Fierce War of Words, Goal is to Win Spring Basketball Starts

The playoffs will begin to decide the strongest team in the Korean Basketball League. Six teams that advanced to the spring basketball league set their first goal as advance to the championship game. The “mouth fight” was also fierce to keep each other in check.

The 2023-2024 KBL PO Media Day event was held at the Olympic Parktel in Songpa-gu, Seoul on Tuesday. Wonju DB manager Kim Joo-sung and Changwon LG manager Cho Sang-hyun, who went straight to the semifinal PO as No. 1 and No. 2 players in the regular league, expected that the semifinal PO would be held until the final fifth game in order to gain physical strength. On the other hand, the coaches of the four teams that are participating in the semifinal PO event agreed that they would finish the series in three games.

The semifinal PO match will begin on Friday with a clash between Seoul SK (ranked fourth) and Busan KCC (ranked fifth). The two teams will meet at the semifinal PO match for the second consecutive year. SK, which had been in the injury ward throughout the regular season, has fully formed itself, with Kim Sun-hyung, Ahn Young-joon, Oh Se-geun and Choi Won-hyuk all returning before the PO match. Choi Jun-yong of KCC will face his former team SK in the first season of his transfer, which will likely result in a fiercer result.

“For the first time in this season, all 12 of us will participate in the PO with full capacity,” SK coach Jeon Hee-chul said. “We will make a great game that is hard to watch in the round of six, and finish it quickly.” KCC coach Jeon Chang-jin said, “We need to finish in the third round to see the winner in the semifinal.” He also stressed that he will lead the ultra-luxury corps including Heo Woong, Choi Jun-yong, Song Kyo-chang, Lee Seung-hyun and Ra Gun-ah as one.

Suwon KT (ranking third) will have a semifinal PO match with Ulsan Hyundai Mobis (ranked sixth). KT coach Song Young-jin vowed to beat Hyundai Mobis coach Cho Dong-hyun and LG Twins coach Cho Sang-hyun in the semifinal and semifinal rounds, respectively, to advance to the championship. “Now that I am on the last team, I will challenge myself to the top with more aggressive performances,” Cho said.

Players’ nerves outside the stadium were also heated up. “I’m confident that I’ll stop Heo Hoon from KT,” Lee Woo-seok of Hyundai Mobis provoked him. Heo Hoon responded by saying, “I’m not sure who’s going to stop me.” Lee also threw a six-letter word “wait for Cho Sang-hyun” at LG, which he will meet if he advances to the semifinals. In response, LG’s Yang Hong-seok responded, “Ola, Cho Dong-hyun.”

DB captain Kang Sang-jae said, “I won the title with overwhelming results in the regular league. All players are more prepared to go crazy than certain players.”

Teams that will advance to the semifinals will likely stage all-out battles from the first round. The odds of winning the first round to advance to the semifinals stand at 92.3 percent (48 times out of 52 times). This means that the outcome of the first round match is highly likely to determine the outcome of the series. 안전놀이터