The 2023 BAL Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the 2023 BAL season to determine the champions of the third Basketball Africa League (BAL) season. For a third consecutive season, the playoffs will be hosted in the BK Arena in Kigali.
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| City | Kigali |
| Venue(s) | BK Arena |
| Dates | 21 – 27 May 2023 |
| Teams | 8 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Al Ahly (1st title) |
| Runner-up |  AS Douanes |
| Third place |  Stade Malien |
| Fourth place |  Petro de Luanda |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 8 |
Al Ahly defeated AS Douanes in the final, for their first-ever BAL title.[1]
Qualified teams
editOn 16 March 2023, the BAL incorrectly reported that REG became the first team to qualify for the playoffs.[2] US Monastir and ABC Fighters were also reported to have qualified on 20 March.[3][4] However, only on the last day of the Sahara Conference, the final ranking was determined and the four advancing teams were decided based on their head-to-head point difference. Petro de Luanda was the first team from the Nile Conference to qualify.[5]
Sahara Conference
edit| Seed | Team | Record | Clinched | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playoff berth | Best record
in conference | |||
| 1 | Stade Malien
|
3–2 | 21 March | 21 March |
| 2 | AS Douanes
|
3–2 | 21 March | — |
| 3 |  ABC Fighters
|
3–2 | 21 March | — |
| 4 |  REG
|
3–2 | 21 March | — |
Nile Conference
edit| Seed | Team | Record | Clinched | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playoff berth | Best record
in conference | |||
| 1 | Petro de Luanda
|
5–0 | 3 May | 5 May |
| 2 | Al Ahly
|
4–1 | 5 May | — |
| 3 |  Ferroviário da Beira
|
2–3 | 6 May | — |
| 4 |  Cape Town Tigers
|
2–3 | 6 May | — |
Bracket
edit| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||
| 21 May | ||||||||||
| Al Ahly | 94 | |||||||||
| 25 May | ||||||||||
| REG | 77 | |||||||||
| Al Ahly | 78 | |||||||||
| 21 May | ||||||||||
| Stade Malien | 73 | |||||||||
| Stade Malien | 78 | |||||||||
| 27 May | ||||||||||
| Cape Town Tigers | 69 | |||||||||
| Al Ahly | 80 | |||||||||
| 22 May | ||||||||||
| AS Douanes | 65 | |||||||||
| Petro de Luanda | 88 | |||||||||
| 25 May | ||||||||||
| ABC Fighters | 84 | |||||||||
| Petro de Luanda | 86 | |||||||||
| 22 May | ||||||||||
| AS Douanes | 92 | Third place game | ||||||||
| AS Douanes | 93 | |||||||||
| 26 May | ||||||||||
| Ferroviário da Beira | 73 | |||||||||
| Petro de Luanda | 65 | |||||||||
| Stade Malien | 73 | |||||||||
Games
editQuarter-finals
editAl Ahly vs. REG
editThis was the second competitive game between the teams, who last met in the third round of Group C of the 2018–19 Africa Basketball League when Al Ahly won.[6]
After taking a 8–5 lead, REG trailed in the rest of the game to the Egyptian champions Al Ahly. During the third quarter, Al Ahly led by as much as 23 points. Adonis Filer scored a game-high 26 points for REG, while Ehab Amin scored 22 points for the Egyptians.[7]
21 May 2023
16:00 |
| Al Ahly |
94–77 | REG |
| Scoring by quarter: 23–18, 23–14, 21–21, 27–24 | ||
| Pts: Amin 22 Rebs: Amin, Fakuade 6 Asts: Amin 4 |
Pts: Filer 26 Rebs: Kambuy Manga 6 Asts: Filer 9 | |
Stade Malien vs. Cape Town Tigers
editThis was the first competitive game between the two teams.
The Tigers were forced to play without Zaire Wade and Evans Ganapamo, who suffered from injuries. Stade Malien never trailed throughout the game, as they had already built a sixteen point advantage after the first quarter. Import player John Wilkins scored 16 points in the opening quarter. During the third quarter, Stade Malien led by as much as 22 points, but this lead was cut to just two with 41 seconds left on the clock. After this point, the Tigers turned over the ball three times, which were conversed to six points by Malien. Aliou Diarra had a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds, his sixth double-double in six BAL games. For the Tigers, it was their second consecutive elimination in the quarterfinals.[8]
21 May 2023
19:00 |
| Stade Malien |
78–69 | Cape Town Tigers |
| Scoring by quarter: 31–15, 17–15, 16–22, 14–17 | ||
| Pts: Diarra, Wilkins 18 Rebs: Diarra 13 Asts: Foster 7 |
Pts: Prinsloo 19 Rebs: Gbinije 13 Asts: Gbinije 5 | |
AS Douanes vs. Ferroviário da Beira
editThis was the first competitive game between the two teams. AS Douanes defeated Ferroviário to seal its first semi-final appearance.
22 May 2023
17:00 |
| AS Douanes |
93–73 | Ferroviário da Beira |
| Scoring by quarter: 28–23, 24–14, 19–15, 22–21 | ||
| Pts: Fall 23 Rebs: Bryan-Amaning 11 Asts: Ndour 8 |
Pts: Gueye 19 Rebs: Gueye 9 Asts: Perry 8 | |
Petro de Luanda vs. ABC Fighters
editThis was the first competitive game in the BAL between the two teams, and the third meeting ever. They met twice in the FIBA Africa Club Champions Cup, in the semi-final of the 2005 and in the group stage of the 2007.
22 May 2023
20:30 |
| Petro de Luanda |
88–84 | ABC Fighters |
| Scoring by quarter: 23–16, 18–25, 23–22, 24–21 | ||
| Pts: Morais 18 Rebs: Pedro 8 Asts: Diabate 5 |
Pts: Abada 21 Rebs: Three players 3 Asts: Abada 8 | |
Semi-finals
editPetro de Luanda vs. AS Douanes
editAS Douanes won the semi-final against Petro de Luanda, to become the first Senegalese team to reach the BAL final. Jean Jacques Boissy had 28 points and Chris Crawford scored 26. The Douanes led the majority of the game and won their fifth straight BAL game, after losing their two opening games in the Sahara Conference.
The win for Douanes was widely seen as a "shock" as unbeaten Petro de Luanda were considered the title favourites.[9]
24 May 2023
17:00 |
| Petro de Luanda |
86–92 | AS Douanes |
| Scoring by quarter: 19–20, 26–29, 18–20, 23–23 | ||
| Pts: Hollis 19 Rebs: Pedro 8 Asts: Pedro 6 |
Pts: Boissy 28 Rebs: Crawford 7 Asts: Ndour 5 | |
Stade Malien vs. Al Ahly
editAl Ahly became the second Egyptian team to advance to the BAL Final, despite trailing by five at the half to Stade Malien. Ehab Amin led the Red Devils with a game-high 21 points. Stade Malien's Aliou Diarra recorded his sixth straight double-double, but was fouled out two minutes before the end of the game.[10]
24 May 2023
20:30 |
| Stade Malien |
73–78 | Al Ahly |
| Scoring by quarter: 17–17, 21–16, 15–25, 20–20 | ||
| Pts: Amayo 15 Rebs: Diarra 11 Asts: Foster 6 |
Pts: Amin 21 Rebs: Amin 6 Asts: Thompson 4 | |
Third place game
editPetro de Luanda played in its second third place game, having won the game in 2021. Stade Malien finished their surprising season by claiming the third place after pushing away from Petro in the final minutes of the game. Aliou Diarra had 25 points and 12 rebounds, his seventh double-double in as many games.
26 May 2023
18:00 |
| Petro de Luanda |
65–73 | Stade Malien |
| Scoring by quarter: 15–20, 19–16, 20–14, 11–23 | ||
| Pts: Morais 15 Rebs: Morais 9 Asts: Morais, Diabate 4 |
Pts: Diarra 25 Rebs: Diarra 12 Asts: Three players 5 | |
Final
editReferences
edit- ^ "Al Ahly are the 2023 BAL champions". The BAL. 27 May 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
- ^ "How REG secured the first 2023 BAL Playoffs spot". The BAL. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
- ^ "Bile's heroics send ABC to playoffs". The BAL. 20 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ^ "Randle, Thomas lead Monastir to playoffs". The BAL. 21 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ^ "Petro de Luanda become first Nile Conference team to qualify for the Playoffs". The BAL. 3 May 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
- ^ "REG BBC v Al Ahly boxscore - FIBA Africa Basketball League 2019 - 10 February". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
- ^ "SUPERB AMIN, WEBSTER KEY IN AL AHLY'S SEMI-FINALS SLOT". The BAL. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
- ^ "DIARRA'S SIXTH DOUBLE-DOUBLE STEERS STADE MALIEN INTO SEMI-FINALS". The BAL. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
- ^ "AS DOUANES SHOCK PETRO DE LUANDA, ADVANCE TO FINAL". The BAL. 25 May 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
- ^ "AL AHLY BECOME SECOND EGYPTIAN TEAM TO REACH THE BAL FINAL". The BAL. 25 May 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2023.