Saitama ¨C Just a little over a minute into Japan¡¯s game against Belgium on Friday, Rui Hachimura nailed his first basket of the evening from beyond the arc ¡ª as if it was an afterthought.
But it was actually his first game since his 2020-21 NBA season ended in a playoff series loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in early June. Despite the break from action, Hachimura made it look easy, showing no signs of being rusty.
After all, the 23-year-old Washington Wizards forward racked up a game-high 24 points, despite playing less than 19 minutes, during the national team¡¯s 87-59 win over Belgium in a warm-up contest for the Tokyo Olympics.
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