Jeon Seong-hyun (Goyang Carrot) and Lee Jung-hyun (Seoul Samsung), the best shooters representing KBL, met in a head-to-head match, but each could not laugh for different reasons.
On January 30, in the 2022-2023 SKT A-Dot professional basketball regular league held at Goyang Gymnasium, Goyang Carrot defeated Seoul Samsung 68-65. Carrot, who got away from two consecutive losses, maintained 5th place with 19 wins and 17 losses. On the other hand, Samsung could not get out of the mire of 13 consecutive losses and stayed at the bottom with 10 wins and 26 losses. In the head-to-head matchup of the season, Carrot continued his lead with 3 wins and 1 loss.
Jeon Sung-hyun and Lee Jung-hyun are players who inherit the lineage of KBL’s representative shooters. Lee Jung-hyun boasts a brilliant career enough to be called KBL’s best shooter in the 2010s, including two championship wins, regular league MVP (2018-2019), league best 5 for 4 consecutive years (2016-2019), and national team captain. After that, Seong-Hyun Jeon has grown into an MVP-level shooter, breaking many of the previous records for the most points and 3-point shots by a domestic player this season.
However, like the saying that there was nothing to eat at the rumored feast, both players performed extremely poorly in the face-to-face match that day. Jeon Seong-hyun scored 9 points (6 assists and 3 rebounds), and Lee Jung-hyun stayed at 6 points (4 assists and 3 rebounds) on the day, and both players only scored in single digits.
Seong-Hyun Jeon, 3-point shot record in consecutive games stopped
Jeon Seong-hyun tried 15 shots on the day, only 3 (3 points 0/7), and Lee Jung-hyun tried 10 shots and only hit 2 (3-point shots 0/5), and both failed to make a single 3-point shot. The field shooting rate was the worst. Amid the sluggishness of the Ace, both Carrot (34.3%, 3 points, 15.2%) and Samsung (37.9%, 19%) played a poor game, failing to score more than 70 points due to extreme hunting. At least, Carrot managed to win by sweat thanks to Didric Lawson’s one-man show with 29 points and 19 rebounds.
In particular, it was the most regrettable moment for Jeon Seong-hyun that the record of three-pointers in consecutive games was stopped. Jeon Seong-hyun had a record of 76 successive 3-point shots in professional basketball before the match, which was the highest record in professional basketball history. The second place was 54 games recorded by Cho Seong-won (retired) from the 2000-2001 season to the 2001-2002 season.
Seong-Hyun Jeon tried 7 3-point shots while receiving intense checks from the Samsung defense that day, but none of them passed the rim. He almost went into the rim and bounced back twice, and he didn’t follow his luck either way. Seong-Hyun Jeon’s average score for the season fell to 19.6 points, 3.9 3-point shots per game, and 41.1% success rate.
Jeon Seong-hyun was at the center of controversy for a while due to a collision with Jung Sung-woo in the last match against Suwon KT on the 27th. Jeon Seong-hyun committed a dangerous foul against Jung Sung-woo from behind while trying to block a quick attack, and even added a smile to Jung Sung-woo, who protested against this, and was hit by public opinion for ‘misbehavior’. It was an incident that gave a big blow to the image of Jeon Seong-hyun, who was praised for his MVP-level performance and a new 3-point shooting record. As the controversy grew, Jeon Seong-hyun apologized to the fans and explained that he had cleared up the misunderstanding with Jung Sung-woo after the match.
It was an unpleasant week until the 3-point shot record was stopped due to the controversy over bad manners, but Jeon Seong-hyun showed his will to fight again. In an interview after the game, Jeon Seong-hyun said, “It’s regrettable that the record was broken, but it’s cool,” and said, “It’s not like I’m retiring after this season, but I just need to surpass my record. I’ll try again from the next game.”
Seoul Samsung unable to break team’s losing streak
Lee Jung-Hyun is being chased by the pressure of failing to break the team’s losing streak again. Samsung, who fell into a 13-game losing streak, has only one game left in the team’s most 14-game losing streak, which was recorded in 2012. Samsung recorded 14 consecutive losses from the match against Seoul SK on November 13, 2011, when Kim Sang-joon was coach, to the match against Changwon LG on December 15, 2011.
Samsung suffered only two double-digit losses in the 2021-2022 season (11-13 consecutive losses) and finished at the bottom of the league with 9 wins and 45 losses. Samsung, which regrouped this season by recruiting manager Eun Hee-seok and free agent Lee Jung-hyun, seemed to have succeeded in transforming itself by surpassing last season’s number of wins by reaching the 10-win mark against Hyundai Mobis on December 19, just the third round of this season. At that time, Samsung’s season record was 10-13 (.435), 7th in the league, and was in a position to compete for the semifinals.
However, after that, Samsung’s victory stopped like a lie. Samsung could not add a multiplier even though February was already approaching as the new year had changed. After the appointment of coach Eun Hee-seok, it seemed to change for a while with strong organizational skills, but the upward trend did not last long as the main players were injured and the limits of their offensive power were revealed. 먹튀검증
What is more painful for Samsung during the losing streak is the sluggishness of veteran Lee Jung-hyun. Wearing a Samsung uniform this season, Lee Jung-hyun is struggling, averaging 11.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists even in his mid-30s.
The problem is that the field goal success rate is only 32.5%. The 2-point shot success rate is 37%, and the 3-point shot success rate is also only 28.3%. All of them are the worst records of Lee Jung-hyun’s career.
Even up to the 3rd round, Lee Jung-hyun’s biggest advantage, ‘clutch ability’, shined, and he was able to make up for the poor field shooting rate to some extent. The biggest reason Samsung recruited Lee Jung-hyun, a veteran, was to expect a role as a solver in such a battle.
However, as the team entered the 4th round, which fell into full-fledged sluggishness, Lee Jung-hyun’s burden was increased due to the line injuries of the key players, leading to a vicious cycle in which the opponent’s intensive checks further highlighted the field hunting. In the 4th round, Lee Jung-hyun’s average score was only 7.6 points, and his 3-point shot success rate further declined to 19.4% (6/31). What’s more serious is the fact that there is no domestic scorer who can do as much as Lee Jung-hyun, who is currently in the worst condition in Samsung.
Lee Jung-hyun’s poor shooting is not irrelevant to physical problems. No matter how much he is called ‘Geumgang Buddha’, Lee Jung-hyun, but considering his age, he has passed his prime, and he is more suited to running with his stamina as a sixth man than as a starter.
However, the worst situation of the lack of scorers-13 consecutive losses is not giving Lee Jung-hyun a chance to breathe. The weight of responsibility that Ace must bear is heavy.