2020 NBL Finals
The 2020 NBL Finals was the championship series of the 2019–20 NBL season and the conclusion of the season. The semi-finals started on 28 February and finished on 5 March 2020, with the following Grand Final starting on 8 March 2020.
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Country | Australia New Zealand | ||
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Dates | 28 February – 15 March 2020 | ||
Season | 2019–20 | ||
Teams | 4 | ||
Defending champions | Perth Wildcats | ||
Champions | Perth Wildcats (10th title) | ||
Runners-up | Sydney Kings | ||
Semifinalists | |||
Matches played | 9 | ||
Winning coach | Trevor Gleeson | ||
MVP | Bryce Cotton, Perth Wildcats | ||
Attendance | 66,000 (7,333 per match) | ||
Top scorer | Bryce Cotton | ||
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The Grand Final series was due to finish by 22 March 2020, however the COVID-19 pandemic forced the series to finish on 15 March 2020. The Perth Wildcats were leading 2–1 over the Sydney Kings in the best-of-five series when the remaining games were cancelled, which led the NBL to award Perth the title.[1]
Format
The finals was played in February and March 2020 between the top four teams of the regular season, consisting of two best-of-three semi-final and one best-of-five final series, where the higher seed hosts the first, third and fifth games.[2]
Impact of the coronavirus pandemic
Prior to Game 2 of the Grand Final, the NBL announced that the remainder of the Grand Final series would be played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with only players, essential personnel and friends and family would be permitted to attend the remaining games, and if any of the players involved were diagnosed with coronavirus, the Grand Final series would be immediately suspended.
Following Game 3, the Sydney Kings informed the NBL that they did not wish to proceed with the remaining two games.
Subsequently, the NBL decided to cancel Games 4 and 5, with the Perth Wildcats leading the series 2–1,[4] and announced that the Wildcats had been declared champions.[5]
Qualification
Qualified teams
Team | Date of qualification |
Round of qualification |
Finals appearance |
Previous appearance |
Previous best performance |
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Sydney Kings | 24 January 2020 | 17 | 15th | 2019 | Champions (2003, 2004, 2005) |
Perth Wildcats | 1 February 2020 | 18 | 34th | 2019 | Champions (1990, 1991, 1995, 2000, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019) |
Cairns Taipans | 8 February 2020 | 19 | 8th | 2017 | Runners-Up (2011, 2015) |
Melbourne United | 16 February 2020 | 20 | 4th | 2019 | Champions (2018) |
Ladder
2019-20 NBL ladder | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ladder progression
- Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top four.
- Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
- Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished last place on the ladder in that round.
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
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Adelaide 36ers | – | 8 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
Brisbane Bullets | 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
Cairns Taipans | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Illawarra Hawks | 6 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
Melbourne United | 5 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
New Zealand Breakers | – | – | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 |
Perth Wildcats | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
South East Melbourne Phoenix | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
Sydney Kings | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Seedings
The NBL tie-breaker system as outlined in the NBL Rules and Regulations states that in the case of an identical win-loss record, the overall points percentage will determine order of seeding.
Playoff Bracket
Semi-finals | Grand final | ||||||||||||||
1 | Sydney Kings | 86 | 80 | 89 | |||||||||||
4 | Melbourne United | 80 | 125 | 87 | |||||||||||
1 | Sydney Kings | 86 | 97 | 96 | X | X | |||||||||
2 | Perth Wildcats | 88 | 85 | 111 | X | X | |||||||||
2 | Perth Wildcats | 108 | 74 | 93 | |||||||||||
3 | Cairns Taipans | 107 | 85 | 82 | |||||||||||
Semi-finals series
(2) Perth Wildcats vs. (3) Cairns Taipans
28 February 2020 18:30 |
Perth Wildcats 108, Cairns Taipans 107 (OT) | ||
Scoring by quarter: 29–20, 16–34, 23–17, 25–22, Overtime: 15–14 | ||
Pts: Cotton 42 Rebs: Kay 9 Asts: Cotton, Kay 6 |
Pts: Machado 32 Rebs: Oliver 18 Asts: Machado 9 | |
Perth leads series, 1–0 |
RAC Arena, Perth, Western Australia Attendance: 10,858 Referees: Vaughan Mayberry, Chris Reid, Nico Fernandes |
1 March 2020 16:00 |
Cairns Taipans 85, Perth Wildcats 74 | ||
Scoring by quarter: 30–16, 17–15, 16–22, 22–21 | ||
Pts: Oliver 22 Rebs: Oliver 19 Asts: Machado 4 |
Pts: Steindl 18 Rebs: Kay 10 Asts: Kay 4 | |
Series tied 1–1 |
Cairns Convention Centre, Cairns, Queensland Attendance: 5,188 Referees: Vaughan Mayberry, Chris Reid, Nico Fernandes |
5 March 2020 18:30 |
Perth Wildcats 93, Cairns Taipans 82 | ||
Scoring by quarter: 25–24, 27–20, 24–22, 17–16 | ||
Pts: White 26 Rebs: Kay 12 Asts: Cotton 8 |
Pts: Oliver 20 Rebs: Oliver 8 Asts: Machado 6 | |
Perth wins series, 2–1 |
RAC Arena, Perth, Western Australia Attendance: 10,215 Referees: Michael Aylen, Damien Lyons, Nico Fernandes |
Regular season series
Cairns won 2–1 in the regular season series:
(1) Sydney Kings vs. (4) Melbourne United
29 February 2020 19:30 |
Sydney Kings 86, Melbourne United 80 | ||
Scoring by quarter: 16–20, 21–23, 23–26, 26–11 | ||
Pts: Tate 23 Rebs: Bogut 10 Asts: Ware 5 |
Pts: Trimble 34 Rebs: Long 11 Asts: Trimble 5 | |
Sydney leads series, 1–0 |
Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, New South Wales Attendance: 13,103 Referees: Michael Aylen, Damien Lyons, James Boyer |
2 March 2020 19:30 |
Melbourne United 125, Sydney Kings 80 | ||
Scoring by quarter: 26–24, 32–7, 45–24, 22–25 | ||
Pts: Long 26 Rebs: Long 11 Asts: McCarron 5 |
Pts: Tate 18 Rebs: Cooks 7 Asts: Louzada 2 | |
Series tied 1–1 |
Melbourne Arena, Melbourne, Victoria Attendance: 6,914 Referees: Michael Aylen, Vaughan Mayberry, James Boyer |
5 March 2020 19:30 |
Sydney Kings 89, Melbourne United 87 | ||
Scoring by quarter: 24–22, 20–28, 23–18, 21–19 | ||
Pts: Tate 20 Rebs: Cooks 9 Asts: Lisch 4 |
Pts: Goulding 19 Rebs: Long 9 Asts: Ili 5 | |
Sydney wins series, 2–1 |
Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, New South Wales Attendance: 8,075 Referees: Vaughan Mayberry, Chris Reid, James Boyer |
Regular season series
Sydney won 3–1 in the regular season series:
Grand Final series
(1) Sydney Kings vs. (2) Perth Wildcats
Game 1
8 March 2020 5:00pm |
Sydney Kings 86, Perth Wildcats 88 | ||
Scoring by quarter: 26–24, 23–28, 24–16, 13–20 | ||
Pts: Bogut 18 Rebs: Bogut 12 Asts: Ware 4 |
Pts: Cotton 32 Rebs: Plumlee 7 Asts: Cotton, Norton 4 | |
Perth leads series, 1–0 |
Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, New South Wales Attendance: 11,647 Referees: Vaughan Mayberry, Michael Aylen, James Boyer |
Game 2
13 March 2020 6:30pm |
Perth Wildcats 85, Sydney Kings 97 | ||
Scoring by quarter: 27–31, 24–26, 22–19, 12–21 | ||
Pts: Cotton 27 Rebs: Plumlee 8 Asts: Cotton, Norton 3 |
Pts: Tate 20 Rebs: Bogut 13 Asts: Newley 5 | |
Series tied 1–1 |
RAC Arena, Perth, Western Australia Attendance: closed event Referees: Michael Aylen, Vaughan Mayberry, Chris Reid |
Game 3
15 March 2020 5:00pm |
Sydney Kings 96, Perth Wildcats 111 | ||
Scoring by quarter: 18–29, 28–27, 24–28, 26–27 | ||
Pts: Tate 20 Rebs: Cooks 9 Asts: Bogut, Bruce 3 |
Pts: Cotton 31 Rebs: Kay 12 Asts: Cotton 7 | |
Perth leads series, 2–1 |
Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, New South Wales Attendance: closed event Referees: Vaughan Mayberry, Michael Aylen, Chris Reid |
Games 4 and 5
Games 4 and 5 were cancelled and the Perth Wildcats declared champions after the Sydney Kings indicated they did not wish to proceed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4][5]
See also
References
- Ward, Roy (19 March 2020). "Bogut hits out at NBL decision to award title to Perth". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
- "Schedule for Hungry Jack's NBL Finals Presented by MG | NBL". nbl.com.au. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- "Remaining NBL Grand Final Series Games Cancelled | NBL". nbl.com.au. NBL. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
- "Perth Wildcats Crowned NBL20 Champions | NBL". nbl.com.au.
- "2019–20 NBL Ladder | NBL". nbl.com.au. Retrieved 22 February 2020.