Professional basketball… Round 1 clash today
KT Ha Yoon-gi, the powerful Big Man
Hyundai Mobis Lee Woo Seok, Multiplayer
KT and Hyundai Mobis will have a showdown at the 2023-2024 round of the best-of-five playoff of professional basketball. The first round will take place at KT Arena in Suwon, KT’s home, at 7 p.m. on Saturday. KT finished third in the regular season, while Hyundai Mobis ranked sixth. KT led the regular season with four wins and two losses.
Ha Yoon-ki (204 cm tall) of KT and Lee Woo-seok (196 cm tall) of Hyundai Mobis are the same age as each other who were born in 1999 and entered in the same class as Korea University in the 18th grade. Lee finished his junior year in college and participated in the 2020 professional basketball rookie draft, and was selected as the third overall pick. Ha entered the pro league as the second overall pick in the following year.
Ha and Lee competed fiercely during the 2021-2022 season. At that time, Ha was a rookie and Lee was a “second-hand rookie.” Starting from the 2020-2021 season, the criteria for rookie award changed. Players who played in less than 27 games, half of the 54 regular league games in the first year, were also eligible for the rookie award. Lee played in only 15 games during the 2020-2021 season, maintaining his status as a rookie in the second year. In a vote by reporters for the rookie award, he garnered 76 votes out of 109 votes, beating Ha Yoon-ki (32) to rank No. 1. He is the first middle-aged rookie award in history.
Ha and Lee have become national team players. Ha is a strong big man, Lee is a talented player who transcends guard and forward, and boasts superb teamwork on the national team as his colleague at Korea University. The results of this season’s regular season are similar. Ha scored 16.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game. Lee scored 11.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.3 assists. Both of them are pillars of his team, and he encountered each other on the way to the semifinal playoff (best of five games). As they know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, they are expected to stage a tug-of-war to block and breakthrough.
Meanwhile, KCC defeated SK 81-63 in the semifinal playoff held at Jamsil Students’ Gymnasium on the previous day. In the history of professional basketball, the team that won the first round of the semifinal playoff made it to the semifinals 48 times out of 52 times, with a 92.3 percent chance. With this victory, KCC broke its seven-game losing streak in the playoffs. In addition, since the launch of the professional basketball league in 1997, it has never won a series of wins by meeting SK in five playoff or championship games, but had a chance to defeat SK for the first time. The second game between the two teams will take place at the same venue at 2 p.m. on Saturday. 토토사이트