“I thought about giving Lee Seung-hyun 30 points. I told the rest of the team to keep it in the 20s, and it worked out well.”
Changwon LG won its second straight game to open the 2024-2025 KCC Pro Basketball League with an 89-84 home victory over Busan KCC on Jan. 21 at Changwon Gymnasium.
LG went on a 24-15 run in the third quarter to take a 48-46 lead. After falling behind 63-70, LG turned things around in the fourth quarter, 파워사다리 outscoring KCC 26-14 to pull off the upset.
However, after leading 87-76 with 54.9 seconds left, the team gave up eight straight points in about 30 seconds to cut the deficit to 87-84.
LG allowed 25 points to Lee Seung-hyun, but held Dionte Burton and Heo Woong to 17 and 13 points, respectively.
LG head coach Cho Sang-hyun
Final thoughts
The players make me go back and forth between heaven and hell. Today (Nov. 21), our defense was focused on limiting Burton and Heo’s scoring. Jung In-duk, Jang Kook-guk, Tamayo, Yoo Yoo-sang, and others did a good job of stopping them (Burton and Heo) from scoring. We tried to allow Seung Hyun-yi to score some goals, but he was in good form and his process was not bad. The direction of the defense we prepared worked well.
The only thing I’m a little bit upset about is the number of errors (17) we made off the bench. We need to reflect on the mistakes we made up front. That’s something I can change with patterns and things like that. I’m grateful to the players who won the game in a tough situation. With Jeon Sung-hyun still not available and Doo Kyung-min not feeling 100 percent, it was good to have the seniors on the bench supporting us.
It was a bad finish.
I want the players to be alert. A little lapse can cost you a game. I want them to stay focused, and I want them to grow in the process.
On your instructions at the start of the fourth quarter
It was defense. We weren’t rotating when Seung Hyun-i was getting open shots, so we said, “Let’s rotate defensively,” and I think we ended up forcing them to make mistakes and get fast breaks, and we had an advantage in the paint and we didn’t do that, so we took advantage of that and that’s what led to the win.
Tamayo (16 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists) on his performance under the basket
Tamayo didn’t play well today either in terms of the direction of her defense or the way she made mistakes, so we’re going to watch film and work on that. (With Tamayo’s presence), our rebounding and ability to defend under the basket is better than last year. On defense, I don’t think there will be any big mismatches. We have to learn how to play help defense.
Burton for 17 points.
It’s all about help defense. I gave Seung Hyun-yi some points and thought of a rotation other than the player blocking Ungi. I thought about giving him up to 30 points. I decided to keep the rest of the team in the 20s, and that worked out well. I thought that Seung Hyun-yi must have some stamina issues because he had to defend a foreign player, so I decided to let him score but get someone else.
Jung In-duk (10 points, three 3-pointers)
Jung has grown into an indispensable player on our team. Last season, he played a little less because of Yang Hong-seok and Jung Hee-jae. This year, the younger players have been training non-stop since the summer, and they’ve shown good results in the Philippines and Japan. We have two or three players we can rely on in defense. They’re doing their job and doing it very well. Jung In-duk knows what he needs to do. He knows what he has to do, whether it’s defense, following, or assisting.
KCC head coach Jeon Chang-jin
Game Review
It’s true that the height difference is a disadvantage in basketball. We played our best, but we couldn’t finish because we lost a lot of energy at the end. We played hard, but there are limits.
Evaluation of Epistola’s defense
It was pretty good.
We made a lot of mistakes in the fourth quarter (four in the fourth quarter out of nine).
I think it’s a matter of stamina, and when you’re pushed from the height and give up easy baskets, players get tired.
Lee Seung-hyun’s shots were going in.
Seung-hyun is in good shape. It’s a shame because we should win when he’s playing well.
