Basketball: Final BAL 2023 Is at the Door.
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The 2023 African Basketball League (BAL) season is right around the corner, fans from 214 countries and territories in 17 languages will be able to stream all games for free through television broadcast partnerships.
The top eight BAL teams will compete in the BAL playoffs and finals in Kigali, Rwanda from May 20th to 27th. Tickets are now on sale online at: BAL.NBA.com.
the playoffs
The 2023 BAL Playoffs will kick off on Saturday, May 20th at the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda and will culminate with the BAL Third Finals on Saturday, May 27th.
The best eight teams from the group stages of the Sahara Conference and the Nile Conference that took place in Dakar, Senegal and Cairo, Egypt, respectively, will play in a single elimination tournament, with the winner crowned the third BAL champion .
In the quarter-finals, Stade Malien (Mali; 3-2) take on Cape Town Tigers (South Africa; 2-3) at 16:00 CAT/10:00 ET, followed by Al Ahly (Egypt; 4-1) who face Rwanda Energy Group (REG; 3-2) at 19:30 pm CAT/13:30 pm ET.
The quarter-finals continue on Sunday, May 21, with AS Douanes (Senegal; 3-2) facing Clube Ferroviário da Beira (CFV – Beira; Mozambique; 2-3) at 16:00 CAT/10:00 ET, followed by Clube Atlético Petróleos de Luanda (Petro de Luanda; Angola; 5-0) to face Abidjan Basketball Club (ABC Fighters; Ivory Coast; 3-2) at 19:30 CAT/13:30 ET.
The eight playoff and final games will be broadcast live on American Forces Network (AFN), Canal+, ESPN (Sub-Saharan Africa), NBA TV, Tencent, TV5 Monde, Visionary TV, Voice of America (VOA) and select free channels on across the continent through BAL's broadcast partnership with the African Broadcasting Union.
The games will also be broadcast live on NBA app, the nba.com, the visionview.tv and BAL.NBA.com. Fans can view the full game schedule and purchase tickets at BAL.NBA.com.
BAL 2023 Season Numbers
40 – More than 000 fans watched the group stages of the Sahara and Nile Conference.
23 – The Nile Conference game between Petro de Luanda and Al Ahly was the most watched live broadcast ever on the BAL website, with over 000 viewers, over 23% of whom watched the game on mobile devices.
1000 – During the Sahara and Nile Conference, BAL engaged over 1000 youth through BAL4HER, BAL Advance, BAL U23 women's camps and Special Olympics games and clinics.
250 – More than 250 media elements were accredited to cover the group phases of the Sahara and Nile Conferences.
As part of the BAL Elevate program, an NBA Academy Africa candidate has once again joined each of BAL's 12 teams for the 2023 season
226 – AS Douanes recorded a maximum of 226 rebounds in their five group games.
214 – The 2023 season of BAL is reaching fans in 214 countries and territories in 17 languages through free and pay TV broadcast partnerships with the African Broadcasting Union, American Forces Network (AFN), Canal+, ESPN ( Sub-Saharan Africa), NBA TV, Tencent, TV5 Monde, Visionary TV and Voice of America (VOA)
4 – The live transmission is made on NBA app, the nba.com, the visionview.tv and BAL.NBA.com.
156 – The 12 BAL teams collectively had 156 players from 22 countries in Africa, Europe, Oceania and the USA.
100 – Petro de Luanda recorded the highest points difference (100) among all the teams in the group stage.
41 – CFV – Beira defender Will Perry broke the BAL record for most points scored in a single game, after registering 41 points in a 109-97 victory over SLAC (Guinea). In the same game, Perry also set the BAL record for most three-pointers in a game, with nine made.
34 – BAL's 12 teams featured a total of 34 former NCAA Division I players, including 27 players on the eight playoff teams.
33 – REG defenseman Cleveland Thomas Jr. had 33 assists, a group stage high.
26 – The 12 BAL teams featured 26 players who previously participated in Basketball Without Borders (BWB), the global basketball development and community outreach program of the NBA and FIBA.
12 – 12 former BWB Africa players are drafted to the NBA, including Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers; Cameroon; BWB Africa 2011), 2022-23 Kia NBA MVP, and Pascal Siakam (Toronto Raptors; Cameroon; BWB Africa 2012) ), 2019 NBA champion.
19 – Petro de Luanda head coach José Neto has coached 19 BAL games, more than any other coach in the history of the league.
17 – BAL's 12 teams boasted 17 players with NBA G League experience, including seven players on playoff rosters.
15 – Last season, AS Douanes and NBA Academy Africa center Khaman Maluach made his BAL debut with Cobra Sports (South Sudan) aged 15, becoming the youngest player in league history.
15 – 15 years after playing Dwyane Wade, inducted into the 2023 Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Petro de Luanda wing Carlos Morais took on Wade's son Zaire when the Petro de Luanda defeated the Cape Town Tigers in the Nile Conference group stage.
12 – As part of the BAL Elevate program, an NBA Academy Africa prospect has once again joined each of BAL's 12 teams for the 2023 season. NBA Academy Africa is an elite basketball training facility in Saly , in Senegal, for the best secondary school candidates across Africa and the first of its kind on the continent.
6 – The 2023 BAL playoffs will feature six of the top 10 group stage scorers:
- Najeal Young (CFV – Beira; USA) – 21,6 ppj
- Souleymane Berthe (Stade Malien; Mali) – 20,4 ppj
- Chris Crawford (AS Douanes; USA) – 20 ppj
- Nuni Omot (Al Ahly; South Sudan) – 19,4 ppj
- Abdoulaye Harouna (ABC Fighters; Niger) – 18,8 ppj
- Will Perry (CFV – Beira: USA) – 18,4 ppj
6 – Petro de Luanda baseman Carlos Morais, who wears jersey number six, is one of the most complete players in the history of Angolan basketball. He is an eight-time champion of the Angolan League, a three-time winner of the Angola Cup and has represented Angola at three FIBA Basketball World Championships (2006, 2010, 2019) and at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
3 – Carlos Morais, was also named the 2012 FIBA African Cup Most Valuable Player and played in three preseason games for the Raptors in 2013.
5 – Five teams participated in the BAL for the first time this season: ABC Fighters (Ivory Coast), Al Ahly (Egypt), City Oilers (Uganda), Kwara Falcons (Nigeria) and Stade Malien (Mali), including the first teams from BAL from Côte d'Ivoire and Uganda.
5 – Five teams returned for their second season in BAL: Cape Town Tigers, REG, SLAC and CFV-Beira. AS Douanes returned to BAL after participating in the inaugural season in 2021.
4 – Four African players were among the best in the group stage:
- Aliou Diarra (Stade Malien; Mali) averaged 18 points per game and a maximum of 13,4 rebounds per game in the group stage.
- Carlos Morais (Petro de Luanda; Angola) averaged 17,2 points per game, the best of his team.
- Omar Oraby (Egypt) of Al Ahly, averaged 19,4.
- Nuni Omot (South Sudan) 11,8 points per game.
2 – The Cape Town Tigers featured two former NBA players: Josh Hall played in 21 games for the Oklahoma City Thunder during the 2020-21 NBA season and Michael Gbinije played in nine games for the Detroit Pistons during the 2016-2017 season . Gbinije also won the 2015 FIBA AfroBasket Championship as a member of the Nigeria Men's National Team.
2 – The 2022 BAL champion, US Monastir (Tunisia), and the 2022 runner-up, Petro de Luanda (Angola), are the only two teams that participated in the three BAL seasons.
1 – Petro de Luanda defender Solo Diabaté (Ivory Coast) is the only player to win the BAL finals twice (with Egypt's Zamalek in 2021 and US Monastir in 2022) and is looking for his third consecutive BAL title
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Picture: © 2023 Vision ViewTV
