The 2022-23 professional basketball championship match (champion match) is a long-term game. After 2 consecutive losses to Anyang KGC, Seoul SK won 1 counterattack and matched the series record with 2 wins and 2 losses. In the 7-game 4-win championship game, the winning team is now determined until at least the 6th game.
Both KGC, the winner of the regular season, and SK, the 3rd place team, showed all their cards. Now it’s the ‘battle of older brothers’ who know the short-term battle well. The roles of KGC Oh Se-geun (36, 2m) and SK Kim Seon-hyung (35, 1m87cm) are important.
Oh Se-geun is showing an average of 20.5 points of ‘strength’ until the 4th round of the champ. His regular league scoring average was 13.1. KGC coach Kim Sang-sik laughed, saying, “I believed Oh Se-geun would do it for the championship, but I didn’t know he would do this well.”
SK coach Jeon Hee-chul stuck out his tongue. Director Jeon said, “It is really difficult because of Oh Se-geun. During the regular league, he did not play for long and ran smoothly, so is it okay?” Oh Se-geun is a big man who plays very intelligently. The moment the guard catches the ball, the play that anticipates where the pass will go and finds an empty space is excellent.
Coach Jeon Hee-chul said, “KGC Omari Spellman has a lot of noisy scenes when he scores a goal. However, Oh Se-geun suddenly appears without being seen and puts it in at once in a comfortable position. It’s a really nasty play. He is a smart player.”
Oh Se-geun’s average rebound in the championship game is 10.8. Both scoring and rebounding are at the level of top foreign players.
In the 4th round of the champ, the lack of experience of KGC’s young players was a weakness. Guard Jin’s Byun Jun-hyung, Park Ji-hoon, Lens Abando, and even Spellman were greatly shaken when SK’s offensive power revived. When SK came out with a new regional defense in the 4th game, the guards were embarrassed, and Oh Se-geun and Derek Monroe were seen holding more balls. It is just as important for seasoned Oh Se-geun to hold the center of the team. He said, “I was so focused in the championship game that I hardly even talked to his teammates. When his juniors see him like that, they take heart,” he said.
SK Kim Seon-hyeong received the MVP award despite missing the regular season championship. As much as that, his personal skills showed a rising performance.
Even in the championship match, Kim Seon-hyeong did not lose his form at all. He is recording the same average point average (16.3 points) as the regular league. However, due to SK’s power leak, the only card that can be stably presented in the current attack is Kim Seon-hyung and Jamil Warney’s two-man game. Since the playoffs, the opponent’s defense has already focused on Kim Seon-hyung. It is to block all of Kim Seon-hyeong’s attacks and passes derived from his hands.
In the championship match, Kim Seon-hyung’s exclusive marksman is Moon Seong-gon of KGC. Moon Seong-gon, who is recognized for having the best defense in the league, follows Kim Seon-hyung with his ‘suffocating defense’. Kim Sun-hyung has one more homework. It is to defend Abando, a young 25-year-old Filipino player. Abando, a shooter with excellent physical abilities such as jumping and endurance, is difficult to defend because of his outside shooting ability and speed. He is especially strong against SK and is called the ‘SK Killer’. ㅋㅋㅋ벳
Kim Seon-hyeong said, “Abando is really crazy. He runs around without stopping,” he said. “When attacking, Seong-gon Moon is holding on, and when defending, you have to follow Abando… . It’s really hard,” he said.
The drop in offensive power of Kim Seon-hyung was the biggest reason for SK’s complete loss to KGC in the 2nd and 3rd games. Coach Jeon Hee-chul put Choi Won-hyeok in the fourth game to take over the defense of Abando in order to reduce Kim Seon-hyung’s burden of defense. When this worked, he said, “I will find a way to reduce the burden on Kim Seon-hyeong’s defense even after the 5th game.”
Both Kim Seon-hyung and Oh Se-geun are veterans with over 10 years of league experience. He also has a lot of winning experience. We know better than anyone that the 5th game, where we meet with 2 wins and 2 losses, is a watershed that will determine the direction of the series. Kim Seon-hyung said, “I will prepare for the 5th game with the determination that it will be the end of the game.”