Acting head coach Kang Hyuk of the Daegu Korea Gas Corporation, a professional basketball team mired in a franchise-record 10-game losing streak and in crisis since the beginning of the season, repeatedly bowed his head, saying, “It’s my fault.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, the players are sorry, and the fans shouldn’t have seen this,” Kang said after the team’s regular-season away game against Seoul Samsung at Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Seoul on Wednesday.
The Gasworks lost 63-84 to Samsung on the day, their 10th straight loss. The team hasn’t won in nearly a month since a 96-94 victory over Seoul SK on March 29 and is in last place (1-12).
Ninth-ranked Samsung, which had lost eight straight games, was considered a worthy opponent, but GASCO was unable to overcome it.
Gazprom played poorly, scoring just four points as a team in the second quarter and 21 points in the first half. By the middle of the third quarter, the gap had grown to over 30 points.
In the second half, Samjosef Belangel and Lee Dae-heon worked hard to narrow the gap from 35 points to eight, but two foreign players, Andrew Nicholson and Anthony Moss, threw cold water on the game with back-to-back five-foul ejections.
Nicholson scored just four points and Moss had none.
“The team situation is difficult, so I think the players are willing to play, but their motivation is too high, so they fouled out and their shooting percentage dropped a lot,” Kang said.
Kang, who diagnosed that “all the players are trying to do well, so there is a feeling of being motivated and rigid,” said, “I feel like I missed a time when I should have caught them through operation time, etc. The players are working hard, but I’m sorry I didn’t do a good job in that area,” he said.
The knee condition of retired main guard Kim Nak-hyun is also a concern for Kang. Kim started the game, but was benched after playing just over four minutes.
Kang said, “I shouldn’t have let Kim Nak-hyun play, but I think it was my greed. We need to check his condition and prioritize treatment so that he doesn’t overexert himself.”
Lee Dae-heon, who scored a team-high 27 points, said, “I think I gained confidence after the game against Jung Kwan-jang (on the 21st). I think I’ll get better,” while Kang, who found hope, vowed to rebound, saying, “The first thing is to end the losing streak and change the atmosphere.” 토토사이트