Even if you win, you are already a master.
Seoul SK coach Jeon Hee-chul must have been thrilled after playing the 4th game of the championship match against Anyang KGC. If you narrow it down further, how thrilling it must have been when the players who went out as irregular starters in the first quarter made a big success.
SK succeeded in balancing the series by winning 100-91 in the 4th game against KGC held on the 1st. It was the 4th game with a huge twist. It was a game of great significance for SK.
They have been playing since the 6th round, and with Choi Jun-yong, the main player, missing, SK started the championship match with Kim Seon-hyung and Jamil Warney’s ‘Molppang Basketball’. KGC broke everyone’s expectations that KGC would have an advantage and caught the first game. Director Jeon’s resourcefulness was critical.
However, a great crisis came in the 2nd and 3rd games. It was because the opponent changed the defense against Kim Seon-hyung to Moon Seong-gon and increased the pressure, and it was visible that Kim Seon-hyung and Jamil Warney’s stamina plummeted. It was not unreasonable for many experts to predict that ‘the series is over’ after watching SK collapse without power in the second half of Game 3.
But what is this? SK created a dramatic twist in Game 4. Kim Seon-hyung and Warnie, who were all dying, came back to life as if it had never happened. In the background, there was an amazing mercenary skill of the former director. At the beginning of the first quarter, Kim Seon-hyeong and Warney were all excluded, and Oh Jae-hyeon, Choi Seong-won, Song Chang-yong, Choi Boo-kyung, and Leon Williams lined up. It was calculated that if these players held out as much as possible, they could save Kim Seon-hyeong and Warney’s physical strength, while taking out the opponent’s strength. It was a great success. It was impressive to endure 7 minutes in the first quarter. Choi Seong-won and Williams showed great concentration and confronted the KGC star players. Losing by 8 points The former manager applied for operation time and sent out the main players. Anyone who has seen a little basketball would have felt that SK’s operation was a great success even if they lost by 8 points.
This is a tactic that KGC had fun with against SK last season when coach Kim Seung-gi was in charge. At that time, coach Kim said that he was no match for SK in terms of power, and came out with an irregular lineup in the 1st quarter consecutively and took advantage of SK. I don’t know if the former director thought of this pain and planned the strategy, but it was a great idea. In a word, it is absolutely impossible to push forward with such an irregular strategy, which is equivalent to ‘gambling’ in an important game where life is at stake.
There was something else we forgot. It was Choi Won-hyeok. On this day, Choi Won-hyeok followed Lens Abando, who was in peak condition, to death. Who is Wonhyuk Choi? When SK defeated Wonju DB in the 2017-2018 season to win the championship, it was the player who gave the team the championship by erasing the opponent’s key foreign player, Deonte Button. In this championship game, it was not used until the 3rd game, but the 4th game played the role of a ‘new stealer’ by adding up to 8 points like Altoran along with Abando defense. 스포츠토토
There is a saying that victory is determined by heaven. It became 2-2, but rather, the 5th game changed to SK’s advantage. Coincidentally, the 5th match, which was scheduled to be held in Anyang, was changed to be held at SK Home Jamsil due to a gym rental problem. If SK went to Anyang again in this atmosphere, it would have been difficult to maintain the rising atmosphere, but by playing consecutive games in Jamsil, the probability of catching the 5th game was slightly increased.
SK could lose Game 5, and KGC could win. It is true that KGC is still ahead in terms of objective power. So, coach Jeon foreshadowed another irregular operation, saying that the strategies he used in the 4th game would not work in the 5th game. Even if SK doesn’t win, coach Jeon has already proven that he is a proper ‘master’ by winning the 1st and 4th games. As a rookie coach last season, he announced to the whole world that it was absolutely not ‘players’ that led to the combined championship. SK is playing this season without Choi Jun-yong and Ahn Young-jun.