KT had a chance to clinch a spot in the championship game in Suwon. LG was swept at home.
Suwon KT defeated Changwon LG 83-63 in the second game of the quarterfinals playoffs of the 2023-2024 Korean Basketball League at Changwon Gymnasium on Monday. KT and LG are tied at 1-1 in the best-of-seven series. The game was in doubt as to which team would reach the championship game.
After falling behind 21-30 early in the second quarter, KT started to pull away. Michael Eric, who played beyond expectations in Game 1, and Kim Jun-hwan, who was playing in the playoffs for the first time, turned the tide.
KT rallied to a double-digit lead behind Moon Sung-gon, who hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter alone, and then extended its lead over LG, which struggled from beyond the arc, to pull away for the win.
KT head coach Song Young-jin
Game Recap
Today’s game was a total team effort. It was a good game. The players played hard and won.
Kim Jun-hwan on his joker performance
I’ve been preparing since the quarterfinals. I feel like (playing) was delayed because of the timing. Our outside shots didn’t go in in the last game, and we needed to strengthen in that area. Kim Jun-hwan has a big heart and a lot of confidence. I appreciated that.
Eric was good, too.
We’re in the playoffs and he’s done a good job at the time he’s been given. He’s been so good. We might increase (his playing time) a little bit more. We’ll see how things go at that time. Hehoon, Jung-woo, and Bass also found a lot of teammates, and then Moon Sung-gon (made 3-pointers), so we had a good flow.
Which was bigger, Moon’s five 3-pointers or his offensive rebounds (four)?
I think the five is bigger (laughs).
Heo Hoon Injury Level
Tough and aggressive in style. He gets a lot of scrutiny. I’ve had a lot of injuries here and there. I’m still in pain, and I have about 3 centimeters of muscle damage in my (thigh). He (Heo Hoon) has a strong will, and I’m not too worried about it, so he’s playing hard.
Ha’s scoring (16 points) has increased.
It’s thanks to his mid-range shots. It’s encouraging to see the shots. It’s encouraging to see the shots. I didn’t see the shot and I was looking for the pass, but I improved and grew. The coaches told me to look and shoot.
Game 3?
Based on today’s defense. We’ll have to watch (the film) again and talk to the coaches and see if we want to change things for the better or just a little bit.
Moon Sung-gon and other players who need to hit three-pointers
Han Hee-won needs to be active and make shots. A lot of the 토토사이트 pressure is on Heo Hoon or Bass. From there, it helps us if Jung-woo, Kim Jun-hwan, and others can make shots.
What I want to emphasize to the players
It was a chance for us to unite once more after the first game. We had a lot of meetings. We talked about getting in sync with each other. That led to this good result and set the tone. If we work harder to be more combative to finish at the source, a lot of times the rebounds or loose balls that we can get go to them, and that’s what wins games, so hopefully we can keep that momentum going.
LG coach Cho Sang-hyun
Match Recap
I apologize to the fans for this game in the quarterfinals. If you lose by 10 or 20 points, you lose. I wasn’t prepared enough. It’s a complete loss. We didn’t have the activity, we didn’t have the mistakes, we didn’t have our basketball. We were pushed around and our transition and fast breaks were not working. I just have to get ready again.
Sensitive to the whistle
Because of the nature of the playoffs, I was trying to tell the guys (to play calmly) and I was trying to (protest) more, but Marey got excited at the whistle. It affected us on the baseline turnovers. I hope we can find our composure, because then we should have been able to anticipate plays and react to them. We got complacent and made mistakes, and it doesn’t matter that the score was close at the end because we didn’t have enough energy, but we didn’t play well. We have to prepare again.
Moon Sung-gon allowed offensive rebounds from the start.
The players need to be more alert. We lost the rebounding battle and made 17 mistakes. I want the bench to take responsibility for the mistakes, whether they were offensive, 2-on-2, or fast breaks. It’s unfortunate that the mistakes came from the players who should have been responsible. A 3-pointer off a Marei offense would have given us some flow. Shooting 20% from three is not good enough. Considering our shooters, we need to make more than 10 (3-pointers) to have a good game.
When Eric and Junghwan came in in the second quarter, we struggled.
We couldn’t solve the switch defense or the pressure defense. We chased well in the first half, but we fell apart in the third quarter.
Dealing with opposing screens
Marey is a good defender, but he can’t defend the outside. He has to drive inside, and we’re trying to get more sophisticated with that defense. In the offense, the ball handling derived from the pick game was later than KT.