The best meets the best.
The championship match between Anyang KGC Ginseng Corporation, the ‘defending champion’ of professional basketball, and Seoul SK Knights, the first team in the regular league, was held.
The first round of the 2021-2022 KGC Ginseng Corporation Cheong Kwan-jang professional basketball championship game (best-of-seven system), where the Ginseng Corporation and SK will face off, will be held at the Jamsil Student Gymnasium at 7 pm on the 2nd of next month.
Ginseng Corporation will challenge to win the championship for the second year in a row.
Ginseng Corporation, which won the championship game with 10 wins in the postseason last year, is showing off its formidable power as its ‘winning DNA’ is activated this season as well.
In the semifinals, Ginseng Corporation lightly beat Daegu Korea Gas Corporation 3-0, and in the quarterfinals once morest Suwon KT Sonic Boom, they lost first in the first round and then went down to win three consecutive wins, confirming their advance to the championship game.
Although Ginseng Corporation ranked 3rd in the regular league rankings (32 wins and 22 losses), 8 games behind the 1st place SK (40 wins and 14 losses), but greatly advanced in their opponent’s record. They played a total of six matches once morest SK in the regular league, winning 5-1.
Ginseng Corporation claims to be SK’s natural enemy. It was the Ginseng Corporation that put the brakes on SK’s winning streak, which had been running for 15 consecutive league victories until February 15 this season.
Ginseng Corporation prevented SK from winning 15 consecutive wins by winning 85-79 in Jamsil’s away match once morest SK on the 2nd of last month. In the final match of the league on the 5th, they also won their home game 91-84 and are on a 2nd win streak once morest SK.
In addition, Omari Spellman, who was absent from the semifinals and semifinals due to a knee injury from the championship game, will return.
Even without the main gun Spellman, the 2nd option Daryl Monroe was active. In seven postseason games, he averaged 17.7 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 6.6 assists.
The problem is the physical fitness right now. Jeon Seong-hyeon, who led the team of possessed outside prisoners, as well as Oh Se-geun and Moon Seong-gon are also demonstrating their fighting spirit for painkillers.
Despite major and minor injuries, the main players of Ginseng Corporation did their part during the 7 games in the postseason.
Byun Jun-hyung, who returned from an ankle injury, also showed his wit by inserting a winning shot with 0.8 seconds left in the last match once morest kt in the fourth leg of the quarterfinals.
Against this, SK aims to win the championship game for the first time in four years since the 2017-2018 season. Manager Jeon Hee-cheol, who took over as the first manager of the season, will challenge for the first unified championship (regular league and championship match win) that will go down in the club’s history.
As an overwhelming regular league champion (win rate 74.1%), SK advanced to the championship game by winning three consecutive games once morest Goyang Orion in the semifinals.
First of all, SK has a strong team. The regular league domestic and overseas MVPs Choi Jun-yong and Jamil Werney are holding out. Here, the league’s representative guard Kim Seon-hyeong and forward Ahn Young-joon are powerful.
SK wanted KT, who had a 4-2 lead in the league record this season, to come up, but they had to fight for the throne this season with Ginseng Corporation, a difficult opponent.
[ 경기신문 = 김세영 기자 ]
