Two B.League games offer a useful test of what a box score hides. Shiga forced mistakes and still lost its last game because Hiroshima kept getting the ball back; Saga won its last game without owning the glass. In Shiga–Shinshu and Saga–Gunma, the next possession after a miss may tell us more than either team's recent record.
Shiga had 12 steals to Hiroshima's six, yet was outrebounded 54–39 in an overtime loss. Shinshu's recent win at Yokohama went the other way on the boards: 43–28 in its favour. That makes the Shiga–Shinshu rebounding contest interesting, though one previous game cannot tell us how this one will play out.
Saga and Kobe each had 32 rebounds in their last meeting, but Saga made 21 free throws to Kobe's nine. Gunma's most recent loss at Nagasaki featured three made threes from 20 attempts. If Saga gets to the line again, can Gunma answer with cleaner possessions rather than relying on its earlier run of wins?
