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Japan will play Finland in the 2023 FIBA World Cup on August 27, 2023, at 8:00 a.m. ET at the Okinawa Arena in Japan.
Finland lost their first game of the tournament at the hands of Australia by a score of 98-72. Japan also lost their opening-day matchup and got blown away by Germany by a margin of 18 points.
With both teams needing the win, expect these two teams to go full out in order to keep their hopes of advancing to the next round alive.
Japan vs Finland: Prediction
In this game, both teams are playing with their backs against the wall, so expect them to come out swinging. Finland is the easy pick here as it is very difficult to see Japan winning this, despite having the home crowd advantage.
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Japan vs. Finland: Players to Watch
The matchup has a couple of NBA players who will be the center of attention, but there are other names who are also worth keeping an eye on.
Lauri Markannen of the Utah Jazz made his presence felt at the start of their game against Australia, but the team fell off in the second half. He was able to lead the team in scoring with 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
The only player who made double-digit scoring outside of Markanne was Sasu Salin who contributed 13 points. They need more players like Mikael Jantunen and Alexander Madzen to step up in order to get the job done against Japan.
It was quite a wake-up call for Japan when they opened their 2023 FIBA World Cup campaign against Germany. They were outclassed by NBA players Dennis Schroeder, Daniel Theis and the Wagner brothers.
Yuta Watanabe led the Japanese national team in scoring 20 points, six rebounds and two assists. Yudai Baba was not far behind with his 15 points and four boards.
Overall, Finland has a huge advantage with Lauri Markannen, as he poses matchup problems for the Japanese squad. Slowing him down will be a tough task for Japan.
Japan roster
- Nick Fazekas
- Yuya Nagayoshi
- Yudai Baba
- Yuki Togashi
- Koya Kawamata
- Soichiro Inoue
- Makoto Hiejima
- Yutaro Suda
- Shuta Hara
- Matthew Aquino
- Kai Toews
- Keisei Tominaga
- Aki Chambers
- Tenketsu Harimoto
- Yuta Watanabe
- Rui Hachimura
- Yuki Kawamura
- Luke Evans
- Seiya Ando
- Josh Hawkins
- Hirotaka Yoshii
- Yudai Nishida
- Ren Kanechika
- Akira Jacobs
- Hugh Watanabe
Finland roster
- Xavier Cooks
- Dyson Daniels
- Dante Exum
- Josh Giddey
- Chris Goulding
- Josh Green
- Joe Ingles
- Nick Kay
- Jock Landale
- Patty Mills
- Duop Reath
- Matisse Thybulle
- Jack White
