“We met good players.”
The Changwon LG Sakers defeated the Suwon KT Sonic Boom 78-70 in the quarterfinals of the 2023-2024 Korean Basketball Association (KBA) quarterfinals on Saturday at Changwon Gymnasium. LG took control of the first game to set the tone.
Head coach Cho Sang-hyun said, “I’m grateful to the players for giving us our first win of the playoffs. I think we met good players and played well and were happy to play basketball,” Cho said, 홀덤 thanking his players.
“I think we won the game with our defense, even though we made some mistakes at the end. When we were down by 10 points, we were worried about what if the game didn’t go our way. But the players overcame it with defense and fast breaks. That’s how we got the lead in the first half, and then in the second half, when Eric and Bass came out, we made a change in our defense and I think they adjusted well, which led to a good result.”
The game was intense, with both teams picking up technical fouls. Cho was excited, too.
“I thought the players would be sensitive to the calls because of their passion. I asked them to keep their cool, and I knew there would be times when they would be sensitive to the calls. After the match, I told (Yang) Hong-seok that he seemed to be very angry, but I can’t help it. I told the players that I was going to keep smiling until this morning, but I think I made a bad sound,” he laughed.
Dante Cunningham played 11 minutes, 38 seconds in his comeback game.
“It’s going to be tough,” Cho said. It would be nice if he could play two or three minutes a quarter like he did today. We’re still not going to have our shot balance and all that stuff. I think we’ll get better and better. I just want us to fight for rebounds on defense.”