Nairobi City Thunder coach Bradley Ibs chats with his players / FILE
Nairobi City Thunder head coach Brad Ibs remains optimistic his side can finish strong in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) Nile Conference qualifiers despite a rocky debut campaign.
Thunder are still chasing their first win after four straight losses, making them the only winless team in their group.
They sit bottom of the standings with a -71 point differential.
Libya’s high-flying Al Ahli Tripoli lead the pack with an unbeaten record, while hosts APR (Armée Patriotique Rwandaise) and South Africa’s Made By Basketball (MBB) follow with identical 2-2 records.
The top two teams after the round-robin, home-and-away series will punch their tickets to the BAL playoffs set for June in Pretoria, South Africa.
Thunder’s campaign tipped off with a 92-63 loss to hosts APR at Kigali’s BK Arena last Saturday, followed by a 115-87 drubbing at the hands of Al Ahli.
Their closest contest came on Tuesday in a heartbreaking 75-74 defeat to MBB.
The second leg began with another setback, a 104-91 loss to Al Ahli on Thursday evening.
With two games left, against MBB at 3:30 pm on Saturday and APR on Sunday at 6:30 pm, Thunder are determined to finish on a high.
"We want to make history as the first Kenyan team to win a game in the BAL," said Ibs. "We want to play with a lot of pride in these final two games and try to win one."
Ibs believes the squad is improving and remains united despite the rough start.
"We also need to continue improving and stay together. Overall, the boys are still committed to playing and doing their best," he added.
Ibs is keen to make adjustments in their rematch against MBB.
"We had a closely contested game against MBB. It felt like we should have won that game. We need to prepare and be ready for them," he noted.
Despite Thursday's defeat to Al Ahli, Ibs praised his squad’s resilience and offensive rhythm.
"This is not how we want to end games; we have lost four now. We showed more fight this time. In the first leg, we folded when they built a big lead, but today we kept battling until the final buzzer. That shows growth,” he said.
"We did not do that today, we kept a real fighting spirit to the end. We stayed together as a team. The boys played well."
He, however, stressed the need for sharper execution in the half-court.
"I thought our transition game was much better against Al Ahli. Our execution has, however, not been that high. That's an area we want to work on," he said.
Ibs praised forward Albert Odero for a standout showing.
"Albert played a good game. He competed hard. He is a good offensive player. e utilised him well in the match," he said.
