Takehiko Orimo, Michael Takahashi, and Takuya Kawamura are legendary for the Akatsuki Five. In this matchup, we will witness more big names take the floor and lead both teams, names like Korea's Oh Se-Keun and Kim Sun-Hyung as well as Japan's Makoto Hiejima and Kosuke Takeuchi.

In their most recent matchup at the EABA Championship 2017, Japan prevailed, 78-72. Naturalized player Ira Brown was the Akatsuki Five's best in that game, while guards Hiejima and Yuki Togashi also impressed. On the other end, Lee Jong-Hyun and Jeon Jun-Beom were the ones who did damage for Korea, but they played without the trio of Oh SeKeun, Kim SunHyung and Kim JongKyu.

Key Matchup: Ira Brown was Japan's most productive player the last time they beat Korea, and he should play a leading role again in this game. He is severely undersized as a power forward, but he compensates for that with his speed, explosiveness and athleticism. He is quicker than most frontliners, and he can guard opposing wingmen as well. His versatility is his biggest asset, and if he is allowed to explode, Korea will be in trouble. This means guys like Oh SeKeun and Lee SeungHyun have to really put the shackles on Brown. They have to outmuscle him and really make him work on defense on the other end.

Key Stat: Both Japan and Korea love to use speed and shooting - very typical of East Asia teams in general. This means it's reasonable to expect a shoot-out and track meet between these two sides. They've got a lot of speedsters and a lot of snipers, so we could see the scoreboard ring up quite often. If we see a run-and-gun affair, guys like Kim SunHyung, Lee JungHyun, Takatoshi Furukawa and even Yudai Baba will thrive. Japan shoots the three-ball better with a 44.4% accuracy rate, while Korea make 36.0% of their threes. Japan are also marginally better in fastbreak points with 15.0 per game, while Korea score 13.7 fastbreak points per encounter.

FIBA