When Al Ahly Libya plays Petro de Luanda from Angola in Rwanda on Saturday, the Basketball Africa League (BAL) will declare its inaugural winners.
Since its first 2021 competition, the BAL has had a one-off final as opposed to the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) best-of-seven series.
With the Boston Celtics playing the Dallas Mavericks in the Finals starting on June 6, the NBA—which is highly involved in promoting and supporting the BAL—is also nearing its climax.
“The most competitive BAL season to date has been this one. “There are so many outstanding players,” BAL analyst Usher Komugisha told BBC Sport Africa in Kigali, the site of the play-offs.
“The final is matched evenly. While Petro have advanced to the BAL semi-finals each season and have a very knowledgeable coach in Sergio Valdeolmillos, Al Ahly Libya has demonstrated a great deal of maturity.”
After crunching the stats on the fourth BAL, BBC Sport Africa has been comparing its top players and teams to its well-known big brother in North America.
What did the Most Valuable Players achieve?
With his third MVP victory earlier this month, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic joined the ranks of NBA greats.
For the reigning NBA Champions, the Serb averaged 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds, and nine assists this season, including 25 triple-doubles.
Just the second player to end a regular season with over 2,000 points, 900 rebounds, and 700 assists was Jokic, 29.
Though Jo Lual-Acuil is one of the candidates, the BAL will not declare its MVP until after the Kigali final.
With 42 points in their Nile Conference victory over City Oilers of Uganda, the South Sudanese-Australian center broke the BAL’s single-game scoring record, and has been instrumental in Al Ahly Libya’s quest to the championship in their maiden season.
At 1.9 assists per game, Lual-Acuil is well below Jokic in terms of assists, but he does average 21.8 points and 9.9 rebounds.
The ‘LeBron James of Africa’, Petro shooting guard Carlos Morais, may take home the trophy if the Angolan team wins the championship. Other standout campaigns came from Rivers Hoopers in Nigeria and Cape Town Tigers’ Samkelo Cele.
Who is most dominant in terms of wins?
Top of the Eastern Conference with a 64-18 record, the Boston Celtics recorded the most NBA victories this season.
Having beaten the Indiana Pacers 4-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics have blitzed through the play-offs, losing just two games in three rounds.
Last season’s winners Al Ahly had the most victories during the BAL Conference stage out of a far smaller game sample.
Five of their six Nile Conference games were won by the Egyptians, whose win percentage of 0.833 surpassed the Celtics’ 0.78 regular-season record.
FUS Rabat of Morocco won three out of four games in the Kalahari Conference, having played two less games after Dynamo of Burundi withdrew.
How did the defending champions fare?
Though Jokic was the NBA MVP, the Denver Nuggets, who had placed second in the standings, lost 4-3 to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference semi-finals.
Al Ahly lost in the play-offs’ quarterfinals on Sunday, having hoped to become the first BAL team to win two straight championships.
Though they had defeated their opponents twice at the Nile Conference in Cairo last month, they were taken aback by fellow North Africans Al Ahly Libya.
Early in the second quarter, the Egyptians led by three points, but the Libyan champs recovered to win 86-77.
Take away game attendance, it was Al Ahly’s largest loss margin in BAL history.
Who have been the dark horses?
Al Ahly Libya have made waves this season by becoming the first team from their nation to qualify for the BAL and then making it to the final on their first try.
With a 3-3 record in the Nile Conference, the team was seeded seventh and made the play-offs solely by virtue of points difference.
But they defeated the holders to go on to the semifinals, when Al Ahly Libya defeated Rivers Hoopers 89-83 in overtime to reach the championship game.
The Hoopers, the first Nigerian team to go to the play-offs, also merit recognition for their 92-88 victory over Tunisian champions US Monastir in 2022.
The team from Port Harcourt skipped the second and third BAL seasons after making their BAL debut in 2021 and losing two of their three games.
The NBA’s standout dark horses have been the Minnesota Timberwolves, who improved their game and finished the season as the third-ranked team in the West.
Few would have predicted the Timberwolves to make the Conference Finals, when they were defeated 4-1 by the Mavericks, for a team founded in 1989 and yet to win a title.
How do the rookies match up?
The top choice in the draft the previous year, Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs, won NBA Rookie of the Year.
After averaging 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, a league-high 3.6 blocked shots, and 1.2 steals a game, the 20-year-old Frenchman—who is of Congolese descent—was a unanimous pick.
Two alumni of NBA Academy Africa, Mohamed Sylla of FUS Rabat and Khaman Maluach of the City Oilers, are contenders for the BAL championship.
The 17-year-old South Sudan centre still leads the BAL in rebounds and blocks per game, averaging 13.5 and 2.8 per game, respectively, despite playing just six games this season.
Through the BAL’s Elevate program, which links prospects to rival teams, fellow adolescent Sylla joined FUS Rabat.
The biggest upset of the season, the Senegalese center scored 15 points and 11 rebounds in the quarterfinals against the Cape Town Tigers, but he was unable to save his team from losing 91-88.
How would a BAL All-Star side do against an NBA equivalent?
“Seeing such kind of match-up would be really interesting,” Komugisha added.
“A few of the players in the BAL have been drafted by the NBA, while some have played there.
Naturally, NBA players would have an advantage over BAL players, but this season’s level of competition has increased dramatically.
“Both the physical aspect of the game and the coaching strategies are so meticulously planned.”
The BAL is as intense as the NBA, according to fellow analyst Queen John-Moseph.
“The days when African basketball was only big men and aggressive defense are long gone,” she said.
“We witness the kind of plays seen in the NBA, coaches outwitting one another, and a passion for win.
“Players in the BAL have come from all over the world; some of them may be NBA players. They could compete, in my opinion, and it would be a fantastic contest.
Joeal Bright is a committed journalist at WVPrepBB.com, focusing on USA and crime news. With a knack for in-depth reporting and a dedication to delivering accurate and timely information, Joeal keeps readers informed about crucial national events and crime stories. His work on WVPrepBB.com is essential for those seeking comprehensive coverage and insightful analysis of current events in the United States.
