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ASIA CUP WOMEN: At 2-2, Lebanon appeared vaguely competitive with Australia tonight in Shenzhen, but at 19-2 it was clear another inferior Asia Cup opponent was about to be polished off by the Opals, Chloe Bibby again at the forefront as eight players scored in double figures.

At some point it begs the elephant-in-the-room question, is there much point in any of this?

A final score of 113-34 to Australia, with the Opals shooting at 56 per cent to Lebanon's 21, grabbing 60 rebounds to 23, and delivering 39 assists to 7 ... other than building unrealistic Aussie international confidence, how does this help basketball in Asia?

Tomorrow the Opals play Japan. For the past decade or so, Japan has had the Opals' number but that was while American-born Tom Hovasse was their coach.

He clearly led the renaissance of women's basketball in Japan, taking his adopted nation back to the heights of the 70s when they were silver medallists at the FIBA World Championship - a feat he again led them to by winning Silver at the recent Tokyo Olympics.

But Hovasse subsequently moved to coaching Japan's national men's team and his women's program has been flailing and in freefall ever since.

Australia whipped the Philippines by 76 to open this tournament. Tonight it punished Lebanon for 40 minutes, winning by 79.

This latest version of Japan beat Lebanon by four and the Philippines by three. The Opals won't be their bunnies a second longer.

Those of us hoping for a decent challenge for the Opals tomorrow seem very unlikely to be satisfied.

It is more likely to be more of the same, Izzy Borlase starting the first quarter avalanche against Lebanon, Steph Reid compiling 14 points (4-of-6 threes), and seven assists, Bibby pairing 12 points with 12 boards for her second double-double.

Issy Bourne's 15 points led the massacre, Alex Fowler's 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists, and Courtney Woods' 11 points, six defensive boards and seven assists all fine stats lines, Australia's ball movement and defence exemplary at times. 

But will it all really mean anything, beyond showcasing how strong women's basketball is in Australia and how delightfully deep we can go with our personnel?

Hopefully somewhere along this Cup journey, host nation China will appear on the same floor and we can revisit the 2022 World Cup semi final and an overdue genuinely engrossing game of international basketball.

GROUP A: China 110 d Indonesia 59; Korea 78 d New Zealand 76. Indonesia v New Zealand, China v Korea.

GROUP B: Japan 72 d Lebanon 68; Australia Opals 115 (Sowah 19, Blicavs 17, Bibby 16, Fowler, Woods 11, Borlase 10; George, Bibby 10 rebs; Ellis, Reid 9 assts) d Philippines 39 (De Jesus 9, Pastrana, Panganiban 8; Animan 5 rebs; Castillo, Panganiban 2 assts). Australia Opals 113 (Bourne 15, Reid, Ellis 14, Bibby 12, Blicavs, Fowler, Woods 11, Sowah 10; Bibby 12 rebs; Reid, Woods 7 assts) d Lebanon 34 (Labban 11, Raffoul 9; Naassan 7 rebs; Raffoul, Naassan 2 assts); Japan 85 d Philippines 82. 

Pics courtesy of fiba.com