Professional basketball Seoul SK’s bold ‘gambling’ was a huge success.
SK, led by coach Jeon Hee-cheol, beat Anyang KGC Ginseng Corporation 100-91 in the home game of the 4th game of the 2022-2023 SKT Adot Professional Basketball Men’s Champion Final (4 wins in 7 matches) held at Jamsil Student Gymnasium in Seoul on the 1st.
With this, both teams recorded a series record of 2 wins and 2 losses, turning the match to the starting point, and this season’s championship match entered into a long game.
SK started with Kim Sun-hyung and Warney sitting on the bench
SK started the game with Kim Seon-hyung and Jamil Warney sitting on the bench. In the championship match, SK, which had a thin player base, bet on the so-called ‘mole bread basketball’ with Kim Seon-hyeong and Warney at the forefront, leading to victory in the first game.
However, Kim Seon-hyeong and Warney showed their physical limits in the 2nd and 3rd games and showed sluggishness towards the latter half of the game. In the end, SK, who suffered consecutive defeats, decided to save Kim Seon-hyung and Warney to arrange their stamina. It was such an unconventional win that coach Jeon Hee-cheol said, “It is the first time that Kim Seon-hyeong and Warney were excluded from the selection together.”
SK, without Kim Seon-hyung and Warney, withstood the Ginseng Corporation’s offensive as much as possible. Although he was hit with a series of outside shots, he made up for it with his tenacious defense and promised offense. With 8 points left and 3 minutes left before the end of the first quarter, SK finally put Kim Seon-hyung and Warney in.
Kim Seon-hyung and Warney, who saved their stamina, played an active role that matched expectations. In the second quarter, the two players started scoring in earnest, and SK reversed the score 50-47 and finished the first half.
The gap widened further in the third quarter. SK ran away by 15 points as goals broke out evenly from inside and outside. However, Ginseng Corporation was not going to back down like this. Byun Jun-hyung’s attack, which had been sluggish in the championship match, exploded belatedly, and he chased it by 4 points at once, 88-84.
‘Charming divergence’ SK supporting actors… Looking forward to more in the future
Then SK’s ‘Ace’ Kim Seon-hyung came out as the solver again. He not only scored directly, but also helped Bukyung Choi score and blocked Byun Junhyung’s shot, enthralling the home crowd. It was the moment when SK’s choice, which saved Kim Seon-hyeong’s stamina at the beginning of the game, shined.
Kim Seon-hyung and Warney led the victory by recording a ‘double double’ with 23 points and 10 assists, 28 points and 17 rebounds, respectively.
However, when the two players were not on the court, SK was able to win because of the performance of the ‘supporting actors’ against the main players of Ginseng Corporation. In particular, Choi Seong-won, who scored an average of 9.3 points in the 1st to 3rd games, scored 17 points, almost twice as many on this day.
Seong-Won Choi played a crucial role in helping SK secure the victory by hitting a decisive 3-point shot in the 3rd quarter, which was the match. In addition, Choi Won-hyeok also showed off his hidden skills by scoring 8 more points than usual and picking up 4 rebounds.
SK, which has not had a variety of attack patterns compared to Ginseng Corporation, has found the true value of the players of Bijujeon on this day, and has a wider range of choices in the remaining games.
On the other hand, Ginseng Corporation did its part with Lens Abando scoring 22 points, but it was regrettable that Omari Spellman only scored 9 points due to foul trouble. However, it was comforting that Byun Jun-hyung survived by recording 15 points and 8 assists.
ㅋㅋㅋ벳 Both teams will play 5 games in the same place on the 3rd. So far, in the situation of 2 wins and 2 losses in the championship match, the probability that the team that won the 5th game will win is 81.8% out of 11 times. It is expected that a life-and-death battle will unfold.