As it is now becoming the norm, two basketball giants Troopers and Spartans are meeting again in the National Championship final. These two teams have met in more than ten championship finals and have been dominating the basketball for about a decade.
A careful and more technical game is always expected when the two basketball titans who have monopolised the local basket for years meet. In the just ended league campaign Troopers have been sloppy in defence having a 399 point difference. In this final against Spartans, Troopers are expected to have a lot of fast breaks, if not too much defending.
Troopers coach William Nyangu admitted that his defence has not been prolific, especially against the Spartans. He cited the last game of the season when Spartans ended their unbeaten run in a game which had poor defending and concentration lapses.
“In that game we would allow them to take easy shots…..We were also caught wanting in the first moments of the game….This can be attributed to poor level of concentration,” said Nyangu.
Despite being let down by their defence Troopers are powerful on offence because they put down 1340 points in the league.
On his day small forward, Ratanang Tsayang is a marvel to watch. He is fast and too offensive and is said to be a complete player according to Nyangu. Interchanging of positions and a lot of pace is the style that best describes Troopers.
Every player can take a shot from anywhere in the court and this should worry Spartans. However Troopers are also to contain Spartans key man Robert Bendo Mosalakatane. On his day he can be a menace to the Troopers defence. However Nyangu said they will not limit their focus only on Mosalakatane. Though admitting that Mosalakatane is going to score, Nyangu said the Spartans point guard will not be their focal point.
“We are going to take this coming game like every game but we are going to be careful this time around……We are going to concentrate more on defence. We are coming with a defensive approach and being tactically offensive as well,” said Nyangu.
Spartans coach Bobotho Ratsoma said this game is going to be interesting, physical but entertaining. He said the two teams know each other very well so it is going to be a tactical game. Ratsoma said he want his boys to focus on stopping Troopers small forward Gatanang Tsayang who can cause havoc on his day. The rat a bang Ratanang is known to be quick and can shoot and drive well. His other rare quality is that he can score from anywhere and this will cause headaches for Ratsoma’s men.
“On this final I want to win at all cost… In my tactical approach to the game I am planning to distribute the ball around with good motion,” said Ratsoma.
