Japan's NBA streaming service goes down before Hachimura's Lakers debut / News - Basketnews.com

Around 10 minutes before the match, the only official NBA streaming service in Japan, NBA Rakuten, went down with multiple errors shown to users. The company ended up offering a free YouTube stream to the Japanese audience.

Credit: USA TODAY Sports - Scanpix Credit USA TODAY Sports - Scanpix

After getting traded from the Washington Wizards, Rui Hachimura made his debut for the Los Angeles Lakers last night. The interest to watch the Japanese forward's first game with the new team was so high that the country's only official streaming service went down.

Player of the Game EFF 25 Anthony Davis Points 21 Accuracy 7-15 Rebounds 12 Assists 1

Hachimura's first game as a Laker was scheduled to start at 12:30 Japan time. With only around 10 minutes left before the match, the country's only official streaming service, NBA Rakuten, went down.

First, a server error page with no additional information was shown. Sometime later, a '500 Error' greeted the users.

Around 12:45 local time, the service provider released a statement, saying "It is difficult to browse the page. Currently, access to the server is concentrated and it is difficult to browse the page."

NBA Rakuten ended up offering a free YouTube stream to the local audience, starting at approximately the 9-minute mark in the second quarter.

As of the time of writing, the NBA Rakuten service is back up and working.

Thank you for being with us! Subscribe to BN+ and browse ad-free.