LG-KT best-of-four PO evokes the 'Pasco incident'

'It's you again, nice to meet you'

The best-of-five best-of-three playoffs between Changwon LG and Suwon KT in the men's professional basketball league will begin on Saturday with Game 1. Changwon LG, who finished second in the regular season, and Suwon KT, who finished third in the regular season after defeating Ulsan Hyundai Mobis. Neither team has ever won a championship game. In the quarterfinals, one of them will have to blow another chance at a championship. The matchup between the two teams' aces, Heo Hoon (KT) and Yang Hong-seok (LG), will also be a highlight. Yang Hong-seok, who found a new home in LG as a free agent (FA), will be facing his hometown team, with whom he played until last season, while Heo Hoon is making his first appearance in the quarterfinals after being eliminated in three consecutive PO Series since his professional debut (2017).

It will be interesting to see if LG coach Cho Sang-hyun (48) will succeed in avenging his twin brother Cho Dong-hyun of Hyundai Mobis against KT coach Song Young-jin (46), who said at the PO media day that he would "beat the twins and go to the championship".

In addition to these obvious viewing points, there are also hidden viewing points. 'Pascoe's curse' and 'revenge blood clots'. It can be summarized in two keywords. Coach Cho Sang-hyun once mentioned the 'Pasco incident' as one of his most unforgettable memories as a player when the race for second place in the final regular season was fierce. He expressed his desire to succeed in the postseason this season, as LG has been unsuccessful in the postseason since the 'Pasco Incident' when he was playing for LG.

The 'Pascoe Incident' is a painful memory that will remain a rare tragedy in Korean basketball history. It happened to be the opponent of KT's predecessor, Busan KTF. In the third game of the 2006-2007 quarterfinals PO, Purvis Lee Pascoe, who was playing as a special mercenary for LG at the time, became agitated by his opponent's tough defense and lunged at the referee. LG immediately issued an apology and ejected Pascoe from the series, and the Korean Basketball League (KBL) handed him a life ban.

LG, which eventually lost the best-of-four series 1-3, has since made eight postseason appearances through the 2022-2023 season without success. From 2007-2008 to 2010-2011, the team reached the quarterfinals four times in a row, but all but one of the three losses (2008-2009) were "sweeps". In 2013-2014, following the club's first regular season title in 13 years, they reached the championship game, but fell to Hyundai Mobis in four games to two. Last season, they finished second in the regular season thanks to the Asem Marei effect, but lost three straight games to Seoul SK in the quarterfinals after Marei went down with an injury. The team's postseason history has been blackened by the 'Pascoe incident,' hence the phrase 'curse.

However, there is a silver lining. LG has met KT in the PO Series twice since the 'Pascoe Incident' and won both times. LG's blood boils whenever they meet KT, including three straight wins in the 2013-2014 quarterfinals and a 3-2 victory in the 2018-2019 semifinals.

This time around, KT is looking for revenge. Even if you put aside the memories of swallowing the bunrú in the last two consecutive PO series against LG, there is still the 'grudge' of being swept by LG at the end of the regular season. KT was in second place by two games midway through the fifth round, but back-to-back losses in the fifth and sixth rounds against LG proved to be the decisive factor, causing them to lose the race for second place to LG with two games left in the regular season.

It is also a rare 'bad blood' that Cho Sang-hyun, the 'player' at the time of the 'Pasco Incident', was with LG and Song Young-jin was with KT, and this is their first PO matchup as coaches. "We met well, this time it's impossible," the two coaches said in unison.