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2020 NBL Finals

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2020 NBL Finals
Tournament details
Countries Australia
 New Zealand
Dates28 February – 15 March 2020
Season2019–20
Teams4
Defending championsPerth Wildcats
Final positions
ChampionsPerth Wildcats (10th title)
Runner-upSydney Kings
Semifinalists
Tournament statistics
Matches played9
Attendance66,000 (7,333 per match)
Scoring leader(s)Bryce Cotton
MVPBryce Cotton (Perth Wildcats)
← 2019
2021 →

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.

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

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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

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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

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Qualified teams

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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

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Pos 2019–20 NBL season
Team Pld W L PCT Last 5 Streak Home Away PF PA PP
1 Sydney Kings 28 20 8 71.43% 4–1 W2 12–2 8–6 2642 2472 106.88%
2 Perth Wildcats 28 19 9 67.86% 4–1 W3 11–3 8–6 2529 2409 104.98%
3 Cairns Taipans 28 16 12 57.14% 3–2 L2 11–3 5–9 2587 2547 101.57%
4 Melbourne United 28 15 13 53.57% 4–1 W3 9–5 6–8 2638 2560 103.05%
5 Brisbane Bullets 28 15 13 53.57% 3–2 W1 10–4 5–9 2607 2557 101.96%
6 New Zealand Breakers 28 15 13 53.57% 4–1 W4 9–5 6–8 2514 2468 101.86%
7 Adelaide 36ers 28 12 16 42.86% 1–4 L2 8–6 4–10 2654 2768 95.88%
8 S.E. Melbourne Phoenix 28 9 19 32.14% 0–5 L8 6–8 3–11 2671 2761 96.74%
9 Illawarra Hawks 28 5 23 17.86% 0–5 L10 3–11 2–12 2354 2654 88.70%

Updated to match(es) played on 16 February 2020. Source: NBL.com.au

Ladder progression

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  • 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.
2019–20 NBL season
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
S.E. 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

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  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

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Semifinals 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

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

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28 February 2020 Perth Wildcats 108–107(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
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
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

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Cairns won 2–1 in the regular season series:

18 October 2019 Perth Wildcats 76–99 Cairns Taipans RAC Arena, Perth, Western Australia
23 November 2019 Cairns Taipans 91–84 Perth Wildcats Cairns Convention Centre, Cairns, Queensland
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
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
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

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Sydney won 3–1 in the regular season series:

4 November 2019 Melbourne United 107–104 Sydney Kings Melbourne Arena, Melbourne, Victoria
1 December 2019 Sydney Kings 111–101 Melbourne United Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, New South Wales
14 December 2019 Melbourne United 81–104 Sydney Kings Melbourne Arena, Melbourne, Victoria
26 January 2020 Sydney Kings 106–88 Melbourne United Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, New South Wales

Grand Final series

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

[edit]
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, Cooks 11
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
13 March 2020 Perth Wildcats 83–97
(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
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

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References

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  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. Archived from the original on 22 February 2020. 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. ^ a b "Remaining NBL Grand Final Series Games Cancelled | NBL". nbl.com.au. NBL. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Perth Wildcats Crowned NBL20 Champions | NBL". nbl.com.au. Archived from the original on 19 March 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
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