The Osaka Evessa and Niigata Albirex, the top two seeds in the inaugural bj-league playoffs, advanced to the championship game with victories in Saturday's semifinals before a raucous crowd of 5,450 at Tokyo's Ariake Colosseum.
David Palmer scored a team-high 23 points and made four big free throws in the final minute, as Osaka hung on to win a 79-76 nail-biter against the Sendai 89ers in the first semifinal and book a spot in Sunday's final.
Matt Garrison paced Niigata with 18 points in the second semifinal, as the Albirex beat the Tokyo Apache 79-68 going away.