KCC defeated No. 1 Wonju DB by 3-1 in the semifinal playoff to advance to the championship title. KCC had the advantage of having another day off by playing the first place and the semifinal playoff. On top of that, LG and KT will play the fifth round of the semifinal playoff, and KCC has three days more leeway than the opponent team. If LG advances to the championship title, coach Cho Sang-hyun, Yang Hong-seok and Yoo Ki-sang must go up to Seoul where the media day of the championship title match will take place at 11 a.m. on the 25th and then return to Changwon.
It's not that LG and KT are in a bad mood. KCC has defeated DB, securing the advantage of playing the first and second games at home. Moreover, the first and fifth games are Saturday (04.27) and Sunday (05.03) on weekends. If they had played the championship game with DB, they would have been assigned home games on weekdays. LG and KT will play the championship game in front of more home fans to face KCC, not DB.
Here, let's take a look at the contents to enjoy Game 5 of the semifinal playoff between LG and KT, which is up for grabs in the EASL.
This marks the 10th time in LG and KT's fifth round of the semifinal playoff. Home and away matches have been settled since the 2001/2002 season. Considering this, the home team's performance in the fifth round of the semifinal playoff is five wins and three losses. In the 2000/2001 season, LG and SK won the fifth round of the semifinal playoff. This simple result shows that LG is advantageous.
However, it is also necessary to look at the results of Game 5 between the second and third place teams, which are the regular league rankings between LG and KT this season. There were five such cases, the second place won twice, and the third place won three times. The second place winners were LG (vs. SK 118-109) in the 2000-2001 season and SK (vs. KCC 59-58) in the 2001-2002 season, while the third place winners were TG (vs. LG 83-75) in the 2002-2003 season, KCC (vs. Dongbu 87-64), and Samsung (vs. Orion 91-84) in the 2016-2017 season. If we narrow it down to a match between the second and third places, KT will have the upper hand.
If LG beats KT, the second place will be the first team to win in 22 years and the only team to win twice in Game 5 of the semifinal playoff against the third place. If KT wins, the third place will record four consecutive wins in Game 5 of the semifinal playoff against the second place.
LG manager Cho Sang-hyun and KT manager Song Young-jin experienced two rounds of the semifinal playoff in their careers. Cho lost to LG in the 2000-2001 season when he was a member of SK, but won against KCC in the 2001-2002 season. Song bows to Dongyang and TG in the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 seasons, respectively, when he was a member of LG.
Coach Song Young-jin has the upper hand when looking at the final series results by expanding the scope to the semifinal playoffs, not limited to the semifinal playoffs.
Coach Song Young-jin won the third round of the semifinal playoff against Orion in the 2003-2004 season (the best-of-three series at the time) and the fifth round of the semifinal playoff against E-Land in the 2011-2012 season and 2013-2014 season when he was KT.
In contrast, coach Cho Sang-hyun lost to KGC Ginseng Corporation in the semifinal playoff of the 2012-2013 season, which was a member of Orion.
Head coaches Cho Sang-hyun and Song Young-jin also experienced finishing second after Game 7 unfortunately in the 2001-2002 and 2006-2007 championship games, respectively.
When coach Cho Sang-hyun and coach Song Young-jin were players, the final results of all playoff series were 1-3 and 3-3.
This marks the 11th time that KCC has made the championship title. The most recent case is the 2020-2021 season. The team aims to become the champion for the first time in 13 years after the 2010-2011 season. All this history was created in its former home cities of Daejeon and Jeonju. KCC moved its headquarters to Busan from this season. It is the first time in 17 years that a championship match is held in Busan since the 2006-2007 season. At that time, KTF, the former name of KT, had a blood clot with Mobis until the seventh game.
Another championship venue will be Changwon or Suwon, depending on the outcome of Game 5.
If LG wins, it will hold its third championship game in 10 years in Changwon. LG has been using Changwon as its home base and has advanced to the championship games in the 2000-2001 and 2013-2014 seasons.
If KT wins, it will be its second championship game since the 2006-2007 season. As mentioned earlier, the team was based in Busan. Currently, the team is based in Suwon.
The championship game was held in Suwon. Before Samsung moved to Seoul, it played the championship game in Suwon in the 2000-2001 season. If KT beats LG, the championship game will be held in Suwon for the first time in 23 years. Of course, the gym is different from Suwon Gymnasium and Suwon KT Arena.
BY: 스포츠토토핫