Professional basketball Anyang KGC Ginseng Corporation overturned the championship match with two consecutive wins after losing the first game.
Ginseng Corporation, led by coach Kim Sang-sik, defeated Seoul SK 81-70 in the 2022-2023 SKT A-Dot Professional Basketball Championship Match (4 wins in 7 games) held at Jamsil Student Gymnasium in Seoul on the 29th.
As a result, Ginseng Corporation, which ranked first in the regular league, took a step closer to the integrated championship. In the past professional basketball championship match, the team that won the 3rd game after 1 win and 1 loss reached the top in 8 out of 12 times, with a probability of 66.7%.
On the other hand, the ‘defending champion’ SK, who had risen to 3rd place in the regular league, but gained momentum with the victory in the first game, suffered two consecutive losses and was driven into crisis.
The worst start, so
SK liked the more thrilling come-from-behind start. Omari Spellman and Byun Jun-hyung, who led Ginseng Corporation’s attack, were thoroughly tied up scoreless in the first quarter. Whenever Ginseng Corp.’s shot missed, SK grabbed a rebound and connected it with a quick break, leading 13-2.
Ginseng Corporation was bold. Even before the first quarter was over, Spellman was removed and Daryl Monroe was put in. Monroe pierced the attack path by stirring under and outside the goal. Here, thanks to Oh Se-geun’s steady scoring, the gap was narrowed to 14-18.
Ginseng Corporation, which maintained a gap of around 5 points in the 2nd quarter, maintained the gap and bet on a game in the 3rd quarter. In particular, the 3-point shot, which was sluggish throughout the first and second quarters, exploded. Lens Abando and Spellman’s 3-pointers exploded and finally succeeded in reversing the game 58-54.
Ginseng Corporation also started the fourth quarter with Spellman’s 3-point shot. On the other hand, SK, whose offensive balance was completely destroyed, collapsed as scoring stopped for a while. The vacancy of Choi Jun-yong, who was injured due to an injury, approached even more painfully.
In the end, Ginseng Corporation, which was once behind by 13 points in the game, won a remarkable victory by 9 points, showing a strong back-and-forth as if it were the first place in the regular league.
‘Game changer’ Monroe, cost-effective basketball is like this
Ginseng Corporation posted 23 points and 9 rebounds, with Oh Se-geun, the “synonymous with consistency,” spending the longest time on the court at 37 minutes. Here, Spellman added 16 points and 7 rebounds, and Abando added 14 points and 7 rebounds.
However, the main character of the day was Monroe. In the first quarter, Ginseng Corporation, which was dragged down by Spellman’s sluggishness, put Monroe in to change the atmosphere of the game, and it was a great success.
Monroe, who became a ‘game changer’, scored 5 points, including 1 3-point shot, and recorded 1 assist and 1 steal in the last 2 minutes of the 1st quarter. Especially in the second quarter, Monroe’s true value was clearly revealed. When Spellman suffered from foul trouble and Oh Se-geun suffered from sluggish scoring, he went back and forth between offense and defense, scoring 12 points in just 12 minutes.
Thanks to Monroe’s performance, Spellman, who saved his stamina on the bench, returned to the court and scored 16 points only in the 3rd and 4th quarters. Manager Kim Sang-sik praised the two foreign players, saying, “After the game, Monroe did well in the 1st and 2nd quarters, and Spellman did well in the 3rd and 4th quarters, so the game went well.” ㅋㅋㅋ벳
On the other hand, in SK, the sluggish performance of Kim Seon-hyung and Jamil Warney is painful. The two players led the victory with explosive scoring power in the first game, but in the second and third games, they were blocked by Ginseng Corporation’s intensive defense and could not use their strength. Even in the third game on this day, Kim Seon-hyeong and Warney only scored 10 points each, less than half of their usual score.
Both teams will play Game 4 at the same venue on May 1st. Attention is focusing on whether Ginseng Corporation won three consecutive victories and will not allow an upset, or whether SK, whose Kim Seon-hyung-Warney card has revealed its limits, will come up with a new strategy.