NBL playoffs: Blazers lead the pack, Oilers reload, Jaguars ready to shock

National Basketball League

Quarter finals

Nam Blazers vs Rezlife Saints

JT Jaguars v City Oilers

Sommet v KCCA Panthers

Kampala Rockets v UCU Canons

The National Basketball League (NBL) regular season has ended, confirming the eight teams for this year’s playoffs.

Livingstone and KIU Titans are getting relegated while Victoria Crocs and JKL Dolphins will miss out and wait for next season.

The playoffs start in September, after the Afrobasket tournament in Angola.

This season has been one of the most competitive in recent years, with the battle for playoff spots going down to the wire. Victoria Crocs missed the cut despite finishing with the same record as the sixth-placed team.

Namblazers vs Rezlife Saints 

Namuwongo Blazers finished regular season with a 19-3 record. They are  the top seed and will play whoever comes in eighth for the quarterfinals.

With Jimmy Enabu, James Okello, and Tonny Drilleba leading the way, everyone's saying the Blazers are the team to beat.

Rezlife Saints, who ended up sixth at 12-10, get a rematch with the Blazers. They played each other in the playoffs last year too.

JT Jaguars vs City Oilers 

Another quarterfinal has the JT Jaguars going up against the City Oilers, who have won it all ten times.

The Jaguars are one of the only teams to beat the Oilers twice this season – 74-64 and 65-50. The Oilers are bringing in some reinforcements though, with Canadian guard Chad Bowie and Kurt-Curry Axel Wegscheider from Central African, so they want payback.

Sommet vs KCCA Panthers 

Sommet versus KCCA Panthers should be a close one. The Panthers started strong, going 8-3, but then cooled off in the second round, only winning four games.

Sommet, on the other hand, got better as the season went on, going from five wins to nine. The Panthers are the only team that beat Sommet twice this year, though.

Kampala Rockets vs UCU Canons 

Kampala Rockets are facing UCU Canons in what should be a pretty even match. Both teams finished 13-9, but the Rockets got fourth place because they beat the Canons in their head-to-head games.

Semi finals spots

If the Blazers win, they will play the winner of the Rockets-Canons game.

The other semifinal will be the winners of Jaguars vs Oilers and Sommet vs Panthers.

The City Oilers and Namuwongo Blazers can not meet until the finals, if they both make it that far, which would be an awesome end to the season if they did.