Ha Yoon-ki scored a free throw in the final, giving Korea a victory. The Korean men’s basketball team, which Ha Yoon-ki firmly defended under the basket, won 85-84 against the Japanese national team at Ariake Arena in Tokyo on the 5th.
It was an unexpected victory. As Japan led the team in objective power, Korea was considered an underdog. When it came to reality, it was different. Ha Yoon-ki stood firmly under the basket and Lee Jung-hyun exploded outside, making an unexpected incident.
After the match, Ha Yoon-ki met at the mixed zone and said, “Watanabe and Hachimura were missing, but they were a strong team. We didn’t have much time to prepare, but we communicated well with each other and had good teamwork probably because they were young players during the match. The fact that we were not pushed back in the rebound fight is the reason for our victory.”
As Ha Yoon-ki said, Hachimura was absent from Japan on the day, but Japan was also strong thanks to Yuki Kawamura and Josh Hawkinson. Korea had the lead by 20 points (72-52) through the third quarter, but Japan led by Kawamura even took the lead at the end of the game, which shocked Korea. Then, how did Ha feel about Hawkinson.
“He is a great player. His shooting was good and skillful, which made it difficult for him to defend. Still, I was able to do this thanks to the good help of (Yang) Jae-min,” he said in a humble manner. 안전한 카지노사이트
As mentioned earlier, Korea failed to block Kawamura at the end of the game, giving up the lead. However, Lee Jung-hyun’s mid-range shot tied the game, and with 0.9 seconds left, Ha made a free throw through an opponent’s foul, made one, and intentionally failed to make two, gaining a thrilling one-point victory. How did Ha feel when he was attempting free throws.
Ha Yoon-ki said, “I think the free throw is a little weak, but even if I can’t put it in, it’s a tie, so I tried to shoot it comfortably, but I went in. My opponent had a timeout and a sign said not to put it on the bench, so I missed it on purpose, but fortunately, I didn’t go in.”
On the day, Ha made two dunk shots at the end of the third quarter, creating a highlight film. Ha Yoon-gi made a one-handed dunk by putting a layup shot that Oh Jae-hyun missed in a fastball situation into the net, and two seconds before the end of the third quarter, Ha Yoon-gi directly crossed the ball to the offensive court and hit a cool dunk to completely beat Japan’s momentum.
When asked about the situation at the time, he said, “I thought it was a dream. I had two players with (Lee) Jung-hyun in front of me and I made up my mind to shoot a dunk. Chung did a great job today. I think that’s why I was able to win.”
Meanwhile, Ha was matched up with a variety of big man players including Watanabe Huw and Jacobs Akira besides Hawkinson. Ha must have had difficulties as each player has different styles.
Asked by reporters what should be supplemented in the second game on the 7th, Ha Yoon-ki said, “I changed the defense I’ve practiced so far ahead of the game. As much as I didn’t have enough time, there was a part that didn’t fit, but I’ll focus more and prepare well for tomorrow’s training so that I can win again.”