[JB프리뷰] Can KB at the edge of a cliff prevent Samsung Life’s shutdown upset?

[점프볼=김용호 기자] It is a game where both teams have no choice but to engage in an all-out battle.

The third round of the championship match between KB Kookmin Bank’s Liiv M 2020-2021 Women’s Professional Basketball Cheongju KB Stars and Yongin Samsung Life Insurance will be held at the Cheongju Gymnasium on the 11th. Currently, the series is showing a one-sided pattern with 2-0 by Samsung Life Insurance, who announced its departure from the home. Samsung Life has left only one win until the championship. However, even KB Stars, who returned to the home after a second straight victory, cannot retire. Both KB Stars and Samsung Life Insurance have to look ahead and put everything in their minds. Where are the key points of both teams?

▶Cheongju KB Stars (21 wins 9 losses, 2nd place) vs Yongin Samsung Life Insurance (14 wins 16 losses, 4th place)
7:00 PM @Cheongju Gymnasium / KBSN Sports, IB Sports

Regular league match-up result: KB Stars 5 wins 1 loss advantage
1R: KB Stars 74-70 Samsung Life Insurance
2R: KB Stars 74-72 Samsung Life Insurance
3R: KB Stars 82-77 Samsung Life Insurance
4R: KB Stars 72-67 Samsung Life Insurance
5R: KB Stars 66-49 Samsung Life Insurance
6R: Samsung Life Insurance 86-64 KB Stars

Champion decision match result: Samsung Life Insurance 2 wins advantage
1st round: Samsung Life Insurance 76-71 KB Stars
2nd round: Samsung Life Insurance 84-83 KB Stars

Two seasons ago, KB Stars suffered the pain of sweeping the championship game to Samsung Life Insurance. And now it is in the opposite situation. If KB Stars even loses game 3, the 4th place team will be the victim of a record-breaking upset that wins the championship match for the first time in the history of WKBL. That, too, with a 0-3 shutout.

As such, KB Stars must cut the series of consecutive losses in order to preserve its pride. And in the process, what is currently the most regrettable is Park Ji-soo’s guidelines. In the first game, Park Ji-soo scored 23 points and 9 rebounds and 4 assists, and in the second game, 20 points, 16 rebounds and 7 assists were divided into 2 blocks. He seems to have done his part on record, but he was exhausted with 11 turnovers in both games.

Moreover, in the second game, Park Ji-soo ran 41 minutes and 40 seconds while unfolding an extended game. In order to make Park Ji-soo feel less of the burden of the opponent’s cooperative defense under the goal, the outskirts must be scared from the playoffs as manager Ahn Deok-soo emphasized.

The success rate of the three-point shooter of KB Stars was slightly low at 31.3% (5/16) in the first game, but in the second game, 47.4% (9/19) appeared to be alive. However, out of 19 three-point shot attempts, Kang A-jeong attempted a whopping 12. In other words, when Choi Hee-jin, Kim Min-jeong, and Shim Sung-young take more confident shot chances, the defense of Samsung Life Insurance can be dispersed. The reason Samsung Life has consistently shown good performance in the playoffs and championships is because each player in the game has a lot of fire and fire. Likewise, KB Stars is expected to be able to reverse it by using more diverse attack routes.

In response to this, Samsung Life Insurance is also expected to engage in an all-out war. Compared to KB Stars, there are more people available, but as you are currently in the series with the playoffs until Game 3, your physical strength can be burdened.

Moreover, after the end of the second game, a question mark was added to the hamstring of Kim Han-byul, one of the main axes. Samsung Life said that it was not enough to miss the game in the third game, but as Kim Han-byul was seen complaining of pain during the second game, the team members need to alleviate his burden as much as possible.

In the end, it is the captain Bae Hye-yoon who can play that role. Bae Hye-yoon has an average of 18 points and 5.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in the two matches of the championship match, and is firmly guarding the inside with Kim Han-byul. However, as the game performance in the first half is slightly lower than in the second half, the day needs to be strengthened from the beginning.

In addition, if the flow continues from the playoffs to Yun Ye-bin and Kim Bo-mi, who are consistently performing, and Shin-I-seul, who seems to regain their original attack instinct, Samsung Life is expected to have a greater chance of writing a strong history.

# Photo_ Jumpball DB (by Yoo Yong-woo)

Jumpball / Reporter Kim Yong-ho [email protected]

[저작권자ⓒ 점프볼. 무단전재-재배포 금지]