Promy strangle Egis in Game 3
By Yoon Chul
Dongbu Promy lead the best-of-seven championships series 2-1, stunning the KCC Egis 62-54 in Game 3 in the Korean Basketball League (KBL), Wednesday.
The Egis’ 54 points is 25 less than their average in the past two championship series games and the lowest for the final round in KBL history. The defensive masters, the Promy, again kept a stranglehold on the league’s most offensive team.
Ha Seung-jin, the 2.21-meter center and the key for Egis success, had only eight points and six rebounds due to tight double-teaming.
In order to loosen the Promy’s grip the Egis looked to shots from outside the key from players such as Kang Byung-hyun and Choo Seung-gyun but they made only one 3-pointer from 10 attempts.
The Promy’s Kim Joo-sung, the KBL’s most expensive player– scored 20 points with five boards and Yun Ho-young showed his potential with 15 points and nine rebounds. He also had three blocked shots and assists.
Yun also found success in his match-up against Choo and Kang, despite being double-teamed, leaving them too tired to concentrate fully on offense.
“If he plays every time like he did today, there is no one to defend Yun in the KBL,” Promy boss Kang said.
To make matters worse for the Egis Jun Tae-poong and Kang Eun-sik were forced to the bench with injuries.
In the first quarter, Kang Eun-sik, who was deployed under the rim to help Ha conserve energy, injured his knee and in the third quarter point guard Jun twisted his ankle.
Game 4 is in Wonju today and then the series will move to neutral Seoul, where the championship will be decided.