A quick attack that made it easy to mismatch… Exposed weakness of weak 2v2 defense
The Korean men’s basketball team, led by coach Il-seung Choo, won both evaluation matches against the Philippines, signaling a smooth start.
In preparation for the 2022 International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Asia Cup to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia next month, this evaluation game was also a place to test the effectiveness of ‘big forward’ basketball.
Choo, who was appointed as the national team coach on the 19th of last month, expressed his ambition to change Korean basketball in line with the international trend by using a big forward with great height and mobility and basic skills.
This was an experimental choice and an ‘untraveled road’ for Korean basketball, which mainly used shooter tactics.
In particular, coach Chu emphasized the ‘transition offense’, in which next-generation big forwards with good ball handling skills directly win defensive rebounds and then quickly move to the opposing half.
The contrast of this tactic was revealed at the same time in this two consecutive matches, which was the first official match since coach Chu took office.
The rapid shift to air force led by Yeo Jun-seok (Korea University) was really powerful.
In both games, the score exploded in the third quarter and turned the game upside down, and Choi Jun-yong (SK) and Yeo Jun-seok, who were good at fast-fire even though they were over 2 meters tall, played a key role.
Both players have proven capable of driving the ball across the court and attacking in their own way.
While Jun-seok Yeo showed strength in aggressive breakthroughs using speed and power, Jun-yong Choi showed that the entire team took part in the attack when the opponent’s defense was not in order.
In the 4th minute of the first quarter, Yeo Jun-seok’s attack against Philippine ace Dwight Ramos showed the strength of basketball that coach Il-seung Choo envisioned.
Because Yeo Jun-seok drove the ball so fast and rushed in, the Philippines could not play against a defender of the right physique.
Ramos, a 193 cm tall guard, came to the defense as quickly as possible, but he could not stop Jun-seok Yeo, who had accelerated, and bounced over the end line.
Yeo Jun-seok scored an easy goal under the empty goal.
Like this scene, a quick attack using a ‘big handler’ has the advantage that it can easily cause mismatches and confusion in the opponent’s defense without detailed tactics.
In fact, except for Ramos, in the Philippines, where most of the players were 170-180cm, whenever two players came running with the ball, they were in a hurry to help and defend, so the promised movement between players was often twisted.
At the beginning of the 3rd quarter, Choi Jun-yong, who was being dragged on the day, crossed the court at once, put on an opponent’s guard, and advanced to the goal.
Choi Jun-yong, who leaped into the air, read this defensive movement and passed it to Lee Dae-sung, who was waiting on the 3-point line, and Lee Dae-seong easily scored a mid-range goal in front of a defense whose center of gravity was disturbed.
However, just as they allowed an average of 96 points in two games, this basketball also revealed loopholes in defense.
In both games, coach Chu made a starting lineup with only one guard and 3-4 forwards.
It is quite different from the traditional composition of two guards.
Although the choice was made by trusting the mobility and defense of Jun-yong Choi and Jun-seok Yeo, the forwards on the court were also given the task of defending the opponent’s guard.
The problem is that the forwards have hardly adapted to the newly demanded defense.
Not all forwards selected have the same backward movement, horizontal agility, and continuous jumping ability like Yeo Jun-seok and Choi Jun-yong.
Because the forwards were late in responding to the 2v2 attack performed by the opposing guard and the big man, our defense gave us an excuse to twist.
As a result, the opponent easily created an open chance by turning the ball.
On that day, the overall shooting success rate of the Philippines was 59% and the 3-point success rate was 43%.
Even in a one-on-one attack attempted by the opposing guard in a quick attack situation, he appeared helpless.
He allowed Philippine Ramos to break through the under-goal easily several times.
Ramos scored 31 points that day.
He threw 12 shots from inside the 3-point line and made 10.
The key to the success of coach Chu’s big forward basketball is how much he improves his defensive organization during the remaining period until the FIBA Asia Cup in July.
/yunhap news
