The Los Angeles Lakers' Rui Hachimura scored 16 points and Yuta Watanabe 12 as the Japanese forwards faced off Monday in a game won by the Nets 121-104.
Hachimura, making his first start for the Lakers and also for the season, shot 6-for-13 from the field and had four rebounds in 28 minutes at the Barclays Center.
Watanabe went 5-for-7 from the field, grabbed one rebound and two blocks as he came off the bench to log 21 minutes of court time.
The two Japanese players were meeting on an NBA court for the first time since Hachimura's trade from the Washington Wizards last week.
Kyrie Irving scored game-high 26 points, with his teammates Cam Thomas and Patty Mills both adding 21 off the bench, as the Nets won their second straight game.
Both teams were missing star frontcourt players which gave the Japanese duo an opportunity to shine. The Lakers were without LeBron James and Anthony Davis and the Nets had to overcome the absence of Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons.
The Nets led 29-16 after the first quarter and 58-46 at halftime. The Lakers cut the deficit to three points at the end of the third before the Nets closed out the win with a 36-point final stanza.
The Nets improved to 31-19 for the season which puts them fourth in the Eastern Conference standings, 4.5 games behind current leaders the Boston Celtics. With a 23-28 record, the Lakers are 13th and 2.5 games out of a playoff play-in place in the Western Conference.
