When you read 1 Samuel, Chapter 17, the Bible talks about a giant named Goliath, a mammoth of a man, who had terrorized the Israelites but was defeated by David, a very small boy, by a mere slingshot. That was a very big miracle but in reality, we rarely see the likes of David defeat the Goliathes of this world.

In this fixture, the Namuwongo Blazers are like Goliath whereas the JT Jaguars are like David or the Israelites. The Blazers have defeated every team, comfortably, in the regular season, although the City Oilers and the Rezlife Saints scathed them.

They have been very dominant in that they are the only team to have scored 90+ points in more than 5 games. The Blazers finished with the best offense and defense, averaging 80 points per game whereas conceding an average of 56.7 points.

On the contrary, the JT Jaguars have scored just 62 points per game whilst conceding 65.9 points per game. This shows the sharp difference between the two teams’ seasons this years and clearly, the Blazers are the overwhelming favorites when you go by the regular season performance of both teams.

The Blazers have very many players (7) who average more than 7 points per game and this means the whoever is on the floor can hurt you. For the Jaguars, they have heavily been reliant on about 4 players for offense whereas the rest make smaller contributions.

Season Head to Head

When the two sides faced off in the regular season, the Namuwongo Blazers won both games comfortably, 82-62 and 93-66 in the first and second rounds respectively. In all facets of the game, the Blazers dominated and at no point did it feel like they would lose the games.

Players to watch

The Blazers have a lot of weapons at their disposal and it is very difficult to point out one player. However, Franck Nyembo ended the regular season on a high and having played for the Congolese National team during the World Cup Qualifiers, he may carry that same energy to this series. If that is the case, it is safe to say that the Jaguars will be in a lot of trouble and will have to devise multiple schemes in order to stop him.

Kasereka Tembo is another player that the Jaguars need to worry about a lot. He has proven his marksmanship and in a Blazers team that can create for him open shots, he will be a very big threat. He has also shown that when he is on the ball, he can create for others which makes him even more dangerous.

Chuol Dut Abraham has been a danger man for the Jaguars this season. He led them in scoring and is among the few players to average 10+ points this season. He has been able to provide offense in multiple ways, from draining threes, to mid-range shots to making drives to the basket. He also scored 20 points against the Blazers in the first round.

The other 2 players to be worried about are Ian Duncan Lubwama and Peter Sifuma. Despite not being dominant, Sifuma averaged a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. He has consistently shown that he can be productive but the question is, can he dominant the paint?

Ian Lubwama once again was the go-to guy for the Jaguars whenever they needed creativity and he did some wonderful things. However, since the team performance was generally poor, his magical deeds went unnoticed for most of the season. Nonetheless, he is a player that can create something out of nothing and the Blazers have to worry about him.

What will it come down to

Namuwonngo have a lot of weapons and can hurt you in multiple ways. Everyone on the team can put the ball in the hole and it’s very hard to say that your aim will be to limit a particular player. For the Jaguars, they will have to make sure that their frontcourt can try to match the Blazers’. If they can get that done, they their eyes will be fixed on Ian Lubwama and whoever plays as the 2 to see how much offense they can generate.

Fixtures

• Game 1, 12thJuly at YMCA
• Game 2, 15th July at ABJA Park
• Game 3, 19th July at Lugogo (If necessary)