The Iwate Big Bulls dropped their first-ever game on Saturday afternoon, falling 72-61 to the visiting Niigata Albirex BB as the bj-league teams began the preseason portion of their 2011-12 schedule.

Iwate coach Vlasios Vlaikidis spoke to The Japan Times after the game. He didn't have the game statistics handy, but his impressions of the game were clear in his mind.

"Defense was good, not bad," he said by phone from Morioka, commending his players' effort. "The offense was very bad. But this is normal because this was the first official game. We didn't have any games before."