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Busan KCC has emerged as the most notable team in the 2023-24 Professional Basketball Playoff (PO). KCC, which ranked fifth in the regular season despite its luxurious lineup, has been on a two-game winning streak by beating the top-ranked Seoul SK (ranking fourth) in the semifinal PO (three wins out of five games).
KCC won the second away game of the semifinal PO 99-72, which took place on the 6th. The first game was an 81-63 victory. Based on the previous record, the team that won the first and second rounds of the semifinal PO made it to the semifinals 100%. KCC has only one win left to advance to the semifinals.
KCC's lineup of Korean players includes Heo Woong, Song Kyo-chang, Choi Jun-yong, Lee Seung-hyun and Ra Gun-ah. Foreign player Alize DeShaun Johnson is an experienced player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Up until right before the opening of this season, KCC was called a "super team" and picked as the top contender.
However, KCC struggled in the regular season. Song Kyo-chang, Choi Jun-yong, and Ra Gun-ah were injured. Meanwhile, star players who are good at attacking have not shown good teamwork. The team's average score (88.6 points, second overall) was high, but it seemed that they lacked concentration as there was no clear fixer with an average score of 20. The team finished the regular season with a win rate of 0.556 (30 wins and 24 losses), which was just over 50%.
However, it changed completely when KCC became a short-term battle. Ahead of the first round of the semifinal, KCC coach Jeon Chang-jin said, "I will evenly deploy the main players and arrange their physical strength." It was a bewildering preview that showed his confidence in a desperate situation in which he had to catch SK, but this was KCC's counterattack card.
Huh Woong, Song Kyo-chang, Choi Jun-yong, and DeShawn Johnson all played less in two games than in the regular season. All KCC players played for less than 30 minutes in both games. DeShawn Johnson dramatically decreased from 19 minutes in the regular season to 12 minutes in the PO.
However, frequent replacements not only saved players' physical strength, but also interesting scenes were shown where KCC changed their main strikers every few minutes, as if they were meeting their opponents in completely different teams. SK failed to display effective defense in line with KCC's rotation.
Rotation also has advantages. "The PO emphasized selfless play to players. Selfless means less time to hold the ball than less time to be greedy for offense," said Jeon Chang-jin.
The weakness of the "Super Team" KCC was that when all the main members were put in, they had a long time to own the ball with each other, making it difficult to play the team. As KCC took out some of its main players with the PO and managed the team, organic play is rather reviving. In addition, KCC, which seemed distracted by the lack of a special point guard, is saving the team's play by dividing the role of point guard, which carries and sprays the ball with the PO.
KCC's "super rotation" has another characteristic. Players who need to focus on defense are given longer hours, while other players have increased their roles in defense.
Ra Gun-ah is the only main player who has more playing time in the PO. In the semi-final PO, Ra Gun-ah stops SK's main scorer Jamil Warney. Asian quarterback player Calvin Jeffrey Epistola has also seen a significant increase in playing time, as he plays an all-or-nothing role in helping Warney defend, showing an upgraded play on offense under the rotation system.
Hur Woong and Jung Chang-young were also given clear roles in defense and displayed robust moves. After tying Warnie to 14 points in the first round match, Jeon was satisfied with the fact that the team won the game because of its rotation and defense intensive strategies.
If KCC advances to the semifinals, it will meet the regular league winner Wonju DB. As KCC's momentum picks up, it is already expected that it will be difficult to predict DB's victory if it fights in the semifinals.
"I think it's too early to prove the nickname 'Super Team' yet. I think we can go to the final and wear a championship ring," Song said after winning two consecutive PO games.
