The 2022-2023 professional basketball quarterfinal playoffs (PO, 5 out of 3 wins) can be summarized as the so-called’war of the guards’. Anyang KGC Ginseng Corporation, Changwon LG, Seoul SK, and Goyang Carrot, which have reached the semifinal PO, are each led by the best guards in the league. Advancement to the championship finals was ultimately up to them.
■ Between coach Kim Seung-gi Byun Jun-hyeong and Lee Jung-hyun
PO On the one side, a face-to-face confrontation between KGC, the regular league champion, and 5th place Carrot, who came up after defeating 4th place Ulsan Hyundai Mobis, took place.
Coach Kim Seung-gi, who led KGC until last season and moved to the first command tower of Carrot, which was founded by taking over Goyang Orion ahead of this season, has a deep relationship with the main guards of both teams.
In the 2018 debut season,
coach Kim Seung-gi, who was the ‘Rookie of the Year’ coach, his skills are in full bloom, and
strong support is also great.
Byun Jun-hyung (27), who joined KGC as the 2nd overall pick in the 2018 rookie draft, made a splendid debut by winning the Rookie of the Year award in his debut season. While main guard Lee Jae-do was away due to military service, manager Kim, who needed resources to fill the vacancy, intensively trained Byun Jun-hyung and soon made him the league’s leading guard. Byun Jun-hyung averaged 14.1 points and 5.0 assists this season, led KGC to win the regular league and was even nominated for the Most Valuable Player (MVP). 스포츠토토
At Carrot, director Kim Seung-gi’s ‘Maengjoryun’
PO brilliant performance led the 4th round
and took on a lot of baggage such as
Jeon Seong-hyun’s vacancy. did. Coach Kim, who trained Lee Jung-hyun rigorously, always praised him, saying, “A player who can become bigger.” and became the center of Carrot along with Jeon Seong-hyun and Didric Lawson. In particular, he played a decisive role in helping the team advance to the semifinals with a remarkable performance of averaging 24.0 points in 5 PO games in the 6th round.
Byun Jun-hyung and Lee Jung-hyun both proved their attack power. However, in a situation where Jeon Seong-hyun is not in good condition due to injury, Lee Jung-hyun and Lawson are carrying a lot of the team, but Byun Jun-hyung is somewhat advantageous as he is with solid starters. Byun Jun-hyeong, who has tasted the championship match victory even in the big stage experience, is ahead.
■ I am the fastest, Lee Jae-do and Kim Seon-hyung
Even in his mid-thirties, he still
ranks first in assists for the team, and faces Lee Jae-do, whose
style is similar to that of MVP.
This season, he delivered an average of 16.3 points and 6.8 assists, ranking first in assists.
A ‘key man’ with both fast- attack and clutch skills
LG goes straight to the semifinals in 9 years Fighting speed
with senior Kim Seon-hyeong, who
is a first-class contributor Ballman Lee Jae-do (32), who led the team’s playoff victory by playing as the main guard for KGC in the 2020-2021 season, is LG after the season I moved to and led the team.
While another guard resource, Lee Kwan-hee, showed quite severe ups and downs, Lee Jae-do played a steady role and established himself as the center of LG. In particular, at the end of the season when fierce competition for second place was unfolding, he showed excellent clutch ability and contributed greatly to LG going directly to the semifinal PO in 9 years.
Lee Jae-do and Kim Seon-hyeong have similar styles. In particular, speed is second in the league to the point of sadness. They are also equipped with some ability to shoot from the outside using speed and break through. There is a reason why SK ranked first (5.9) and LG ranked second (4.7) in this year’s team fastball. It is expected that the game will be divided on who can stir the court more and save speed.