Lifeless party

Basketball playoffs to start under shadow of match-fixing scandal

By Kim Tong-hyung

The Korean Basketball League (KBL) playoffs start Friday, but who cares?

The postseason could produce more drama than the combined “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and it would still feel like a letdown. The shadow cast by basketball legend and former Dongbu Promy coach Kang Dong-hee, now sitting in a prison cell on charges of manipulating games, is pretty much omnipresent.

The sixth-place Seoul Samsung Thunders will visit the third-place Incheon ET Land Elephants to start their best-of-five series, while the fourth-place Anyang KGC will host fifth-place Goyang Orions on the other side of the bracket.

Playoff berths are given to the top six teams in the 10-team KBL, with regular season champions Seoul SK Knights and runner-up Ulsan Mobis Phoebus granted automatic spots in the second-round of the playoffs.

As the suspicion surrounding Kang ― widely considered the greatest point guard Korea ever produced ― exploded into a national scandal, some franchises urged KBL Commissioner Han Sun-kyo to consider canceling the postseason, as a public gesture expressing the league’s commitment to purge its ills.

Even before the match-fixing allegations arose, rival coaches had accused Kang of ``tanking,’’ or losing on purpose, for a better position in next season’s rookie draft, despite the Promy doing well enough to stay in playoff contention. After Kang’s arrest, the team Promy tumbled off course and saved itself from the excruciating postseason limelight.

Han eventually decided to proceed with the playoffs, pointing out that Kang hasn’t been found guilty in court yet. That was probably the right decision to make, but it still doesn’t change the fact that the playoffs feel like a lifeless party.

``As a person dedicated to the KBL, I feel we could have been stricter with ourselves and be more assertive in how the game is played. It’s regrettable that the league is facing match-fixing allegations and I think we all have to share some responsibility for this,’’ Thunders manager Kim Dong-gwang told reporters.

``The only way we can repay our fans is to play the best we can on the court, pouring in every effort, and play fairly.’’

For all his worries about the league’s reputation and integrity, Kim has to be equally concerned about the Elephants, who are heavily favored over the Thunders.

The Elephants have an effective inside-out game, with bulky American forward Carlos Powell controlling the paint and flanked by skilled wingers Moon Tae-jong and Kang Hyuk, who can both beat defenders off the dribble or shoot jumpers over them. The Thunders are softer beneath the rim and would need a huge series from their jump shooters Lee Kyu-seop, Kim Seung-hyun and Hwang Jin-won to pull off an upset.

The best-of-five series between the KGC, the defending champions, and Orions seem to be more evenly-matched. Point guard Kim Tae-sul runs a highly-efficient offense for the KGC and his dual with Orions’ counterpart Chun Tae-poong, who is more of a shoot-first point guard, will be a key factor.

The KGC might also experience trouble defending American forward Leon Williams, who has been developing an effective partnership with Chun, and will have to rely on late-season edition Joseph Taylor.