Grouses need coach after Shimoji steps down

After nearly finishing with their first winning season in franchise history, the Toyama Grouses will not have Kazuaki Shimoji at the helm in 2012-13. Serious health issues appear to be the primary factor, league insiders told The Japan Times.

Short stint: Toyama Grouses coach Kazuaki Shimoji will not return for a second season due to health issues. ED ODEVEN

The Eastern Conference club announced on Wednesday that Shimoji would not return for a second full season in charge. His contract had expired and that opens the door for another coach to step in.

Shimoji took over as head coach in February 2011, when Kohei Eto was fired with the team stuck in last place in the Eastern Conference with an 8-18 record. Shimoji led the Grouses to a 5-13 record to close out the season.

Toyama went 25-27 this past season and guard Masashi Joho became the first Grouses player to be named to the league's Best Five team. Shimoji's overall coaching record was 30-40 with the Grouses. The 35-year-old had served as an assistant coach for the Niigata Albirex BB since 2006 before joining Toyama.

The Grouses were a strong rebounding team this past season, and that inside muscle — led by Devin Searcy's 10.7 boards per game (tied for the fourth-best output in the league) — gave the team their first taste of respectability since joining the league along with the Takamatsu Five Arrows as expansion clubs in the fall of 2006. (The Grouses were 61-171 in the regular season entering 2011-12.)

Shimoji's departure didn't shock one league insider.

On Wednesday, the source told The Japan Times, "I don't know who the next coach will be, but a (former Grouses player) told me last week that Shimoji had health problems. He said that he wouldn't be surprised if Shimoji never coaches again."

One veteran coach reacted to the news this way: "What a shame. . . . Maybe back to the drawing board (for Toyama)."

"Mr. Shimoji has had a major heart problem, and he had big surgery on his heart three times in the past," another league insider said.

The source said Shimoji had coped with Marfan Syndrome, which is described by Webster's New World College Dictionary as "a hereditary disorder characterized by abnormalities of the blood circulation and the eyes, abnormally long bones in the limbs and very mobile joints."

Wikipedia cites heart defects as a major issue that people with Marfan Syndrome must cope with.

While apparently enduring serious health problems, Shimoji had invigorated the Grouses and helped the franchise build for a successful future. At the same time, "he completed one of his dreams," a Hokuriku-based hoop pundit pointed out, "to become a head coach in the bj-league. But at the end of the season, he felt his (physical) condition exhausted him too much."

"It is unlikely he will come back to this league for a head coaching job," the source predicted.

The Grouses, Miyazaki Shining Suns and Osaka Evessa will join seven other clubs with already announced newly hired sideline supervisors in the 21-team circuit for the upcoming season.

Shimoji issued a statement thanking the team's entire staff, as well as boosters, volunteers and the local media, for their support and encouragement.

"The players gave me fighting spirit through competition," he said. "I really appreciate it . . . "

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Iwate coach Vlaikidis steps down

Family comes first. That's the message Vlasios Vlaikidis conveyed to the Iwate Big Bulls during a team meeting on Wednesday.

And so the first coach in the bj-league expansion team's brief history has decided to relinquish his coaching duties and return to his native Greece, near Thessaloniki, to be with his ailing father, who has been in and out of the hospital in recent weeks.

Shinji Tomiyama, Vlaikidis' 31-year-old assistant, was promoted to acting head coach, Iwate announced Wednesday evening.

"This is something I had to do," the 46-year-old Vlaikidis said by phone from Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, on Wednesday night.

Tomiyama served as an assistant coach for the IBL's Nippon Tornadoes in 2009, and worked under then-head coach Motofumi Aoki for the bj-league's Tokyo Apache in 2009-10. Last season, he served as a coach at the bj-league academy. A Tokyo native, Tomiyama attended Rikkyo University.

Tomiyama now steps into the spotlight to lead a young team.

"Of course, he's nervous," Vlaikidis said of Tomiyama. "This is normal before some person's first games (in charge). ... He'll feel much better when the second half of the season starts.

"As this is his first time as a head coach, he'll be under big stress for sure. But I hope he will pass this as soon as possible."

Iwate became the second bj-league team to make a coaching change this season. The struggling Saitama Broncos fired Dean Murray on Nov. 24 and named Natalie Nakase, who had been his assistant, the new head coach.

Big Bulls team president Masayuki Kido issued a statement saying he was "very sorry the head coach has resigned in the middle of the season," and he urged the team's fans to continue supporting the team as the season continues. He added that he was pleased with the improvement the team has shown since December.

The Big Bulls (7-19) travel to face the two-time defending champion Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix (14-10) this weekend.

Vlaikidis plans to depart Iwate Prefecture on Friday to return to Greece. In a team meeting Wednesday, he informed players, team management and Tomiyama about what he described as a heart-wrenching decision. He then said goodbye to each of the players, one at a time.

"I appreciated people's support very much," he said as emotions overtook his normal calm demeanor on the phone. "I had a very good time here. I'm very satisfied with everything here. I love Japan very much, and Morioka and the people here on the team very much..."

Vlaikidis has not indicated what his coaching plans are for the future, but he said he's willing and able to give any advice or strategy tips to the Big Bulls and Tomiyama if he's asked to do so.

"I'll do my best to help the team if I can," said Vlaikidis, a former assistant under current Shimane Susanoo Magic coach Zeljko Pavlicevic at Panathinaikos Athens in the early 1990s.

The Big Bulls were built from scratch. Two-time All-Star Makoto Sawaguchi, 20, was the lone player on the season-opening roster with bj-league experience last season. And Sawaguchi, a Morioka native who's scoring 10.3 points per game, was the league's youngest player last season as a member of the Akita Northern Happinets. So it wasn't like he was a grizzled veteran in this league, a la Akita's Makoto Hasegawa.

Iwate was 1-13 to start the season, but is 6-6 since then. The team made noticeable improvements despite a rough start that Vlaikidis said he expected the team to have due to its newness, and won four straight in December and went 6-4 in the month.

"Step by step, we find our way," were the words he used to describe the process. "Really, the team was moving in a very good direction."

"Also, I'm very satisfied with our Japanese guys," he added, speaking of increased contributions from guard Atsushi Nogami in recent weeks, as well as the play of Yoshiaki Yamamoto, Tasuku Namizato, Sawaguchi and Hayato Kantake.

Forward Gordon Klaiber, a well-liked veteran, added needed scoring punch from the perimeter and toughness when he joined the team in December. His personality was a good fit for the team, according to Vlaikidis.

"He knows a lot of players in the bj-league and has experience in this league," the coach said of the ex-Saitama Broncos forward.

Now, "the team is on the right path," he said.

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Scorching Bosh steps up game to carry Heat past Bulls

MIAMI — Chris Bosh missed his first three shots, and never worried.

The King and I: Bulls forward Luol Deng, left, attempts to guard the Heat's LeBron James in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals on Sunday in Miami. The Heat won 96-85 to take a 2-1 lead in the series. AP PHOTO

He was in rhythm. He was catching the ball where he wanted. And then midway through the first quarter, he finally saw the ball go through the hoop for the first time.

"That was good enough for me," Bosh said.

And more than good enough for the Miami Heat — who are now two wins away from the NBA Finals.

Bosh made 13 of his final 15 shots on the way to a 34-point night, LeBron James finished with 22 points and 10 assists, and the Heat remained unbeaten at home in the postseason by beating the Chicago Bulls 96-85 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals on Sunday.

The Heat lead the series 2-1, and the blowout Game 1 defeat in Chicago a week ago seems far, far away for Miami.

"There is absolutely nothing easy in this series," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Dwyane Wade added 17 points and nine rebounds for Miami, which is 7-0 at home in the playoffs and handed the team that finished with the NBA's best record its first losing streak since Feb. 5-7. Game 4 is Tuesday in Miami.

Carlos Boozer finished with 26 points and 17 rebounds for Chicago, which had won the first four meetings of the season with Miami. Derrick Rose finished with 20 points, but struggled from the field again, making only 8 of his 19 shots.

The Bulls held James and Wade to a combined 12-of-30 showing from the floor. Against Bosh, they had no answer.

"It's definitely frustrating," Rose said. "Our will wasn't there tonight. They still found a way to win."

Against the NBA's top field-goal percentage defense this season, Miami shot 51 percent and scored 53 points after halftime. Plus, the Heat were 25 of 29 from the foul line, while Chicago was 16 for 21.

"Rebounding was good," Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau said. "Challenging their shots wasn't."

That was especially true for one critical stretch of the fourth quarter, when Miami turned a four-point game into one where it had full control. A 9-0 spurt, capped by a three-point play from James with 5:07 left, was all it took to give the Heat an 87-74 edge, and the margin never was less than seven again.

So, meet the leading scorer in the East finals.

It's not Rose, Wade or James. It's Bosh — who took a bit of heat before the series began, when Boozer was quoted saying that Miami has only two great players, a clear nod toward the Heat having a so-called "Big Three."

"I always have respect," Boozer said Sunday night, asked about Bosh's game. "I never didn't have it."

It's mildly ironic that they're going head-to-head, given how last summer went.

The Bulls and Boozer agreed on a five-year deal worth around $80 million, those talks wrapping up almost simultaneously with Bosh — who was a Chicago target last summer as well — deciding to join Miami.

On Sunday, Bosh could have taken a victory lap after the two-great-players comment by Boozer. He declined.

"C-B had it going," James said. "When we have someone going on our team, we continue to go to him."

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