During the second game of the World Cup against Finland, I saw the face of my beloved student standing courtside and thought, “Here we are.” Yuki Kawamura exploded in this game with 25 points and 9 assists. What happened to the 22-year-old point guard who gave the team momentum? What kind of determination did Kawamura’s teacher, Takashi Ideguchi, sense from his time at Fukuoka Daiichi High School?
Ideguchi was sitting at the back of the second floor, opposite the Japanese benches. Even from a short distance away, he could clearly see the change in the expression of his beloved student, whom he had seen every day for three years in high school.
“It’s come…”
Kawamura, the youngest member of the team, begins to dominate the game.
At one point in the match against Finland, the difference in points had widened to as much as 18 points, but by the end of the third quarter it was down to 10 points. At the start of the final quarter, with 8 minutes and 36 seconds remaining when Japan was closing in on a 7-point lead, Finland couldn’t resist and forced a timeout. Manager Tom Horvath’s voice called out, and the five players were about to head to the court. The team’s youngest point guard, who replaced Yuki Togashi, had clearly different eyes than before.
“First of all, Kawamura’s ball defense has gotten stronger. Up until that point, even when we put pressure on him defensively, he would switch easily.Of course, we have commitments from the team, but we prioritized them too much, I wasn’t good at “bullying” the ball. Now I can go without hesitation.”
With 6 minutes and 48 seconds remaining, Kawamura’s 3 points brought the lead to 4 points. Immediately after that, when Josh Hawkinson’s 3-pointer missed, he grabbed the rebound himself and used a behind-the-back pass to call up Hawkinson’s goal, making it a 2-point lead. Then, with 4 minutes and 35 seconds remaining, a play that Ideguchi described as the best play of the game occurred. While Kawamura was fouled on his drive, he also held back the defense that was in cover and scored a layup to tie the game. He also made a count-one throw, and when he finally succeeded in reversing the game, the excitement in Okinawa Arena reached its climax.
“It’s here, it’s here, it’s here, it’s here. Every single play, I high-five the people around me (in the audience). This is going to go all the way.”
The humiliation of the war against Germany…the resolve I felt in the LINE reply
Ideguchi sensed Kawamura’s determination.
“I decided to do it myself.Do it at my own pace.Do I let Hawkinson hit, or do I let Baba (Yudai), or Hiejima (Shin) do it?I don’t have any negative thoughts or reservations about my play.It’s good to do that. He passes the ball. He’s the youngest, but he gives instructions by passing the ball. That’s what I always did when I was in high school.”
Kawamura sank three more points and was about to take the lead. He continued to play one-on-one with NBA All-Star Markkanen and made another 3-pointer, reducing the deficit to 9 points. He also recorded his ninth assist in combination with Hawkinson. He sealed the deal with a high-arching 3-pointer with less than a minute left.
2023-09-13 02:14:05
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