Ha Yoon-ki (203 cm, C) has been up and down during the playoffs.
Suwon KT lost 73-90 to Busan KCC in Game 1 of the 2023-2024 Jungkwanjang Professional Basketball Championship on Sunday at the KT Sonic Boom Arena in Suwon, South Korea.
KT dropped the first-round game to KCC as the aftermath of their best-of-five quarterfinal playoff game against Changwon LG on Nov. 24 carried over to this game.
On this day, KT seemed to take advantage of KCC, taking a narrow 41-39 lead through two quarters, but it quickly fell apart in the third quarter, going 0-15 from the field. Paris Bass (200 cm, F) had a double-double with 29 points and 10 rebounds, but the rest of the team struggled to score.
Ha Yoon-ki's struggles became a new concern for KT in the first game. Ha played 22 minutes and 17 seconds on the night, scoring six points and grabbing four rebounds.
All six of her points came in the first quarter. She helped KT's offense by scoring from the perimeter and stripping the defense of Bass.
After the second quarter, however, Ha went silent. She was matched up against Lee Seung-hyun (197 cm, F) and struggled a bit. Ha failed to create any shooting opportunities in the second quarter, with only two field 토토 goal attempts and no rebounds, and was replaced by Han Hee-won.
The third and fourth quarters were just as stiff for Ha. She was physically taxed while defending Lagunia (199 cm, F) and could not take advantage of her height advantage as she only grabbed one rebound.
Eventually, Ha Yoon-ki was replaced by Han Hee-won with 6:54 left in the fourth quarter to end the game.
Playing back-to-back quarterfinals against Ulsan Hyundai Mobis and the best-of-five playoffs against LG took a toll on her body. Add to that the fact that he was matched up against a foreign player, and he struggled a bit in terms of strength and technique.
While Ha averaged over 30 minutes of playing time in the best-of-six playoffs against Ulsan Hyundai Mobis, he struggled to maintain his game, averaging less than 20 minutes in the best-of-four playoffs against Changwon LG.
It's imperative for Ha to learn from this game and adapt to KCC's fast-paced offense and bring the shooting touch he showed in the regular season to the rest of the championship game.
