Britain basks in unprecedented tennis success

PARIS — Having waited 76 years for a men's Grand Slam champion and 24 years to celebrate a women's tour winner, Britain, once tennis' cash-heavy running joke, is suddenly a serious player.

Leading the charge: Andy Murray's recent run of success has helped spark Britain's renewed interest in tennis. AFP-JIJI

Andy Murray's U.S. Open victory, the country's first men's major since Fred Perry took time off from squiring Hollywood sirens Marlene Dietrich and Jean Harlow to triumph in New York in 1936, led the way.

Then, on Sunday, Heather Watson clinched the Japan Open, the first British winner of a women's tour title since Sara Gomer at Aptos in 1988.

Add Murray's London Olympic gold into the mix as well as 18-year-old Laura Robson making the Guangzhou final last month — the first such run by a British player since 1990 — then it's hardly surprising that tennis is enjoying a mini-boom.

Figures released by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the game's ruling body in the country, show that almost 100,000 under-18s play at a LTA-registered club — an increase of 17 percent on last year.

"I know from speaking to Laura and Heather how passionate they are about getting more young girls into tennis," LTA chief executive Roger Draper told the Guardian.

"They play with a smile on their faces and that enjoyment also comes through in what they do off the court. When we want girls to see tennis as a fun, social sport, what better advert for that than them?"

Social media also plays a role.

Watson, a former U.S. Open junior champion, has over 35,000 followers on Twitter while Robson, the 2008 Wimbledon girls winner, teamed up with Canadian youngster Eugenie Bouchard to make a Gangnam Style parody video, even enlisting the help of Maria Sharapova along the way.

Robson also enjoyed a fine run to the U.S. Open fourth round this year, sending former world No. 1 Kim Clijsters into retirement and defeating 2011 French Open winner Li Na.

Now, both Watson and Robson are expected to be in the top 50 by the end of the year.

Watson, born in Guernsey but based at the same Bollettieri academy in Florida which nurtured Sharapova, said her title in Osaka was the reward for years of sweat and toil.

"I've worked so hard for this moment my whole career — that's why I practiced so hard, ran all those miles and lifted all those weights, for moments like this," she said.

"Britain has been breaking quite a few records recently, so I'm happy I could break another one. I'm proud to do this for my country."

Murray, the world No. 3, has long been Britain's standout performer, and 2012 has been a year to remember for the Scot.

Murray insists there is a healthy future for the sport in Britain for both men and women players, pointing to Liam Broady's runnerup spot at the U.S. Open juniors, a tournament that the Scot won himself in 2004.

"It's in a very good place in the U.K. right now. I hope it stays that way," said Murray.

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Nash hungry to build off Grouses' success last season

Bob Nash has been around the game long enough to know that he doesn't need to go out of his way to complicate things.

Key player: Veteran guard Masashi Joho, who averaged 15.3 points per game in 2011-12, will once again be a top scoring option for the Toyama Grouses this season. The bj-league's eighth season tips off on Saturday. YOSHIAKI MIURA

His basic approach is this: Each day provides another opportunity to take one small step in the right direction.

As the Toyama Grouses' new coach, Nash, the Saitama Broncos' bench boss in 2010-11, has an opportunity to lead the Eastern Conference club to its first winning season. Toyama joined the bj-league in 2006 and has reached postseason play in the past two seasons, but never finished above .500.

In a phone conversation Monday, the 61-year-old Nash admitted that "everybody wants to make the playoffs and make it to the championship. But I tell them, 'We just have to win the game in front of us. I don't want to get us too far ahead. Just win the game in front of you and add 'em up, and in the end see if it's good enough.' "

The Grouses, coming off a 25-27 season under Kazuaki Shimoji, who stepped down after the season due to health issues, open their seventh season on Sunday against the visiting Gunma Crane Thunders, an expansion team.

Other opening weekend series, all starting Saturday, are Niigata vs. Iwate, Hamamatsu vs. Sendai and Kyoto vs. Ryukyu.

Without hesitation, Nash said he admires the job Shimoji did in turning the Grouses into a high-energy, competitive squad.

"I thought he was an excellent coach and did a good job, and the team made the playoffs last year under his tutelage," Nash said. "It's unfortunate for him that his illness prevented him from continuing to coach."

After a season away from coaching — Nash relaxed at his home in Hawaii and helped make preparations for his daughter Erika's wedding — the No.9 overall pick (Detroit Pistons) in the 1972 NBA Draft and longtime University of Hawaii basketball assistant-turned head coach is eager to build a consistent winner in Toyama.

"What matters most is that the people you bring on board are on the same page," he said, "and just try to build a chemistry where everybody gets along and where everybody's pulling for the same goal.

"What we did in Saitama, I enjoyed that, but this is a whole brand new situation."

Nash insists defense is the No.1 priority for his team, but remains flexible about how he'll concoct the game plan.

"I'm changing with what we have here. I think we have a good nucleus here," said Nash, who starred for Hawaii's "Fabulous Five" teams in the early 1970s.

That nucleus features returning standouts Takeshi Mito, a steady point guard, 2011-12 Best Five shooting guard Masashi Joho and rock-solid forward Ira Brown.

Nash called them the team's Big Three and noted that in the modern game a team's top-three combination — he cited the Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers as prime examples — is a key ingredient for success.

Now 30, Joho, one of the elite Japanese players in league history, has entered his prime and is expected to play a bigger leadership role for the younger Grouses.

"He's gotten better as a player," Nash observed. "It's not about the physical, it's about the mental. He sees things at a whole different speed now. . . .

"He's thinking the game more. The maturity that he brings to the team now is helping his teammates. . . . Now it is about 20, 30 points two nights in a row. That's the more important thing for us now, the back-to-back consistency."

While other teams will rely on import guards to play key roles, Nash believes Mito and Joho as starters will hold their own against other teams.

"Not to take anything away from (Niigata Albirex BB star) Nile Murry or anyone else in the league, but I think our Japanese guys are good and we'll compete with anyone," Nash said. "They are going to have to guard our players; it's going to work both ways."

Veteran forward Ryuichi Horikawa has been chosen as the team's captain.

With title-winning coaches in Akita's Kazuo Nakamura and Iwate's Dai Oketani — two apiece; Oketani guided Ryukyu to a championship last season — in the Eastern Conference — the battle to represent the East in the Final Four will be a grand challenge, Nash said.

"It speaks well for those teams that have those coaches," he said. "I think they are going to be teams that you have to reckon with. And certainly (Sendai's) Bob Pierce has been in this league a long time. He's put together a good team this year. Matt Garrison, in Niigata, built a strong program there."

Despite losing two-time champion Hamamatsu, Nakamura's old team, to the West this season, "I think the East is getting and better," Nash commented.

"We don't have a team that has won a championship, but teams that are hungry to win a championship."

To contend for a championship, the Grouses will also need steady production from a trio of new frontcourt players: 203-cm Jeremy Jacob (Oregon product), 205-cm Malcolm White (LSU) and 209-cm Angel Garcia (University of Memphis).

"Jacobs and Garcia are both multipositional-type players," Nash said. "That was what we are trying to put together. Malcolm has a lot of athleticism, plays defense and rebounds and is a pretty good scorer on the blocks at times, but he's more of a defensive rebounding, shot-blocker type player."

Nakase update: Natalie Nakase, the first female head coach in bj-league history, recently began working as a video production intern for the Los Angeles Clippers.

A former UCLA women's basketball captain, Nakase told The Japan Times she's excited about this new opportunity with the NBA club.

"It's been a dream job and I am learning so much about the NBA every day," said Nakase, who led the Saitama Broncos from late November until the end of a rocky 2011-12 campaign. "We will be helping the coaching staff scout teams and prepare them for their opponents. I'm extremely excited for this season."

Where's Planells?: Hernando Planells, the well-traveled bench boss and first head coach in Ryukyu Golden Kings history, was named the Duke women's basketball team's director of relations, it was announced by the Atlantic Coast Conference school on Tuesday.

"It is with great excitement that we introduce Hernando to the Duke family," Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said in a school-issued statement. "He is extraordinary to his commitment and work ethic. He has been around the game for a long time and he has interesting experience whether it is with the NBA Developmental League or if it is training individuals personally. He brings great enthusiasm, the ability to recruit and also the ability to boost our summer camp enrollment as well. I have known him through family and professionally. We are very excited that he has decided to join us at Duke."

Planells served as an assistant coach for the D-League's Maine Red Claws in 2010-11. His diverse professional background includes stints as an NBA scout, personal trainer, basketball-scene choreographer for movies and commercials and coaching gigs at high school, college and pro levels. And he's still only 35 — for another month.

At Duke, Planells will handle a number of duties, including recruiting work, scout team coordinating and game-day operations.

"I am extremely excited," Planells said about his new job. "The opportunity to work for Coach P and to be at Duke is something you don't get a chance to do that very often. To be able to work with her, the rest of the coaching staff, learn new things and to be a part of a championship program is something I am ready to get started."

Keeping busy: Shimane Susanoo Magic coach Zeljko Pavlicevic, the only Western Conference sideline supervisor entering his third season at the helm of his team, has written an article for a Spanish website, solobasket.com, about the late Croatian basketball star Drazen Petrovic. Pavlicevic was Petrovic's coach for the 1986 Euroleague-winning Cibona team. Pavlicevic shares his recollections of the dynamic talent, who died at age 28 in an automobile accident on June 7, 1993. Petrovic played for the Portland Trail Blazers and New Jersey Nets after a standout European career. In May, Pavlicevic, who is fluent in Spanish, also penned a story for the website on former NBA star Toni Kukoc.

Around the league: Former Shinshu Brave Warriors big man Tyler Hughes, a 213-cm Kansas State product, has joined the Greek club Panelefsiniakos, according to published reports. His teammates include guard Nik Raivio, younger brother of ex-Shinshu backcourt dynamo Derek Raivio, who's now playing in the Belgian League. Guard Lee Cummard, who suited up for the Kyoto Hannaryz last season, has joined the Fos Ouest Provence Basket in France's ProB circuit. . . .

Former Chiba Jets guard Maurice Hargrow, who averaged 21.6 points per game last season, is poised to join the Akita Northern Happinets in the coming days, a basketball insider told The Japan Times.

Only eight of 21 teams are in action this weekend, which means Oct. 13-14, when there will be 18 games, is the real opening weekend for the 2012-13 bj-league season. . . . Looking at the Tokyo Cinq Reves' schedule and seeing that the expansion team is using 10 home venues this season, one source said the team will be "on a barnstorming tour the entire season."

Fighting spirit: Oketani understands what it takes to be a champion. After all, he guided the Ryukyu Golden Kings to titles in the 2008-09 and 2011-12 seasons.

Now, he's using those experiences as tone-setters for the Big Bulls.

"Our practice is too competitive sometimes," Oketani wrote in a message posted on Facebook earlier this week. "Everyone gets so tired physically and mentally, but I remember that my two championship teams in practice were so competitive. I should realize that we need to execute everything with this competitiveness."

Sport court vs. wood: Traditionally, and almost everywhere the game is played besides concrete courts in neighborhood courts, basketball is contested on wood floors. The bj-league is the exception to the rule, where the overwhelming majority of the games have always been played on sport court, a synthetic surface disliked by the majority of the players. There have, though, been occasions where wood courts are used.

This preseason, that number has been increasing, and it's a welcome development around the bj-league.

"I don't know how widespread it will be," one league insider said Tuesday, "but I think you'll see more teams moving way from sport court and playing on wood with decals applied."

Sure, the league welcomes the sponsors' money that comes from sport court companies, but is it practical and economical in the long run for the league to stick with non-wood courts?

"In the past, preseason games helped players adjust to playing on sport court. Also, sport court gets worn and needs to be replaced. So just a guess, (but) maybe five, six teams this season may use wood courts for some games," the source said.

Can team presidents and GMs be convinced they should get rid of sport court floors?

"I suspect they are all going to vote with their wallets," the insider said, "by not replacing old courts or buying new ones."

Insight on Blackwell's departure: One veteran coach weighed in on the Osaka Evessa's decision to not renew Ryan Blackwell's contract after last season, linking it directly to his close friendship with two-time MVP Lynn Washington, who was arrested in a drug case but all charges were later dropped.

"From the outside, it would seem that based on his record alone (35-17 last season, 67-35 in two seasons), Coach Blackwell should have returned for another season," the coach said. "But cases like this are often decided on internal issues, relations between coach and players, or coach and management, and only those people can speak about what was going on behind the scenes.

"Another, quite probable scenario, is that if sponsors were dissatisfied, either with Ryan as a coach, or with his close association with Lynn, they could have had a strong influence on the decision to let him go. As many entertainers, athletes, and movie stars find out, image is everything. Sponsors, boosters, and advertisers vote with their money. If they don't want to be associated with a team, player, or coach, changes have to be made. Whatever Lynn's legal status was is mostly irrelevant, because the damage done to his reputation, and that of Evessa and the bj-league was very real."

He added: "Many young coaches who go from being a player to becoming a coach face the same dilemma, can you — or should you? — maintain the same relationships with players who just months before were your teammates? How true or not, I do not know, but the word was that Ryan and Lynn were still hanging out together at restaurants, bars, clubs, wherever it was that they hung out. While it didn't seem to be a problem when things were going well, it appeared to be a very big issue after Lynn was arrested, and seems to have been a factor in the team's decision to let Ryan go. Only the people involved could tell you whether any of that actually came into play, but that was a topic of conversation that was going around the league."

The last word, part I: "We do the same things every day. We have a set routine we do. We are not going to change that. We just do what we do. And hopefully it'll be good enough. If not, we'll make adjustments. We know what we want to do and how we want to play on offense and defense. The goal is to go out there and play at both ends of the floor, work on being consistent at both ends of the floor. If we are able to do that, I think we are able to play with just about anyone." — Nash, sizing up his team's outlook entering the opening week series against Gunma.

The last word, part II: "I like the five Japanese players we have, good rotation we have with them, interchangeable parts. And so we don't have any guys that are not going to help us. Each one of those guys is going to help us: shooting, passing, running the offense," Nash said of Joho, Mito, Horikawa, Tatsunori Fujie and Mitsuhiro Kamezaki.

Got a story idea about the bj-league? Send an email to edward.odeven@japantimes.co.jp

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Orioles say Wada surgery a success

NEW YORK — Tsuyoshi Wada has undergone ligament replacement surgery on his left elbow and reports no complications, the Baltimore Orioles said on Friday.

The former Fukuoka Softbank Hawks pitcher will be out for the rest of the season. A date to begin his rehabilitation in Sarasota, Florida, has not been set.

In a statement released by the club, Wada was quoted as saying: "The procedure went as planned and Dr. (Lewis) Yocum felt good about how it went. He predicts a full recovery. I'm glad to have this over with and look forward to beginning my rehabilitation so I can get back to pitching for the Orioles as soon as possible."

Wada, 31, signed a two-year, $8.15 million contract with the Orioles in December but has been unable to make his major league debut due to elbow pain and a ligament tear.

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Sports Coaching Success For Kids

Western Conference squads enjoying success on road

If this season's first 20 games have proven anything, there's no such thing as home sweet home for the Miyazaki Shining Suns. Nor is there a home-court advantage for coach Koto Toyama's team.

Steady play: Shiga Lakestars guard Yu Okada (left), seen driving on Yokohama B-Corsairs guard Masayuki Kabaya on Dec. 16, has helped his club win six of its 10 road games. KAZ NAGATSUKA PHOTO

Miyazaki (9-11) has lost nine of 10 games at home. But the squad is 8-2 outside of its home prefecture.

Whatever the reason, the Shining Suns are a much-improved team, going 9-5 since an 0-6 start.

Interestingly enough, success on the road is quite common for the league's Western Conference teams this season. Of the West's nine clubs, seven have winning records on the road.

Here's a quick rundown: Ryukyu (15-5 overall, 10-2 road), Osaka (13-5, 8-2), Kyoto (13-5, 6-2), Shiga (14-6, 6-4), Fukuoka (13-7, 8-2) and Shimane (12-8, 8-4).

Only four of the East's 10 teams have winning road records through Sunday.

Of course, West teams have feasted on conference foes Oita (4-16) and Takamatsu (0-20), winning 17 of 20 games at the HeatDevils and Five Arrows' home venues.

Miyazaki. a second-year franchise, is currently in seventh place, but has entered the conversation among potential playoff teams by turning things around in recent weeks, including a two-game sweep over the host Sendai 89ers last weekend.

Captain Taishiro Shimizu is one of the league's most consistent players. In addition to his scoring (listed below), the veteran guard is third in the league in minutes played (681), seventh in free-throw shooting accuracy (82.5 percent) and eighth in 3-point shooting (40.9).

Miyazaki forward/center Darryl Dora is No. 10 in rebounds (10.2 per game). Teammate Dexter Lyons, the team's leading scorer at 16.2, is sixth in steals (2.1).

Statistics alone don't pinpoint how the Shining Suns have developed into a solid team as the season has progressed. They lost five of their first six games by nine points or less. Since then, they have played seven games that were decided by single-digit margins, and are 4-3 in those games, including back-to-back wins over the Evessa (82-79 and 70-68 on Nov. 26-27) and an 89-87 triumph over Eastern Conference-leading Akita on Dec. 10.

Top Japanese scorers: Among the league's native players, Toyama's Masashi Joho is the only one to be his team's top scorer at this stage of the season.

Joho is averaging 14.6 points per game, 30th-highest output in the league.

The next 10 Japanese scorers are Shiga's Yu Okada (13.5 ppg, 40th overall), Osaka's Cohey Aoki (13.3, 42nd), Fukuoka's Akitomo Takeno (12.6, 47th), Miyazaki's Shimizu and Ryukyu's Narito Namizato (12.3, 48th), Niigata's Yuichi Ikeda (11.7, 52nd) Iwate's Makoto Sawaguchi (11.3, 56th), Shimane's Tatsuhiro Yokoo (10.2, 61st), Fukuoka's Jun Nakanishi (9.9, 66th) and Takamatsu's Masaaki Suzuki (9.7).

Solid start: Lakestars coach Alan Westover is pleased with his team's overall play this season. After winning the series opener over the Yokohama B-Corsairs last Friday, Westover addressed the team's performance to date.

"We've had some big wins and we've had some disappointing losses," Westover said. "I think we're getting better week to week as the players get more familiar with the system, and with each other — new players, new coaches. So we're probably pretty fortunate where we are.

"One thing I've learned is, every game in the bj-league is a tough game. No easy games. So we just go out there and play our best, and get over and get ready for the next one."

He added: "As a coach, I guess you're never really satisfied. You see areas where you can improve on. So it's just something like a mechanic with a car engine. You always try to fine tune things and get better at certain things."

The Lakestars have one of the league's most balanced scoring attacks. Led by Ray Nixon (17.1 ppg), Shiga has five double-digit scorers, including Josh Peppers (16.2), Dionisio Gomez (13.7), Okada and Julius Ashby (11.1).

Around the league: Asked to give an assessment of Namizato, who earned a spot on the West's All-Star team in his first season in the bj-league, one longtime hoop observer dished out the following insight:

Namizato is "the best new Japanese player in the bj-league. On talent alone might be one of the top 10, but inexperience drops him to top 20. A shooting guard in a point guard's body, trying to learn how and when to play each role."

Six of the league's top 10 passers are Japanese, a good reflection of the growing number of quality Japanese guards. Shimane's Edward Yamamoto is second overall in assists (6.0 per game), Sendai's Takehiko Shimura is fourth (5.1), Oita's Naoto Takushi and Shimizu are tied for seventh (4.5), Iwate's Yoshiaki Yamamoto is ninth (4.4) and Namizato is 10th (4.3). ...

Evessa forward Lynn Washington was handed a one-game suspension after being whistled and ejected for a flagrant foul 2 on Sunday against Akita. Washington will miss this Saturday's game against Sendai.

Did you know?: Three former bj-league players could play their first NBA regular-season game in the coming days: Golden State's Jeremy Tyler (ex-Tokyo Apache forward/center), Zach Andrews of the Los Angeles Lakers (former Niigata Albirex BB post player) and San Antonio Spurs forward Luke Zeller (ex-Shiga Lakestars standout).

Role model: Evessa guard Kevin Tyner had a breakthrough game on Sunday for the Evessa, scoring 21 points and leading the offense against the Happinets in the series finale.

Sendai coach Bob Pierce believes Tyner, a Western Oregon University product, is a good player for Japanese guards to model their games after, noting Tyner's size (183 cm) is quite similar to many of them.

"Japanese guards should be studying his game film," Pierce said Monday. "Same size as many of them. (He has) speed and quickness under control. Great use of fakes, stutter steps and change of pace. Even with the sound off, you can see him talking to his teammates, telling them where to pass, where to cut, who to pick up on defense."

On the move: Forward Reggie Okosa has been released by the Ryukyu Golden Kings, it was announced on Wednesday. The team said the Nigerian-born player is leaving the team due to a family situation.

Okosa was the team's leading scorer, averaging 15.1 points in 20 games.

Elsewhere, forward O'Neal "Trey" Mims, Sendai's leading scorer (19.3 ppg) and rebounder (10.4 rpg), has been released, the team announced Thursday. The 208-cm forward attended Angelo (Texas) State before turning pro.

Upcoming schedule: Chiba plays host to Niigata in a series that begins on Friday. On Christmas Eve, the following matchups are on the docket: Shinshu vs. Yokohama, Saitama vs. Hamamatsu, Shiga vs. Iwate, Kyoto vs. Akita, Osaka vs. Sendai, Fukuoka vs. Shimane, Oita vs. Ryukyu and Miyazaki vs. Takamatsu.

Iwate faces Saitama on Dec. 28-29, while Yokohama takes on visiting Toyama on the same dates.

Gardener gone: The Northern Happinets have released high-scoring guard Michael Gardener. He didn't play last weekend against the visiting Evessa, and Akita issued a news release stating that Gardener was cut after sustained fractured ribs. The team said he'd need a month to recover from the injury.

Some league pundits consider Gardner, who has previously played for Fukuoka, Hamamatsu and Takamatsu, one of the top five all-around guards in league history.

That said, there are a variety of opinions about the reason behind Gardener's departure from the team.

A sampling of sources' remarks:

*"Mike's ribs are fine," said one player who's been in the league since 2005. "Him and coach didn't see eye to see so ... (he was released)."

*Added one Eastern Conference insider: "(Akita coach Kazuo) Nakamura complained about him the first time around at Hamamatsu (in 2008-09). I'm surprised he tried again, not too surprised it didn't work."

*Another observer, however, told this newspaper: "Gardener has told (one player) that ribs were broken, yet Nakamura still wanted him to play."

Gardener averaged 19.4 ppg in 16 games for Akita, scoring 20 or more points nine times, including a season-high 31 on Dec. 10 against Miyazaki. The 30-year-old dished out 5.5 assists per game.

Update from Iwate: The expansion Big Bulls have won four of their last six games, sweeping Takamatsu and Iwate before losing back-to-back games to host Fukuoka last weekend.

Now, coach Vlasios Vlaikidis' club has four games in a six-day span, beginning with a trip to face Shiga (Saturday and Sunday), followed by a Wednesday-Thursday series against visiting Saitama. This busy stretch will be good for the team, the coach said, giving his charges a challenge to make adjustments and play despite fatigue or physical ailments.

"It's a very interesting league," Vlaikidis said by phone from Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, on Wednesday. "There's a lot of good players, really. The level is very good."

Though the first-year franchise is 5-15 and in last place in the 10-team Eastern Conference, Vlaikidis hasn't lost sight of the team's primary goal.

"We try to do our best all the time," he said. "And at the end of the season we will see what we have to change, where, etc."

"We've had some really good moments," the coach said, referring to stretches of games, "but we need to do this for longer periods of time. We need to improve the quality of our play. This comes with time."

Vlaikidis said forward Thomas Kennedy, Iwate's leading scorer (18.6 ppg), and Shawn Malloy (13.1 ppg and the league's No. 3 rebounder at 10.9 boards per game), have been strong, consistent performers who have adapted quckly to the bj-league and life in Japan.

On the other hand, forward Sean Coleman (8.6 ppg) and forward/center Matthew Smith (1.8 ppg and more than 10 minutes in only six of his 19 games) have made less of an impact on the court.

Do the Big Bulls plan to make any roster moves?

"We will see," Vlaikidis said.

As the league's youngest player last season, rookie guard Sawaguchi came off the bench and had a mostly secondary role for the then-expansion Akita Northern Happinets under Pierce.

This season, Sawaguchi has played major minutes (526) as a key reserve. He played 593 minutes in 48 games in 2010-11 and averaged 5.3 ppg.

"His role is totally different. Here he has a main role," Vlaikidis said. "He's growing up. He's tried to accept this role as best as he can."

Like other players, Sawaguchi, now 20, will encounter ups and downs during the long 52-game season. He had consecutive 3-point games against the Rizing, but can learn from his struggles.

"I'm very satisfied with him," Vlaikidis said. "He won't always play at the same level all season, but ... he's one of the 10 best Japanese scorers in the league."

Guard Yoshiaki Yamamoto leads the team in assists and is scoring 9.6 ppg. He had a season-high 29-point output against Toyama on Nov. 6 and has scored in double digits in five of the past seven games. This has demonstrated to Vlaikidis that Yamamoto "can play good, quality basketball."

As the captain, Yamamoto, 29, is a leading figure on the team and his maturation can help him set the tone for the team's future success. Vlaikidis said he expects Yamamoto to grow in confidence and be more productive in 2012-13.

Forward Hayato Kantake, who has had nine-, 12-, 13- and seven-point efforts over the past four games, is gaining confidence as he plays in this system, the coach said.

Weekly accolade: Shimane power forward Reggie Golson, who had a triple-double in Sunday's victory over Oita, is the Lawson/Ponta Player of the Week, the league announced on Wednesday.

Golson had 12 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds in the series-closing, 23-point win on Sunday. He had 12 points, 11 assists, seven rebounds, two blocks and a steal in a 20-point win a day earlier.

A product of Southeast Missouri State, Golson is averaging 13.7 points per game in his second season with the Susanoo Magic.

Staff writer Kaz Nagatsuka contributed to this report.

Do you have a story idea about the bj-league? Send an email to edward.odeven@japantimes.co.jp

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Success on slopes takes Vonn's mind off troubles

BEAVER CREEK, Colorado — Lindsey Vonn remains on top of her game despite the turmoil in her life.

She dominated at Lake Louise last weekend, winning two World Cup downhills and a super-G by a combined margin of 3.82 seconds — a landslide in skiing.

Her success comes in the midst of divorce proceedings from her husband of four years, Thomas Vonn, who also served as her adviser and personal coach.

But if the tumult is affecting her, Vonn certainly isn't showing it on the slopes.

Now, the Olympic gold medalist returns to the comfort of home as she races in a rescheduled super-G on Wednesday at Beaver Creek. The Birds of Prey course is just five minutes from her place in Vail.

"I really would love to win at home, so I'm going to look at the video and make sure in Beaver Creek that I clean some turns up and make sure I'm skiing a little more aggressive than I skied (Sunday)," Vonn said.

That performance is going to be difficult to top. She crushed it in Lake Louise, winning her 11th race on that hill. So commanding has Vonn been at the venue that it's now kiddingly become known as Lake Lindsey.

With her three-day sweep, Vonn now has 45 career wins, leaving her one behind Austria's Renate Goetschl for third on the career list.

"This whole weekend I had a huge smile on my face," Vonn said.

A reprieve from what has been going on away from the slopes.

Vonn announced her split Nov. 27, the same day she withdrew from a slalom in Aspen. She cited a back injury during training.

Many wondered how she would fare without Thomas Vonn, who had become a rock in her life. He made sure she wasn't overextending herself with appearances and interviews, helped with logistics and kept everything running smooth so Vonn could keep her focus on speeding down the mountain.

A network of family, friends, coaches, teammates and even competitors has now stepped in and supported her through a difficult time.

She also has this — the slopes.

Skiing has always been her sanctuary, a place where she can retreat and forget about whatever is troubling her for a little while.

"It's where I go to be myself and to really enjoy life," Vonn said. "Up in Lake Louise, it was perfect timing for me to go up there to do what I love and ski fast. I just was focused. It took my mind off everything else.

"This whole season is going to be a great chance for me to look at myself from a different perspective and to really learn more about myself. Skiing is just my happy place."

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