SK’s unexpected waves drove KGC, which won the regular league wire-to-wire, to the edge of a cliff.
The Seoul SK Knights won 66-60 in the 5th game of the championship match against the 2022-2023 SKT A-Dot Professional Basketball Anyang KGC Ginseng Corporation held at the Jamsil Student Gymnasium on the 3rd. SK, which recorded 3 wins and 2 losses in the series, had only one win left to win.
SK’s Choi Won-hyeok, who scored 8 points and 4 rebounds in 24 minutes in the 4th game on the 1st, but recorded a court margin of +20, was praised for actively blocking Lens Abando, KGC’s Asian quarter player, and Jeon Hee-cheol SK. He was highly praised by his coach and teammates. But Abando scored 22 points in Game 4, including four 3-pointers.
In the match that took place again two days later, Choi Won-hyeok faced Abando. Their confrontation sparked as much as the importance of the game to the extent that a war of nerves unfolded at the beginning of the game. Abando played dedicatedly, recording 10 rebounds and 6 blocked shots. But the score didn’t go as planned. He tied for 4 runs.
On this day, Choi Won-hyuk ran for 16 minutes and 29 seconds and only scored 2 points and 2 rebounds. However, the effect of blocking one of the opponent’s main scorers in a low-scoring game was not small.
Ahead of the championship game, coach Jeon Hee-cheol cited Abando as the biggest variable. He emphasized that Abando, who scored an average of 20.4 points in the regular league match against SK, should reduce the score, which was particularly strong against SK.
Abando also performed sluggishly in the first leg of the championship game. SK’s blockade of Avando seemed to work.
But he survived from the second round. He scored double digits in every game and threatened SK with his terrifying athleticism. In addition, with his tireless energy, he tired out his matchup opponent, SK ace Kim Seon-hyung.
Regarding Abando’s movement, Kim Seon-hyung said, “It’s like a crazy X. He moves continuously without stopping for a moment. It’s really amazing. In offense, Sung-gon Moon sticks to me, and in defense, I have to follow Abando, so I had to physically struggle.”
In the end, SK chose Choi Won-hyuk as Abando’s custom card, and Choi Won-hyuk played a big role in helping SK lead the series with 2 wins in a row from 1 win 2 losses.
After winning Game 5, Choi Won-hyeok said, “I feel so good to win this tough game. All the players really seem to have worked hard. My throat still hurts from the cold, but I’m taking good care of it, so my body aches have improved a lot.” told
Regarding the matchup with Abando, he explained, “Once I got the ball, I tried not to give him a seat, and I liked Abando’s participation in the rebound, so I thought I should box out unconditionally and make sure he couldn’t make a quick break. did.
Regarding Abando’s activity level, which Kim Seon-hyung said, “It’s like a crazy X,” he said, “If I beat that crazy X, I’ll become a crazy X, so I’m going to run more. There was a nervous breakdown, but I didn’t want to lose there. I think Abando scored a little less today.”
Although Filipino players have different rhythm and athletic ability as their strengths, Choi Won-hyeok revealed that there is no difficulty in matchups.
He said, “Rather, it seems to be more difficult because domestic players know each other well. Like Byun Jun-hyung, he controls the strength and weakness a lot. Rather, Abando is more careful about that part because his physical ability is so good,” he said.
In SK, Oh Jae-hyeon, Choi Seong-won, and Choi Won-hyuk were pointed out as so-called ‘mannequins’ in this playoff, but they are continuing their upward trend by performing well. SK also emphasized on the media day of the championship game, “In order to win, the mannequins must explode.” And that dream is becoming a reality.
Following Choi Won-hyuk and Choi Seong-won, Oh Jae-hyeon made three 3-pointers on this day, and he is leading the championship game to the ‘mannequin series’ by bursting the outer cannon that puts a focus on the game.
Choi Won-hyeok said, “It would be great if all three of us exploded in the next 6 games, but I want to win as much as possible because one of us explodes and the one-two punch (Kim Seon-hyung-Jamie Warney) finishes it off for sure.”
Head coach Jeon Hee-chul, who expressed his difficulty before Game 5, saying, “It’s hard to stand still,” joked, “Seeing how fans like it, I wonder, ‘Should I go to Game 7?'”
Choi Won-hyuk said, “(Choi) Bu-kyung hyung is working so hard alone on the spot, so the goal is to finish in the 6th game.바카라사이트
Game 5 on this day drew 5,289 spectators.
More than 5,000 spectators attended SK’s 3rd, 4th and 5th games at home, and all three games were full. SK’s home fans as well as KGC’s away fans cheered enthusiastically, making the atmosphere of the championship game even hotter.
Choi Won-hyeok said, “Our fans, who always give us a lot of strength, are so amazing, and I really appreciate it. And I really respect the KGC fans. Even though it was an expedition, many KGC players came to cheer for me while overcoming the cheers of our fans. I think we played harder. Because we have fans like this, we and KGC want to work harder and show a good game. We will work hard so that the fans will continue to like it.”