2018 NBL Finals

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2018 NBL Finals

Dates	3–31 March 2018
Season	2017–18
Teams	4
Champions	Melbourne United (5th title)
Runners-up	Adelaide 36ers (8th finals appearance)
Semifinalists	Perth Wildcats New Zealand Breakers
← 2017 2019 →

The 2018 NBL Finals were the championship series of the 2017–18 NBL season and the conclusion of the season. The semi-finals started on 3 March and ended 9 March 2018. The Grand Final series started on 16 March and ended on 31 March 2018. Melbourne United won its fifth NBL championship title.

Format[]

The 2017–18 National Basketball League Finals will be played in March 2018 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.

Qualification[]

Qualified teams[]

Team	Date of qualification	Round of qualification	Finals appearance	Previous appearance	Previous best performance
Melbourne United	2 February 2018	17	23rd	2016	Champions (1993, 1997, 2006, 2008)
Adelaide 36ers	4 February 2018	17	25th	2017	Champions (1986, 1998, 1999, 2002)
Perth Wildcats	4 February 2018	17	32nd	2017	Champions (1990, 1991, 1995, 2000, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2017)
New Zealand Breakers	4 February 2018	17	8th	2016	Champions (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015)

Ladder[]

Pos	2017–18 NBL season v t
	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	Last 5	Streak	Home	Away	PF	PA	PP
1	Melbourne United	28	20	8	71.43%	4–1	L1	11–3	9–5	2434	2298	105.92%
2	Adelaide 36ers	28	18	10	64.29%	3–2	W3	10–4	8–6	2654	2527	105.03%
3	Perth Wildcats	28	16	12	57.14%	2–3	W1	9–5	7–7	2388	2271	105.15%
4	New Zealand Breakers	28	15	13	53.57%	1–4	L4	9–5	6–8	2364	2387	99.04%
5	Illawarra Hawks	28	12	16	42.86%	2–3	W2	7–7	5–9	2474	2539	97.44%
6	Cairns Taipans1	28	11	17	39.29%	1–4	L1	8–6	3–11	2215	2281	97.11%
7	Sydney Kings1	28	11	17	39.29%	4–1	W4	6–8	5–9	2418	2504	96.57%
8	Brisbane Bullets	28	9	19	32.14%	1–4	L3	6–8	3–11	2347	2487	94.37%

Updated to match(es) played on 18 February 2018. Source: NBL.com.au

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
	Adelaide 36ers	4	4	3	3	4	4	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	2	2	3	2	2
	Brisbane Bullets	7	7	6	6	7	6	7	7	6	5	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	8
	Cairns Taipans	1	3	4	4	6	7	5	5	5	6	5	6	6	6	5	6	6	5	6
	Illawarra Hawks	5	8	7	8	5	5	6	6	7	7	7	5	5	5	6	5	5	6	5
	Melbourne United	3	2	5	5	3	3	4	4	3	3	3	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
	New Zealand Breakers	8	5	1	2	1	1	1	1	2	2	1	3	3	3	3	4	2	4	4
	Perth Wildcats	2	1	2	1	2	2	2	2	1	1	2	1	1	2	4	3	4	3	3
	Sydney Kings	6	6	8	7	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	7

Seedings[]

1. Melbourne United
2. Adelaide 36ers
3. Perth Wildcats
4. New Zealand Breakers

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.

Bracket[]

	Semi-finals							Grand Final
	1	Melbourne United	88	88	X
	4	New Zealand Breakers	77	86	X
								1	Melbourne United	107	95	101	81	100
								2	Adelaide 36ers	96	110	98	90	82
	2	Adelaide 36ers	109	89	X
	3	Perth Wildcats	74	88	X

Semi-finals series[]

(1) Melbourne United vs (4) New Zealand Breakers[]

Regular season series

Tied 2–2 in the regular season series; 351-346 points differential to New Zealand:

(2) Adelaide 36ers vs (3) Perth Wildcats[]

Regular season series

Tied 2–2 in the regular season series; 367-360 points differential to Perth:

Grand Final series[]

(1) Melbourne United vs (2) Adelaide 36ers[]

Starters: Pts Reb Ast SG 43 Chris Goulding 23 4 1 PF 42 Tai Wesley 14 9 3 SF 23 Casey Prather 19 11 1 PG 21 Casper Ware 23 1 2 C 3 Josh Boone 10 12 1 Reserves: PF 13 David Andersen 0 1 0 SF 20 David Barlow 3 5 0 PG 8 Kyle Adnam 0 0 0 C 22 Majok Majok 0 0 0 C 14 Tohi Smith-Milner 0 0 0 SF 9 Craig Moller 2 1 0 PG 7 Peter Hooley 6 1 2 Head coach: Dean Vickerman

Melbourne Adelaide 2017/18 NBL champions Melbourne United (5th title)

Starters: Pts Reb Ast C 21 Daniel Johnson 17 8 2 PF 55 Mitch Creek 15 10 1 SG 20 Nathan Sobey 7 9 3 SF 10 Ramone Moore 10 2 7 PG 12 Shannon Shorter 20 4 3 Reserves: PG 7 Brendan Teys 0 0 0 PG 19 0 0 0 PG 8 0 0 0 C 1 Matt Hodgson 2 0 0 PF 13 Majok Deng 1 1 0 SF 22 Anthony Drmic 10 3 0 Head coach: Joey Wright

See also[]

• 2017–18 NBL season

References[]