Last time Tyler faced the Saitama Broncos he exploded for his best game of his short professional career, scoring 27 points while collecting 11 rebounds in 26 minutes of play. All three of those numbers are season-highs. Playing for the first time since his poor showing two weeks ago Tyler was looking to bounce back with a strong series.

The first game was an average performance on Tyler's part. He played 16 minutes, but made very little impact on the game, neither good nor bad. Interestingly he had a +/- of 0. In the end he totaled six points, three rebounds, a block, and a steal. The most positive numbers were that he only turned the ball over once and was only call for one foul. After the previous series' performances this outing an improvement. The Apache ended up losing, and Tyler did not play at all in Q4.

Sunday afternoon's game proved to be Tyler's best outing since November 21st. He was aggressive on offense scoring his first four points on dunks and also stayed aggressive on defense, blocking two shots. In 21 minutes of play he scored 11 points, grabbed 5 boards, blocked 2 shots, and recorded an assist and a steal. His +/- was -12, but seeing as the team lost by 18, on average the Apache were better with him on the floor.

Not to end negatively, but in Sunday's game turnovers proved to be a problem again. He had five in the game, bringing his average to a shade over three per game. An average this high is a point of concern for a point guard, it is highly worrisome for a big man only playing half the game.

With 2011 just days away, Tyler is entering the beginning of the "real" season for the Tokyo Apache. Up to this point they have only played road games as modifications were finished for their arena. The Apache have only played 12 games, while the rest of the league have played 20-24 games. This means that the Apache will be playing 10 games in the month of January, including four straight nights January 6th-9th. Tyler will also have the slam dunk contest in the middle of the month. Hopefully Tyler will be able to take advantage of his youth and durability to play an even bigger role. With Robert Swift, and his history of knee injuries, playing in front of Tyler, the more minutes he can handle the better for his team's chance at success. 

Tyler had his toughest weekend of games so far this season when the Apache went up north to play the Niigata Albirex. The stats line is brutal:

10.5 mpg
1.5 ppg
0/7 fg
3/6 ft
4.5 rpg
0 spg
0 apg
0.5 bpg
3 pf per game
4 TO per game . . .

Yikes. As I stated in the first post about Jeremy Tyler, I am an optomist about his decision to play in Japan this year. So I went looking for what could explain this dismal performance, highlighted (or should I say 'low lighted') by the shocking fouls and turnover numbers. I came up with two possibilities:

1) Niigata has the strongest frontcourt he has seen all season. Julius Ashby and Zachary Andrews are both seasoned pros who don't mind banging inside. These two are the exact kind of player that Tyler is going to learn the most playing against. Hopefully next time he sees them the result is different.
2) Kendall Dartez is out injured. Dartez is the "glue guy" of the Apache. While his average of 12/7 is solid, he also helps facilitate the offense and anchors the defense. He is also a good three-point shooter and extends the defense with his range. Team members are having to adjust to different roles as a result of his absence, most notably Eaton stepping up with a huge scoring output in the series. Tyler will have to adjust his play accordingly if Dartez going to be out for a while.

There was one piece of good news on the Tyler front this week. Tyler will compete in the annual Slam Dunk contest during the bj-league All-Star weekend coming up in Osaka. Should be fun to see the highlights!