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 and being cancelled on 15 March 2020.

2020 NBL Finals

Country	Australia New Zealand
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	Cairns Taipans Melbourne United
Matches played	9
Winning coach	Trevor Gleeson
MVP	Bryce Cotton, Perth Wildcats
Attendance	66,000 (7,333 per match)
Top scorer	Bryce Cotton
← 2019 2021 →

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 COVID-19 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. In the event of a player being diagnosed with COVID-19, the Grand Final series would be immediately suspended.[3]

Following Game 3, the Sydney Kings informed the NBL that they did not wish to proceed with the remaining two games.[4] Subsequently, the NBL decided to cancel Games 4 and 5. With the Perth Wildcats leading the series 2–1,[5] the NBL announced that the Wildcats were declared the champions.[6]

Qualification

Qualified teams

Team	Date of qualification	Round of qualification	Finals appearance	Previous appearance	Previous best performance
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	25th	2019	Champions (1993, 1997, 2006, 2008, 2018)

Ladder

2019-20 NBL ladder
Ladder	Information
Pos. Nat. Name Pld. W. L. Last 5 Streak Home Away For Against Pts % Win % 1 Sydney Kings 28 20 8 4-1 W2 12-2 8-6 2642 2472 106.88% 71.43% 2 Perth Wildcats (RC) 28 19 9 4-1 W3 11-3 8-6 2529 2409 104.98% 67.86% 3 Cairns Taipans 28 16 12 3-2 L2 11-3 5-9 2587 2547 101.57% 57.14% 4 Melbourne United 28 15 13 4-1 W3 9-5 6-8 2638 2560 103.05% 53.57% 5 Brisbane Bullets 28 15 13 3-2 W1 10-4 5-9 2607 2557 101.96% 53.57% 6 NZ Breakers 28 15 13 4-1 W4 9-5 6-8 2514 2468 101.86% 53.57% 7 Adelaide 36ers 28 12 16 1-4 L2 8-6 4-10 2654 2768 95.88% 42.86% 8 SEM Phoenix (NT) 28 9 19 0-5 L8 6-8 3-11 2671 2761 96.74% 32.14% 9 Illawarra Hawks 28 5 23 0-5 L10 3-11 2-12 2354 2654 88.70% 17.86%	Total Rounds 20 Games per Team 28 Total Games 126 Legend (NT) New Team (RC) Reigning Champion Updated: 16 February 2020[7]

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
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

1. Sydney Kings
2. Perth Wildcats
3. Cairns Taipans
4. Melbourne United

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
								2	Perth Wildcats	88	85	111
	2	Perth Wildcats	108	74	93
	3	Cairns Taipans	107	85	82

Semi-finals series

(2) Perth Wildcats vs. (3) Cairns Taipans

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28 February 2020	Perth Wildcats	108–1070(OT) (Series: Perth leads series, 1–0)	Cairns Taipans	RAC Arena, Perth, Western Australia
18:30	Scoring by quarter: 29–20, 16–34, 23–17, 25–22, Overtime: 15–14
ESPN SBS Viceland	Pts: Cotton 42 Rebs: Kay 9 Asts: Cotton, Kay 6	boxscore broadcast report	Pts: Machado 32 Rebs: Oliver 18 Asts: Machado 9	Attendance: 10,858 Referees: Vaughan Mayberry, Chris Reid, Nico Fernandes

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1 March 2020	Cairns Taipans	85–74 (Series: Series tied 1–1)	Perth Wildcats	Cairns Convention Centre, Cairns, Queensland
16:00	Scoring by quarter: 30–16, 17–15, 16–22, 22–21
ESPN SBS Viceland	Pts: Oliver 22 Rebs: Oliver 19 Asts: Machado 4	boxscore broadcast report	Pts: Steindl 18 Rebs: Kay 10 Asts: Kay 4	Attendance: 5,188 Referees: Vaughan Mayberry, Chris Reid, Nico Fernandes

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5 March 2020	Perth Wildcats	93–82 (Series: Perth wins series, 2–1)	Cairns Taipans	RAC Arena, Perth, Western Australia
18:30	Scoring by quarter: 25–24, 27–20, 24–22, 17–16
ESPN SBS Viceland	Pts: White 26 Rebs: Kay 12 Asts: Cotton 8	boxscore broadcast report	Pts: Oliver 20 Rebs: Oliver 8 Asts: Machado 6	Attendance: 10,215 Referees: Michael Aylen, Damien Lyons, Nico Fernandes

Regular season series

Cairns won 2–1 in the regular season series:

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18 October 2019	Perth Wildcats	76–99	Cairns Taipans	RAC Arena, Perth, Western Australia

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23 November 2019	Cairns Taipans	91–84	Perth Wildcats	Cairns Convention Centre, Cairns, Queensland

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12 December 2019	Cairns Taipans	84–88	Perth Wildcats	Cairns Convention Centre, Cairns, Queensland

(1) Sydney Kings vs. (4) Melbourne United

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29 February 2020	Sydney Kings	86–80 (Series: Sydney leads series, 1–0)	Melbourne United	Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, New South Wales
19:30	Scoring by quarter: 16–20, 21–23, 23–26, 26–11
ESPN SBS Viceland	Pts: Tate 23 Rebs: Bogut 10 Asts: Ware 5	boxscore broadcast report	Pts: Trimble 34 Rebs: Long 11 Asts: Trimble 5	Attendance: 13,103 Referees: Michael Aylen, Damien Lyons, James Boyer

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2 March 2020	Melbourne United	125–80 (Series: Series tied 1–1)	Sydney Kings	Melbourne Arena, Melbourne, Victoria
19:30	Scoring by quarter: 26–24, 32–7, 45–24, 22–25
ESPN SBS Viceland	Pts: Long 26 Rebs: Long 11 Asts: McCarron 5	boxscore broadcast report	Pts: Tate 18 Rebs: Cooks 7 Asts: Louzada 2	Attendance: 6,914 Referees: Michael Aylen, Vaughan Mayberry, James Boyer

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5 March 2020	Sydney Kings	89–87 (Series: Sydney wins series, 2–1)	Melbourne United	Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, New South Wales
19:30	Scoring by quarter: 24–22, 20–28, 23–18, 21–19
ESPN SBS Viceland	Pts: Tate 20 Rebs: Cooks 9 Asts: Lisch 4	boxscore broadcast report	Pts: Goulding 19 Rebs: Long 9 Asts: Ili 5	Attendance: 8,075 Referees: Vaughan Mayberry, Chris Reid, James Boyer

Regular season series

Sydney won 3–1 in the regular season series:

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4 November 2019	Melbourne United	107–104	Sydney Kings	Melbourne Arena, Melbourne, Victoria

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1 December 2019	Sydney Kings	111–101	Melbourne United	Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, New South Wales

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14 December 2019	Melbourne United	81–104	Sydney Kings	Melbourne Arena, Melbourne, Victoria

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26 January 2020	Sydney Kings	106–88	Melbourne United	Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, New South Wales

Grand Final series

(1) Sydney Kings vs. (2) Perth Wildcats

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8 March 2020	Sydney Kings	86–88 (Series: Perth leads series, 1–0)	Perth Wildcats	Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, New South Wales
5:00pm	Scoring by quarter: 26–24, 23–28, 24–16, 13–20
ESPN SBS Viceland	Pts: Bogut 18 Rebs: Bogut 12 Asts: Ware 4	boxscore broadcast report	Pts: Cotton 32 Rebs: Plumlee 7 Asts: Cotton, Norton 4	Attendance: 11,647 Referees: Vaughan Mayberry, Michael Aylen, James Boyer

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13 March 2020	Perth Wildcats	85–97 (Series: Series tied 1–1)	Sydney Kings	RAC Arena, Perth, Western Australia
6:30pm	Scoring by quarter: 27–31, 24–26, 22–19, 12–21
ESPN SBS Viceland	Pts: Cotton 27 Rebs: Plumlee 8 Asts: Cotton, Norton 3	boxscore broadcast report	Pts: Tate 20 Rebs: Bogut 13 Asts: Newley 5	Attendance: closed event Referees: Michael Aylen, Vaughan Mayberry, Chris Reid

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15 March 2020	Sydney Kings	96–111 (Series: Perth leads series, 2–1)	Perth Wildcats	Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, New South Wales
5:00pm	Scoring by quarter: 18–29, 28–27, 24–28, 26–27
ESPN SBS Viceland	Pts: Tate 20 Rebs: Cooks 9 Asts: Bogut, Bruce 3	boxscore broadcast report	Pts: Cotton 31 Rebs: Kay 12 Asts: Cotton 7	Attendance: closed event Referees: Vaughan Mayberry, Michael Aylen, Chris Reid

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.[5][6]

See also

• 2019–20 NBL season

References

1. Ward, Roy (19 March 2020). "Bogut hits out at NBL decision to award title to Perth". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
2. "Schedule for Hungry Jack's NBL Finals Presented by MG | NBL". nbl.com.au. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
3. Ward, Roy (13 March 2020). "NBL grand final series to be completed behind closed doors". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
4. Uluc, Olgun (21 March 2020). "NBL finals 2020: Sydney Kings vs Perth Wildcats inside story, Paul Smith, Andrew Bogut, Larry Kestelman, Grand Final". Fox Sports. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
5. "Remaining NBL Grand Final Series Games Cancelled | NBL". nbl.com.au. NBL. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
6. "Perth Wildcats Crowned NBL20 Champions | NBL". nbl.com.au.
7. "2019–20 NBL Ladder | NBL". nbl.com.au. Retrieved 22 February 2020.