Anyang KGC’s ‘Asia Quarter’ Lens Abando (25, Philippines)’s charm is his splendid play with innate athletic ability. In 39 regular league games of the ‘2022~2023 SKT Adot Professional Basketball’, Altoran played an average of 18 minutes and 38 seconds, contributing 9 points and 2.3 rebounds to the team’s regular league championship.
However, it was rare to see Abando in the quarter-final playoffs (PO, 3 best-of-5 matches) with Goyang Carrot. He played in all games 1-4, but averaged only 6 minutes and 40 seconds, averaging only 0.5 points and 1.8 rebounds. Omari Spellman, Byun Jun-hyeong, Oh Se-geun, and Moon Seong-gon, who were the main players, did their part, and other sixth men such as Park Ji-hoon, Bae Byung-jun, and Jung Jun-won were outstanding, so it was difficult to step on the court. 스포츠토토
Abando’s playing time is expected to increase in the championship match (best of 7) against Seoul SK starting on the 25th. Kim Sang-shik, coach of KGC, also said, “Abando will take a lot of playing time in the championship match.” The reason is clear. When Abando met SK in the regular league, it flew wildly. It was to the point where SK coach Jeon Hee-cheol complained, “Abando flies around whenever he meets our team.”
Abando played an average of 31 minutes and 40 seconds in 5 regular league games with SK, recording 20.4 points, 4 rebounds and 2.8 assists. Scores, rebounds, and assists were all overwhelmingly superior to the other eight teams. This is why coach Kim expects Abando’s performance in the championship game.
On the other hand, in two regular league games with Carrot, he recorded 7 points and 5 rebounds in 17 minutes and 31 seconds, but there were rather many errors at 2.5. It was more than twice that of SK (1.2). Coach Kim said, “There was an aspect where Abando did not perform well against Carrot,” which is an extension of that.
The increasing use of Abando is related to SK’s strong post guarded by Jameel Warney. Since Omari Spellman is somewhat behind in the fight under the goal with Warney, KGC should naturally aim for an outside chance. This is why the role of Abando, who tried 17 3-pointers in the regular league against SK and hit 11 of them (64.7% success rate), is important.
Even SK, which has guards with excellent defense skills such as Oh Jae-hyeon and Choi Won-hyuk, has no choice but to be concerned about Abando. Despite his relatively short height of 188 cm, KGC hopes that Abando will emerge as a hidden card in the championship game as he is competitive in the post, such as winning rebounds with great elasticity and making dunks. Coach Kim once again stressed, “Now that I’m meeting SK, I will actively utilize Abando.”