Mobis, Samsung Make Championship Final

Pro basketball club Mobis’ manager Yoo Jae-hak compared the championship final against Samsung as a fight between David and Goliath. The seven-game final will be played out in Ulsan starting April 19.

Despite the fact that it was Mobis who won the regular league, Yoo remains objective in his assessment. Mobis lost four times and won twice against Samsung in regular season play. The amount of money Mobis pays its players does not come close to the half of what Samsung pays for its star players. But Yoo welcomes the challenge, remembering how his squad faced and defeated KCC in the semifinals, against whom Mobis recorded two wins and four losses in the regular season.

Seo Jang-hun and Johnson pose major threat for Mobis-

In hopes of breaking each other’s morale, both teams will wager their all on the first victory. The championship history and superstitions have it that the first game’s winner has high probability of winning the championship. That was precisely the case in past seven seasons.

Mobis must fight against the towering height that Samsung will put forth with “Goliath” Seo Jang-hun (207cm), Olumide Oyedeji (201cm), and Nate Johnson (196cm). Mobis plans to overcome this obstacle with fast attacks and creative zone defenses. The number of rebounds from both sides in previous meetings attests to Mobis’ problem. Mobis managed to get 27.2 rebounds against Samsung during the regular season, while Samsung recorded 36 rebounds.

Johnson, who scored 33 points in the semifinal match against Orions, will pose a major threat for Mobis. Since it is nearly impossible to block both Seo and Johnson, Mobis must concentrate on slowing down either of the two main scorers. In the two regular league match wins they took away from Samsung, Mobis recorded more than 20 assists and 10 or more three pointers. This means that the only edge Mobis has is their teamwork and shots from outside.

Samsung confident of victory-

After completing a video analysis of a Mobis vs. KCC semifinal match, Samsung manager Ahn Jun-ho remains confident, saying that his team’s solid teamwork and focus will triumph. Ahn’s meaningful grin is backed up by players like Lee Jeong-seok, Seo Jang-hun, Gang Hyeok, and Lee Gyu-seop.

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com