Japan's women's basketball team use fast-paced, space-creating "small ball" tactics to make up for their relative height disadvantage – drawing out the opposition defense and exploiting the gaps created with highly polished three-point shooting. We trace the team's history and the evolution of their tactical approach, in particular under head coach Tom Hovasse, who helped them adapt and refine their strategy after they lost their key power forward to injury in the run-up to Tokyo 2020.