The professional basketball championship match ended in a memorable match that would not be strange no matter which team won until the final match. In the 7th game in 14 years, after a close match that went to an unprecedented extension, Anyang KGC Ginseng Corporation took the position of the strongest player in professional basketball.
KGC Ginseng Corporation beat SK 100-97 with the help of Omari Spellman and Oh Se-geun (20 points and 13 rebounds), who scored 34 points in the final match of the 2022-2023 professional basketball championship held at Anyang Indoor Gymnasium on the 7th. With this, KGC won the regular league wire-to-wire championship and the 4th playoff (PO) championship in the team’s career. Following the 2016-2017 season, the team built the second integrated championship gold medal in the team’s career.
From the 5th game, KGC was on the rise as ace Byun Jun-hyung’s breakout revived and Daryl Monroe broke down SK’s regional defense. Veteran Oh Se-geun’s fighting spirit also played a role in KGC’s becoming the champion. Even in his mid-30s, Oh Se-geun showed an activity comparable to his heyday. Oh Se-geun, who participated in 52 regular league games and averaged 27 minutes per game, recording 13.1 points and 6.4 rebounds, played almost full-time in each game in the championship game. He surpassed the league average in both scoring and rebounding, showing a stronger side in big games and serving as the team’s focal point. Oh Se-geun, who played a ‘double-double’ on this day, was selected as the PO Most Valuable Player (MVP) by holding the championship trophy for the team.
The two teams were on equal footing with 3 wins and 3 losses in the regular league. Even after entering the championship game, they reached the final game with a balance of 3 wins and 3 losses until the 6th game. There were only 6 cases where the team went from the previous championship game to the final game, and it was the first ‘final match’ in 14 years after the 2008-2009 season.
Thanks to the excellent performance in every match, the spectators filled the stadium six times from the second game to the seventh game of the championship. The Anyang Indoor Gymnasium, which attracted the most spectators this season with 5,905 people, was filled with voices cheering the players even before the game started.
As hot as the cheers, the battle unfolded from beginning to end. From the first quarter, both teams played a tight game back and forth. In the first quarter, SK narrowly led 26-24. However, from the 2nd quarter, KGC’s quick attack revived and took the flow. SK players had a hard time blocking the opponent’s fast attack as if their stamina had fallen a lot.
KGC allowed the first turnaround in the second half with a score of 70-71 at the end of the third quarter, but a series of free throws following fouls were scored and the third quarter ended with a 74-71 lead. Even in the 4th quarter, if SK chased, KGC tried to evade the trend.
However, KGC’s support was stronger. In a situation where they were behind 87-91 at the end of the game, Oh Se-geun scored 2 points on Spellman’s dunk, and with 1 minute and 24 seconds left in the game, they tied the game 91-91. The game went into extra time as both teams failed to score extra points.
KGC took a 98-97 lead with 31 seconds left until the end of the game, and Oh Se-geun scored a free throw, making it all successful and leading 100-97. In a situation where he took the lead with 3 seconds left, he gained the right to attack and virtually confirmed the championship. KGC coach Kim Sang-sik was confident of victory and put Yang Hee-jong, who announced his retirement this season, to finish the championship match. 온라인카지노
It was also a special victory for coach Kim. Coach Kim accomplished the feat of winning the championship in the first year of his return to professional basketball. He has been the national team coach since 2019, and after stepping down from the national team coach in January 2021, he lived a short life as a savage and took the helm of his parent KGC in May of last year, leading the club to its 4th PO championship.
In an interview after the game, coach Kim said, “I was not happy when I was classified as mid-ranking during the pre-season forecast, but I thought that if I worked with the players, there would be good results.” There was a crisis, but I talked a lot with the players, instilled that it was a strong team, and made tactical changes and overcame it,” he recalled the season.