1997 Melbourne Tigers season

The 1997 NBL season was the 14th season for the Melbourne Tigers in the Australian-based National Basketball League. The club won its first NBL Championship after defeating the Perth Wildcats 2-1 in the Grand Final series in 1993. In 1996, the Tigers lost to cross town rival South East Melbourne Magic in the Grand Final series 1-2. But a year later the reversed the order and won it all for the second time.

1997 Melbourne Tigers season
Head Coach Lindsay Gaze
Captain Andrew Gaze
StadiumRod Laver Arena (14,820)
NBL results
Ladder2nd
FinalsNBL Champions
(Defeated Magic 2-1)
Wins19
Losses11

The Melbourne Tigers played their home games at the 14,820 seat Rod Laver Arena. Following a strong 1996 season where the Tigers finished 21-5, they decided to end long time relationship with import Dave Simmons. In the 1997 season the Tigers signed import Jarvis Lang to start at forward, after early struggles and Mark Bradtke unavailable due to being in the NBA at the start the Tigers started 4-9 and were second last on the NBL ladder. When injuries plaguing Lang and his struggles with learning the tigers offense, the tigers decided to replaced Lang with Marcus Timmons. Marcus Timmons brought an athletic game to Melbourne thrilling the fans with high light dunks, lockdown defense and solid three point shots with an all round game that complemented the other tiger star. Behind Gaze, Copeland, Timmons and the return of the big man in middle Mark Bradtke who missed the first couple games due to being under contact in the NBA, the Tigers turned around there early struggles to finish 19-11 and reached their fourth NBL Grand Final series, winning it all against cross town rivals south east Melbourne Magic. As they finished a historic NBL season not only winning the championship rings they finished the season on a 17-1 run. The tigers had a 13 game win streak to finish regular season and had a record of 16 game winning streak through the season and playoffs.

The 1997 Melbourne Tigers compiled a 19-11 record in the regular season before going 4-1 in the playoffs to claim their second title. Technically the tigers finished 20-10 but the league stripped one of there wins because center Mark Bradtke clearance from the NBA wasn’t properly filled out before they faced the 36ers. When fully healthy, the core of Gaze, Copeland, Timmons and Bradtke were 15-2 and 4-1 in the playoffs. The 1997 Melbourne Tigers is considered one of the greatest teams of all time.

Roster
Melbourne Tigers roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.Nat.NameHt.Wt.
G/F 6 Giddey, Warrick 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 98 kg (216 lb)
F 7 Egan, Daniel 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 100 kg (220 lb)
CG 8 Gordon, Ray 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 80 kg (176 lb)
CG 10 Gaze, Andrew (C) 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 95 kg (209 lb)
F 11 Jeffries, Brett 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 100 kg (220 lb)
G 13 Chapman, Damian (DP) 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 80 kg (176 lb)
G/F 21 Copeland, Lanard (I) 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 88 kg (194 lb)
G 22 Wickstrom, Erik (DP) 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 75 kg (165 lb)
G/F 23 Rainbow, Brett 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 100 kg (220 lb)
F/C 31 Smith, Blair 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) 105 kg (231 lb)
F 40 Timmons, Marcus (I) 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 100 kg (220 lb)
F 44 Lang, Jarvis (I) 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 100 kg (220 lb)
C 50 Bradtke, Mark 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 120 kg (265 lb)
Head coach
  • Lindsey Gaze
Assistant coach(es)
  • Al Westover
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (I) Import player
  • Injured

Depth chart
Pos. Starting 5 Bench 1 Bench 2 Reserves
C Mark Bradtke Blair Smith
PF Marcus Timmons Brett Jeffries Jarvis Lang
SF Warrick Giddey Daniel Egan
SG Lanard Copeland Brett Rainbow
PG Andrew Gaze Ray Gordon Erik Wickstorm Daniel Chapman

Ladder
# Team Played Won Loss Win% Last 5 Streak Home Away For Against Points%
1 South East Melbourne Magic 30 22 8 73.33% 4-1 Won 1 12-3 10-5 2,850 2,662 107.06%
2 Melbourne Tigers 30 19 11 63.33% 5-0 Won 13 9-6 10-5 3,092 3,028 102.11%
3 North Melbourne Giants 30 18 12 60.00% 3-2 Lost 1 9-6 9-6 2,943 2,881 102.15%
4 Perth Wildcats 30 17 13 56.67% 3-2 Won 2 10-5 7-8 2,933 2,825 103.82%
5 Brisbane Bullets1 30 15 15 50.00% 2-3 Lost 3 10-5 5-10 2,731 2,786 98.03%
6 Canberra Cannons1 30 15 15 50.00% 4-1 Won 3 11-4 4-11 2,789 2,773 100.58%
7 Adelaide 36ers2 30 14 16 46.67% 1-4 Lost 4 7-8 7-8 2,973 2,922 101.75%
8 Townsville Suns2 30 14 16 46.67% 0-5 Lost 6 9-6 5-10 3,084 3,015 102.29%
9 Newcastle Falcons3 30 12 18 40.00% 2-3 Lost 1 7-8 5-10 2,995 3,173 94.39%
10 Sydney Kings3 30 12 18 40.00% 1-4 Lost 3 8-7 4-11 2,938 2,991 98.23%
11 Illawarra Hawks 30 7 23 23.33% 2-3 Won 2 4-11 3-12 2,906 3,178 91.44%

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 results in games played between the teams will determine order of seeding.

Player statistics

Regular season
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
No. Player GP GS MPG PPG FG% 3FG% 3P FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TOV
6 Warrick Giddey 303031.243.38.60.000.0.654.63.50.630.131.8
7 Daniel Egan 2408.903.0.48.330.8.600.00.00.80.30.2
8 Ray Gordon 30017.404.77.33.271.0.751.01.00.60.00.5
10 Andrew Gaze 303048.0031.68.52.394.0.864.66.71.40.44.5
11 Brett Jeffries 1107.542.45.30.000.0.751.20.40.00.21.0
13 Damien Chapman 203.711.0.25.000.0.001.00.00.00.00.5
21 Lanard Copeland 303042.0022.8.44.383.0.804.63.12.00.72.4
22 Erik Wickstrom 803.440.30.17.0000.0.000.30.30.00.00.0
23 Brett Rainbow 1104.500.92.44.200.1.250.10.270.00.00.0
31 Blair Smith 281022.306.47.56.000.0.544.72.10.20.60.4
40 Marcus Timmons 171738.8416.82.50.380.6.739.33.71.71.53.1
44 Jarvis Lang 8842.3019.1.50.0000.0.699.12.00.90.94.6
50 Mark Bradtke 252544.2020.36.50.0000.0.6912.62.50.91.82.6

Team leaders
  • Points per game 31.68 – Andrew Gaze
  • Rebounds per game: 12.64 – Mark Bradtke
  • Assists per game: 6.7 – Andrew Gaze
  • Steals per game: 2.0 – Lanard Copeland
  • Blocks per game: 2.1 – Mark Bradtke

Finals
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
No. Player GP GS MPG PPG FG% 3FG% 3PG FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TOV
6 Warrick Giddey 5533.961.4.370.00.0.755.80.20.40.62.0
7 Daniel Egan 404.903.0.48.330.5.600.50.50.00.10.0
8 Ray Gordon 508.843.4.33.271.0.751.01.00.10.60.2
10 Andrew Gaze 5547.2926.20.52.394.2.884.58.20.40.34.0
11 Brett Jeffries 204.602.0.33.000.0.661.00.50.00.01.5
14 Lanard Copeland 5540.0023.8.44.382.4.804.23.82.00.62.4
23 Brett Rainbow 203.261.5.37.200.00.00.50.00.00.00.5
31 Blair Smith 5013.412.0.53.000.0.504.00.30.10.50.0
40 Marcus Timmons 5541.3819.6.50.400.6.7310.42.81.21.43.4
50 Mark Bradtke 5546.0020.60.51.000.0.7411.22.50.71.82.2

Team leaders
  • Points per game: 26.20 – Andrew Gaze
  • Rebounds per game: 11.20 – Mark Bradtke
  • Assists per game: 8.2 – Andrew Gaze
  • Steals per game: 2.4 – Lanard Copeland
  • Blocks per game: 1.8 – Mark Bradtke

Awards

NBL award winners

Season summary

Regular season

The 1997 Melbourne Tigers were determined to go one better and avenge their Grand Final loss to the South East Melbourne magic in 1996. Melbourne decided to let go long time import Dave Simmons after eight years and one championship with the power forward. In Simmons' place they decided to sign import forward Jarvis Lang. Motivated by their loss of the year before, they looked to win it all in 1997.

The Tigers had a slow start to the season, starting off the season at 4-9 there was talk in the herald sun about sacking the team's long term head coach Lindsey Gaze, but soon after the article there were major changes but it wasn’t the head coach who was let go it was the import Jarvis Lang who was dealing with knee soreness and struggling to learn the Melbourne tigers shuffle offense, in turn the tigers turned the season around by winning 16 straight games 17-1 during the end of the regular season and finals. This all was helped by the signing of Marcus Timmons, who added a punch both on the offensive and defensive side of the floor. The Tigers went from second last at 4-9 on the ladder during the start of the season to end up finishing in second place at 19-11 having a run of 13 game winning streak to end the regular season. The tigers were meant to finish the regular season with a 20-10 record but because of some paper work that wasn’t finalized, the league stripped the tigers of a win over in round 3 against the 36ers the tigers were furious that the league stripped them of the win to say the least. When fully healthy, the core of Gaze, Copeland, Timmons and Bradtke were 15-2 and 4-1 in the playoffs making this team one of the most dominant teams all of time. As expected, the team was led by Andrew Gaze, who had one of his best shooting seasons of his career, averaging just on 4 3 point field goals made making 143 for the season, whilst averaging his typical over 30 points per game and over 6 assists. Alongside him in the back court, Lanard Copeland averaged his typical over 22 points for the season, whilst big man Mark Bradtke anchored down low averaging 20 points over 12 rebounds. Warrick Giddey would provide a toughness and defence that he built his reputation on. Key bench players Ray Gordon and Blair Smith were solid players off the bench for the Tigers. After letting go of Jarvis Lang, they signed Marcus Timmons who had a terrific year helping the Tigers on both the offensive and defensive side of the floor averaging over 17 points and over 8 rebounds. Andrew Gaze would be named MVP and both he and Mark Bradtke would be named to All-First NBL team, whilst Andrew Gaze and Mark Bradtke were named to the all star game.

Semi-finals

Along with the 1st placed South East Melbourne Magic, the Tigers were given a bye in the quarter-finals. In their three-game semi-final against the 3rd placed North Melbourne Giants there was little resistance, sweeping them in two games. The Tigers would be moving on to their second consecutive grand final appearance. Andrew Gaze was outstanding in the semi-finals, averaging 36.5 points and 9.5 assists per game. Ahead of the Tigers was cross town rival South East Melbourne Magic, the same team that they had lost to the year before in the deciding game 3.

NBL grand final

The Tigers' opponents in the 1997 NBL Grand Final would again be the South East Melbourne Magic who were the same team that beat the Tigers in the previous grand final in game 3. All 3 of the games would be held at Melbourne Park, game 3 if needed. Similar to the Tigers the Magic swept their previous round of the finals. There was a lot of hype for people to watch the best offensive team in the Melbourne Tigers vs the best defensive team in the South East, Melbourne Magic.

Game 1 was a beat down from the Tigers, who were on full attack from the beginning, never trailing in the game and winning 111-74. Larand Copeland was the game's high scorer with 29, whilst Gaze added 23 and 9 assists. The Melbourne Tigers landed 3 pointers left right and centre whilst the bigs of Bradtke and Timmons controlled the paint. Frank Drimc was top scorer with 12 for the Magic.[1]

Similarly to the year before after dropping the first game, Game 2 was a lot better for the Magic. They started veteran John Dorge over the young Chris Anstey. The Magic bounced back to beat the Tigers, winning the close game to even the series at 1-1 and forcing a game 3 for the second straight year against the Magic and Tigers. The scores were 84-78 with Chris Anstey bouncing back from an average game one dropping 21 points in game 2. Lanard Copeland was the Tigers' high scorer with 28.[2]

For the second straight year the Melbourne Tigers played the South East Melbourne Magic in game 3 to decide who would win the championship. The Melbourne Tigers won the NBL championship with a score line of 93-83 in a tough hard fought game which in the end the tigers took control with the top scorer again being Larand Copeland with 26 points; Gaze added 22 and 9 assists. Lanard Copeland was named Most Valuable Player after having an amazing series averaging 28 points against the best defensive team in the league, there was no one on the magic who could stop lanard. Not only did winning this championship cement the tigers to being one of the greatest teams of all time but also made them one of the greatest clues in NBL history.

To top it all off with Andrew Gaze winning his second championship ring it would cement him to being the goat (greatest player of all time) of the NBL even to this day [3]

Game 1
October 25th
12:00 p.m. EST
[1] Box score
South East Melbourne Magic 74, Melbourne Tigers 111
Scoring by quarter: 20-29, 17-32, 14-17, 23-33
Pts: Frank Drimc 12
Rebs: Frank Drimc 11
Asts: Sam Mackinnon 4		 Pts: Larnad Copeland 29
Rebs: Mark Bradtke 9
Asts: Andrew Gaze 9
Melbourne leads series, 1–0
Melbourne Park
Referees: Bill Mildenhall, Ray Hunt, Scott Butler

Game 2
October 29th
12:00 p.m. EST
[2] Box score
Melbourne Tigers 78, South East Melbourne Magic 84
Scoring by quarter: 25-21, 22-24, 19-20, 12-19
Pts: Lanard Copeland 29
Rebs: Marcus timmons 12
Asts: Andrew Gaze 5		 Pts: Chris Anstey 21
Rebs: Mike Kelly 10
Asts: Sam Mackinnon 6
Series tied, 1–1
Melbourne Park
Referees: Bill Mildenhall, Eddie Crouch, Michael Butler

Game 3
September 1st
12:00 p.m. EST
[3] Box score
South East Melbourne Magic 83, Melbourne Tigers 93
Scoring by quarter: 21-25, 15-25, 19-20, 28-23
Pts: Tony Ronaldson 26
Rebs: Frank Drimc 9
Asts: Sam Mackinnon 6		 Pts: Larnad Copeland 26
Rebs: Marcus Timmons 13
Asts: Andrew Gaze 9
Melbourne wins series and NBL Championship, 2–1
Grand Final MVP: Lanard Copeland (Melbourne)
Melbourne Park
Referees: Bill Mildenhall , Ray Hunt, Scott Butler

References
  1. "National Basketball League (NBL) Match Centre - SportsTG". Websites.sportstg.com. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
  2. "National Basketball League (NBL) Match Centre - SportsTG". Websites.sportstg.com. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
  3. "National Basketball League (NBL) Match Centre - SportsTG". Websites.sportstg.com. Retrieved 2018-06-27.

Sources
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