1986 NBL season

1986 NBL season
League	National Basketball League
Sport	Basketball
Duration	25 April 1986 – 28 September 1986 1 – 4 October 1986 (Semi-Finals) 11 – 19 October 1986 (Grand Finals)
Number of teams	14
TV partner(s)	ABC, SAS-10, TV0, STW9
Regular season
Top seed	Adelaide 36ers
Season MVP	Leroy Loggins
Top scorer	Andrew Gaze (922 - 36.9 ppg)
Finals
Champions	Adelaide 36ers
Runners-up	Brisbane Bullets
Finals MVP	Mark Davis

The 1986 NBL season was the eighth season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of 14 teams contested the league.

Clubs

The NBL had 14 clubs spread across all Australian states and territories with the exception of the Northern Territory.

Club	Location	Home Venue	Capacity	Founded	Head coach
Adelaide 36ers	Adelaide, South Australia	Apollo Stadium	3,000	1982	Ken Cole
Brisbane Bullets	Brisbane, Queensland	Sleeman Sports Centre Brisbane Entertainment Centre	2,700 13,500	1979	Brian Kearle
Canberra Cannons	Canberra, Australian Capital Territory	AIS Arena	5,200	1979	Bob Turner
Coburg Giants	Melbourne, Victoria	The Glass House	7,200	1980	Bruce Palmer
Geelong Supercats	Geelong, Victoria	Geelong Arena	2,000	1982
Hobart Devils	Hobart, Tasmania	Kingborough Sports Centre	1,800	1983
Illawarra Hawks	Wollongong, New South Wales	Illawarra Basketball Stadium	2,000	1979	Dave Lindstrom
Melbourne Tigers	Melbourne, Victoria	Albert Park Basketball Stadium	2,000	1931	Lindsay Gaze
Newcastle Falcons	Newcastle, New South Wales	Broadmeadow Basketball Stadium	2,200	1979
Nunawading Spectres	Melbourne, Victoria	Burwood Stadium	2,000	1979
Perth Wildcats	Perth, Western Australia	Perry Lakes Basketball Stadium	1,500	1982	Jay Brehmer
St Kilda Saints	Melbourne, Victoria	The Glass House	7,200	1979
Sydney Supersonics	Sydney, New South Wales	State Sports Centre	5,006	1982	Owen Wells
West Sydney Westars	Sydney, New South Wales	Bankstown Basketball Stadium	2,500	1982

Regular season

The home and away season took place over 21 rounds between 25 April 1986 and 28 September 1986 with semi-final on 1 October 1986 until 4 October 1986 and grand final on 11–19 October 1986.

The Adelaide 36ers had a near perfect regular season recording a 24–2 win/loss record which included an undefeated 13-0 home record at the Apollo Stadium, a feat not matched before or since in the NBL. Adelaide's only two losses of the year came away in Round 6 when they lost 89–87 to the West Sydney Westars in Sydney, and in Round 11 against the Coburg Giants in Melbourne when they went down 116–114. Both the Westars and Giants won the games on last second baskets. The 36ers were easily the best offensive team in the league, averaging 116 points per game (11.5 points more per game than the next best team, the Brisbane Bullets), while they had the 5th best defence in the NBL only giving up 96.5 points per game.

6'5" (196 cm) Brisbane Bullets swingman Leroy Loggins was selected as the NBL's Most Valuable Player. Loggins averaged 29.8 points, 8.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 3.3 steals and 1.3 blocks per game in 1986. It was Loggins' 2nd NBL MVP award having also won in 1984.

Ladder

#	Team	Pld	W	L	Last 5	Streak	Home	Away	For	Against	%	Win %
1	Adelaide 36ers	26	24	2	5-0	W12	13-0	11-2	3,016	2,510	120.16%	92.31%
2	Canberra Cannons	26	19	7	4-1	W1	11-2	8-5	2,718	2,520	107.86%	73.11%
3	Brisbane Bullets	26	17	9	3-2	W1	10-3	7-6	2,650	2,485	106.64%	65.38%
4	West Sydney Westars	26	15	12	3-2	L1	8-5	6-7	2,518	2,438	103.28%	53.85%
5	Illawarra Hawks	26	15	11	3-2	W2	10-3	5-8	2,551	2,472	103.20%	57.69%
6	Sydney Supersonics	26	14	11	3-2	W2	8-5	7-6	2,519	2,492	101.08%	57.69%

7	Geelong Supercats	26	14	12	2-3	W1	8-5	6-7	2,875	2,889	99.52%	53.85%
8	Coburg Giants	26	14	12	2-3	W2	9-4	5-8	2,841	2,825	100.57%	53.85%
9	Nunawading Spectres	26	12	14	4-1	L1	8-5	4-9	2,592	2,642	98.11%	46.15%
10	Newcastle Falcons	26	10	16	1-4	L4	6-7	4-9	2,782	2,878	96.66%	38.46%
11	Hobart Devils	26	9	17	2-3	L1	7-6	2-11	2,606	2,704	96.38%	34.62%
12	Perth Wildcats	26	8	18	0-5	L5	6-7	2-11	2,458	2,693	91.27%	30.77%
13	Melbourne Tigers	26	6	20	1-4	L1	5-8	1-12	2,822	3,089	91.36%	23.08%
14	St Kilda Saints	26	5	21	1-4	L2	3-10	2-11	2,742	3,053	89.81%	19.23%

Finals

Main article: 1986 NBL Finals

There were two quarter finals, two semi-finals, and then best of three grand final. All of the Quarter and Semi-finals were sudden death. As the top two teams in the regular season the Adelaide 36ers and Canberra Cannons automatically qualified to host a home Semi-final.

Quarter-Finals

Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue
1 October	Brisbane Bullets	100-82	Sydney Supersonics	Brisbane Entertainment Centre
1 October	West Sydney Westars	86-105	Illawarra Hawks	State Sports Centre

Semi-Finals

Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue
4 October	Canberra Cannons	100-120	Brisbane Bullets	AIS Arena
4 October	Adelaide 36ers	116-92	Illawarra Hawks	Apollo Stadium

Grand Final

After being a single game from 1979-1985, 1986 saw the establishment of the best of three Grand Final series. Game 1 in Brisbane saw a then NBL record attendance of over 11,000. The game went into overtime with the 36ers coming out on top with a 122-119 win. Game 2 saw Adelaide lose its only game at home for the season when the Bullets kept the series alive with a 104-83 win. Adelaide wrapped up its first NBL Championship with a 113-91 win in Game 3 at the Apollo Stadium.

Regular season MVP winner, Brisbane's Leroy Loggins, fouled out of both Games 1 and 3. Adelaide import Power forward Mark Davis was selected as the Grand Final MVP. Davis averaged 25.0 points, 19.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists over the series.

Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Attendance
11 October	Brisbane Bullets	119-122 (OT)	Adelaide 36ers	Brisbane Entertainment Centre	11,000
17 October	Adelaide 36ers	83-104	Brisbane Bullets	Apollo Stadium	3,000
19 October	Adelaide 36ers	113-91	Brisbane Bullets	Apollo Stadium	3,000

1986 NBL statistics leaders


Category	Player	Team	Stat
Points per game	Andrew Gaze	Melbourne Tigers	36.9
Rebounds per game	Mark Davis	Adelaide 36ers	16.1
Assists per game	Damian Keogh	West Sydney Westars	8.0
Steals per game	Steve Carfino	Hobart Devils	3.4
Blocks per game	Willie Simmons	Coburg Giants	3.8
Field goal percentage	Murray Sheils	Hobart Devils	57.3%
Three-point percentage	Paul Stanley	Melbourne Tigers	47.5%
Free throw percentage	Dane Suttle	Geelong Supercats	89.3%

NBL awards

Most Valuable Player: Leroy Loggins, Brisbane Bullets
Most Valuable Player Grand Final: Mark Davis, Adelaide 36ers
Rookie of the Year: Steve Lunardon, Nunawading Spectres
Coach of the Year: Ken Cole, Adelaide 36ers

All NBL Team

#	Player	Team
PG	Steve Carfino	Hobart Devils
SG	Andrew Gaze	Melbourne Tigers
SF	Leroy Loggins	Brisbane Bullets
PF	Jim Foster	Coburg Giants
C	Mark Davis	Adelaide 36ers

NBL seasons

1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17

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