Carl Tamayo made a strong impression and played his first official KBL match. He lowered himself that this performance was due to his teammates.
Changwon LG bowed 65-76 in its first match against Suwon KT in the preliminary round of the 2024 DB Insurance KBL Cup in Jecheon B held at Sports Gymnasium on Sunday. As KT secured the top spot in the group with two wins first, LG postponed its advance to the semifinal for the next time. 2022 is the only time LG has advanced to the semifinal at a cup competition.
LG started off on a shaky ground due to frustrating attack. Having trailed by 17 points at one point 18-35 at one point in the second quarter, LG displayed concentration from the end of the second quarter to come from behind 50-49 at the end of the third quarter. However, it failed to stop Heo Hoon afterwards, and ended up collapsing.
LG, which has many shooters, made only six of its 33 three-point shots on the day. The success rate is 18.2 percent. The game is very difficult to beat.
"We are excited when we have many 3-point shots in our team's color. Maybe because it was our first game, we didn't have many 3-point shots and the players were heavy," LG manager Cho Sang-hyun said after the game. "Our defense did better than I expected. We can only play basketball if we score more than 80 points in our team's color, but we didn't have such a game today (August 8)."
Nevertheless, the reason why he gave up renewing his contract with Justin Gutang, who has already adapted to the team, and recruited Tamayo was clearly revealed.
On the day, Tamayo posted the most 18 points (three rebounds, two assists and two steals), the most among his team. He made two of five three-point shots (40 percent) and eight of 17 field throws (47.1 percent). He also had various scoring methods ranging from three-point shots to post-ups. 스포츠토토
On top of that, he was not behind Ha Yoon-ki or Raytheon Hammonds in defensive matchups.
Tamayo stood out in both offense and defense.
Still, Cho Sang-hyun said, "I have a lot of orders from Tamayo. I would have been confused because there were many defensive directions I wanted, but I will keep ordering and practicing because I will take them throughout the season," adding, "I ordered the team to keep the attack simple." He also praised the Philippines team for its greed of attack, but sometimes it requires a screen and spacing, so I will prepare by watching videos."
"Tamayo is fine. I added Moon Jung-hyun and Moon Sung-gon to prevent Tamayo, who knows how to play both inside and outside," KT coach Song Young-jin said. "He is skilled, maybe because he has experience. He knows when to use his strength. He does it when to do it, and he loses it when to do it."
"We lost our first game, but all of our players played well," Tamayo said after the game. "We have to fix what needs to be fixed so that we can play better. The atmosphere and the environment are good, so I'm satisfied with everything."
When he said he was LG's ace only when he watched the game, Tamayo said, "It wasn't because I was good, but my teammates moved well so I could throw a shot, so the shot went in well," adding, "I was able to score a lot because my teammates were good."
When Tamayo said his defense was good, he said, "The opposing players are good players, but I did my best. I feel good because I think I helped the team in that sense."
As Cho Sang-hyun mentioned, LG is a team with a lot of defensive changes. Gutang also had a hard time adjusting to it. Tamayo is the same, but he is still learning faster.
Tamayo said, "After the game, the interpreter pointed out the mistake (in defense), so I admit that," adding, "If we continue to correct our mistakes, it will help the team."
LG will hold its last preliminary match with Busan KCC and have its home opener with Daegu Korea Gas Corporation from 2024 to 2025. There are 10 days left until the opening.
Tamayo said, "We will learn one by one and fix the points we need to fix," and vowed, "The season is long, so we will do our best to stay healthy so that we can play all games."