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B.League: Pinoy imports hopeful of promotion to Division 1

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Camille B. Naredo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Kobe Paras and Altiri Chiba are at the top of the B2 standings. (c) B.LEAGUE" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/sports/01/17/20230117-kobe-paras.jpg"/><figcaption>Kobe Paras and Altiri Chiba are at the top of the B2 standings. <em>(c) B.LEAGUE</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Filipino players in the second division of Japan&#x27;s B.League are looking to get better in the second half of the 2022-23 season, as they target promotion to Division 1. </p><p>Two clubs from B2 will automatically be promoted to B1 at the end of the season, while two clubs from B1 will be demoted. </p><p>One club that looks to be in a good position to move up to the first division is Altiri Chiba, which features former University of the Philippines star Kobe Paras. They have compiled a 25-5 win-loss record midway through their campaign, with Paras averaging 6.9 points, 1.4 assists, and 1.2 rebounds in 15 minutes per game.</p><p>&quot;Right now I feel like we&#x27;re doing good, but it&#x27;s just the start of the season,&quot; Paras told ABS-CBN News in a media availability session during the B.League&#x27;s All-Star Weekend. </p><p>&quot;You can&#x27;t really tell what&#x27;s gonna happen later on in the future. So hopefully, &#x27;yung team namin, we can prepare more and play even better games. Hopefully &#x27;yun nga, ma-promote kami,&quot; he added. </p><p>Playing in a league with a promotion-relegation system is not a new experience for Paras, who suited up Niigata Albirex BB in Division 1 last season before moving to Altiri Chiba this year. The second-generation star admits that the format of the league comes with &quot;a lot of pressure&quot; for him and his team.</p><p>&quot;Just to have the league have all eyes on you is huge pressure. Especially for our city and our supporters and fans and our boosters. They&#x27;re expecting a lot from, not just me, but our team in general and our coaches,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;I feel like for us as a whole, we need to use all that pressure as motivation to just do better,&quot; Paras added.</p><p>Also in good standing is Nagasaki Velca. Filipino-Australian guard Jordan Heading has emerged as the team&#x27;s designated gunner, scoring 12.7 points while shooting 34% from long range. Nagasaki has a 19-11 record, second in the Western Conference of B2.</p><p>The promotion and relegation system is one that he embraces, saying: &quot;It&#x27;s a good system, being able to play for promotion and relegation. It makes things really competitive.&quot;</p><p>Nagasaki&#x27;s campaign in B2 has been hampered by injuries to some of their key players, however, and Heading is hoping that they can finally put together a complete roster in the second half of the season. </p><p>&quot;Hopefully, we can find a bit of health going into the backend of the season,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;We got high expectations and we&#x27;re really going to lock in the second half of the season and do what we can to get better, what we need to and hopefully, both Kobe and I can stay with our teams and move up,&quot; Heading added.</p><p>Also playing in B2 are former PBA star Greg Slaughter, whose Rizing Zephyr Fukuoka squad is fifth in the West with an 11-19 slate, and Roosevelt Adams, whose Kagawa Five Arrows are 9-21 in the West.</p><div><strong>Watch the VOD/replay of the Rising Stars game on ABS-CBN Sports YouTube Channel. </strong></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO: </strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wmDRn0HkZ5o?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Filipino players in the second division of Japan's B.League are looking to get better in the second half of the 2022-23 season, as they target promotion to Division 1. 

B.League: Pinoy imports hopeful of promotion to Division 1

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B.League: Pinoy imports hopeful of promotion to Division 1

Camille B. Naredo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jan 17, 2023 01:18 PM PHT

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Updated Jan 17, 2023 02:34 PM PHT

Read More:

basketball

Japan

Japan B.League

Kobe Paras

Jordan Heading

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