Park Ji-su (right) and Kim Dan-bi
In the women’s professional basketball 2023-2024 season championship match (3 wins out of 5 games) starting on the 24th, attention is focused on the ‘ace match’ between Cheongju KB Park Ji-soo and Asan Woori Bank Kim Dan-bi.
In the past two years, KB won the championship in the 2021-2022 season, and Woori Bank took the throne in the 2022-2023 season, and the MVP of the championship was Park Ji-soo in the 2021-2022 season, followed by Kim Dan-bi in the 2022-2023 season. Awarded.
The two shined the most this season.
Park Ji-soo swept the MVP awards in the first to fifth rounds of the regular season, and even dominated the All-Star Game MVP.Park Ji-soo ranked first in scoring, rebounds, and blocked shots, and also ranked first in contribution.
When Park Ji-soo, who led KB’s combined championship in the 2021-2022 season, left the 2022-2023 season for reasons such as panic disorder, KB was pushed to 5th place and did not even make the playoffs, so its importance to KB is so absolute.
In response, Danbi Kim ranked 2nd in scoring, 5th in rebounds, and 3rd in contribution, and set the record for the most wins (319 wins) for a player this season.
In the semifinal playoffs against Yongin Samsung Life Insurance, he played all 40 minutes in the third game with 1 win and 1 loss, scoring 31 points and 14 rebounds.
Danbi Kim (left) and Jisu Park
In the past two years, KB and Woori Bank have won once, but in fact, it was not the result of a proper match between the two teams, who are considered the ‘two best’.
In the 2021-2022 season, KB defeated Woori Bank 3-0 in the championship game, and as of the first game of the championship game, KB took 7 days off and Woori Bank only rested 2 days.
This is because the first round of Woori Bank’s semifinal playoffs was postponed by 4 days from schedule due to a problem with the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) within the opposing team, Incheon Shinhan Bank.
On the other hand, KB ended the semifinal playoffs as originally scheduled, but there was a big difference in rest days ahead of the championship game, causing an ‘unfair controversy’, and this was before Dan-bi Kim joined Woori Bank.
Last season, KB failed to advance to the playoffs due to Park Ji-soo’s absence and was unable to use its full power.
Woori Bank recruited Danbi Kim as a free agent (FA) ahead of the opening of the 2022-2023 season and shouted, ‘Overthrow KB,’ but KB actually won a somewhat bland championship as it failed to advance to the semifinals.
This year, for the first time in a while, the ‘two semifinals’ in women’s basketball are clashing head-on with full power, and it is expected that the performance of the aces will have a big impact on victory or defeat.
In particular, due to the nature of Woori Bank, which does not have a clear center, it is expected that there will be frequent scenes where Park Ji-soo and Kim Dan-bi face off directly in attack and defense.
KBS commentator Son Dae-beom said, “If you block Park Ji-soo with a double team, there will be a problem of low attack accuracy due to physical exhaustion.” He added, “As Kim Dan-bi is also a matchup with a heavy defensive burden, it is also important for Woori Bank to see how much of the sixth man’s perimeter there is.” “It will be a variable,” he predicted. 고스톱