Samsung’s Best Five Versus Kumho’s Backups

Samsung Life and Kumho Life are facing the 4th game (April 21, Changchung Gymnasium) of their championship series in the women’s professional basketball winter league.

Both Samsung, which is behind with one win and two losses, and Kumho which leads with two wins and one loss, worry about the next match. Samsung, not having trusty players except for its best five, worries about physical state of starting players, and “Foreign Legion” Kumho is concerned about its scattered teamwork.

Samsung has never substituted in a 1st and 2nd match. They have only appointed four national players such as Park Jeong-eun, Lee Mi-seon, Kim Kye-ryoung, Byeon Yeon-ha and a foreign player, Parris, to be on the court without a back-up player. When Lee Mi-seon was sent off with five fouls and six seconds remaining in the 3rd match on April 19, Lee Yoo-mi appeared on the court for only six seconds.

Samsung coach Park In-kyu ordered starting players to be more patient, saying, “We will go with our best five again in the 4th match. Physical strength can be overcome by mental power.” Samsung struggles with only a few fine players because Samsung couldn’t pick up outstanding rookies in the draft due to Samsung’s high standing for last couple of years.

Winning the 1st match, Samsung was defeated in the 2nd and 3rd matches by the sticky defense and fast break offense of Kumho. Consequently, it is the key point of 4th match how Samsung deals with its weakness in physical strength.

Meanwhile, Kumho has enough players. They reorganized the team by selecting two foreigners, Sherton Brown and Jackson, bringing free agents Kim Ji-yoon and Lee Eon-joo, and the first pick in the rookie draft, Jeon Mi-ran. In addition, existing members such as Kwak Joo-young, Lee Eun-young and Kang Hyun-mi can be usable. But Kumho’s weak spot is teamwork. They lack cooperation compared to Samsung because they gathered a lot of players from here and there. Lee Eon-joo, who has moved from Shinsegye to Kumho said, “Sometimes I feel irritated since nobody knows my own playing style. It is also hard to communicate with foreign players in the court.”

Won-Hong Lee bluesky@donga.com