Can Thunder challenge for a win against Warriors?

A meeting between Nairobi City Thunder and Ulinzi Warriors in the last two seasons of the Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) men's league was one for the ages and no fan would ahead dared miss the fixture. 

The encounter promised an edge-of-your-seat end-to-end action with no clear favorite in any of the matches be it a regular league match or a playoff. 

However, Thunder can barely recognize themselves now. A number of exits ahead of the 2021 league season has left the Shauri Moyo-based club bleeding and it shows from the results the Sadat Gaya-coached side are churning.

In their Saturday match against University of Nairobi Terror, the side had only seven players on the bench, including the head coach who has been forced to come out of retirement to save his seemingly sinking ship. They lost 61-51 to a Terror side that would have been petrified at the sight of said fixture last season.

The varsity students started strongly, leading 12-7 in the first quarter but Thunder got their major back in the second half for a 17-6 outcome to head to the breather with the six point advantage. On resumption, Terror reduced the deficit to just one point and went on to run away with the game in the final quarter where they scored 26 points against Thunder's 15 for their first win of the season. 

"There is a lot happening in the team and we are working things out to have our squad back in full. I have to give it to the university side, they terrorized us in the final quarter to win it and we did not play our best basketball. Against Warriors, it has always been an interesting encounter and I do not think today will be any different. Warriors are defending champions and they will be out to prove that but I believe the match can go either way. Our focus will be keeping it close as they are not a team you want to let run away with the game early. I will have better turnout on the bench so I am confident if we play our cards well we can get a win," said Gaya. 

Meawhile, his Warriors counterpart William Balozi played down his advantage saying Thunder are a competitor just like any other and his charges have their work cut out. 

"We go into the match with the same seriousness we handle all the other teams. My players are ready and even though Eric Mutoro and Joseph Khaemba picked injuries in a friendly match mid week and are not at their best, I have faith in all my players. They can handle whatever Thunder throw at us," said Balozi. 

In other matches lined up, Strathmore University Swords are hoping to bounce back after going down 6p-46 to University of Nairobi Dynamites last weekend when they face fellow scholars Zetech University. 

In other men's league matches, Kenya College of Accountancy-University (KCA-U) face an Equity side that saw off Strathmore Blades 67-60 in Saturday's matches. The bankers' clash with the varsity side paves way for the Warriors clash against Thunder.