1986 Adelaide 36ers season

(From the squad at the end of the 1985 NBL season)

(From the squad at the end of the 1985 NBL season)

Updated to match(es) played on 28 September 1986. Source: NBL.com.au

• All home games were broadcast on Channel 10

One Game Semi-final, 3 Game Grand Final

• Points per game: 25.7 - Mark Davis
• Rebounds per game: 15.8 - Mark Davis
• Assists per game: 3.7 - Al Green and Darryl Pearce
• Steals per game: 1.2 - Bill Jones
• Blocks per game: 2.1 - Bill Jones

• Points per game: 24.3 - Darryl Pearce
• Rebounds per game: 18.0 - Mark Davis
• Assists per game: 4.6 - Darryl Pearce
• Steals per game: 1.8 - Peter Ali
• Blocks per game: 2.5 - Bill Jones

All-NBL First team – Mark Davis (Centre)
Grand Final MVP – Mark Davis
NBL Coach of the Year – Ken Cole
NBL Leading Rebounder – Mark Davis (482 @ 16.1 pg)
Adelaide 36ers Club MVP – Mark Davis

The 1986 Adelaide 36ers were determined to go one better and avenge their Grand Final loss to the Brisbane Bullets in 1985. Former import player in 1984 and now Australian citizen Dwayne Nelson rejoined the club who were on the lookout for a player who could handle Brisbane's star import Leroy Loggins. Nelson, who had averaged 25.9 points and 10.1 rebounds in 24 games in 1984, adjusted well to his new role as a bench player backing up both Mark Davis and Peter Ali.

The 36ers enjoyed their best ever year when they went through the regular season with a league leading 24–2 record which included winning all 13 games played at the Apollo Stadium, the first time in NBL history that a team had gone through a regular season undefeated on their home court. As expected, the team was led by its Twin Towers import front court combination of centre Bill Jones and Power forward Mark Davis and along with the tough defence of 1980 Olympic Games forward Peter Ali and Dwayne Nelson, plus the scoring ability of guards Al Green, Darryl Pearce and Mike McKay, the 36ers emerged as the league's dominant team.

Adelaide only lost two games for the season, both away from home and both came from last second shots against the West Sydney Westars and Coburg Giants respectively. Those two losses ultimately denied Adelaide a perfect season by no more than a couple of seconds, but earned the team the nickname "The Invincibles", given to them by Adelaide's multi-award-winning basketball journalist Boti Nagy. The team generally dominated on his home court at the Apollo Stadium which was regularly sold-out for games. The closest any team came to beating Adelaide at home was on 30 August against the Geelong Cats. With 13 seconds remaining, a 3-pointer from Cats veteran Boomers forward Ian Davies gave the visitors a 119–118 lead and it appeared might Adelaide would lose at home for the first time. Following a quick inbound pass, Mike McKay brought the ball down court and managed to get a pass through double team defence to an open Darryl Pearce who put up a 3-point shot with only 2 seconds remaining that missed. Captain Bill Jones flew high to grab the rebound and in one motion tip-dunked the ball to give the 36ers a 120–119 win on the buzzer.[1]

On their home court, the 36ers had an average score of 123–92 while their average away score was 109–96. This gave the team an average score of 116–94 for the regular season.

Despite the on court success, there was controversy at the club late in the season with coach Ken Cole suspended by the club board over his smoking of marijuana joint during a road trip to Brisbane, a situation that Cole was open about and never denied, stating publicly that he was recommended it by his family doctor as a way of dealing with health problems and physical pain. After the story was broken in one of Adelaide's daily newspaper's at the time, The Advertiser, Cole was suspended by the club for the last two games and the team was coached by his assistant Don Shipway. The story was broken by journalist Andrew Both who was in Shipway's hotel room following their win over the Bullets when Cole asked those present if they minded him smoking the joint since he didn't drink. Also in the room were Shipway and players Peter Ali, Darryl Pearce and Scott Ninnis who were only drinking alcohol. Before the playoffs, the players (who to this day believe that Both was made to write the story) got together and went to the club board demanding Cole's return, going so far as to tell the board that they would refuse to play unless Cole was coaching them. Under immense pressure from not only the players but the general public of Adelaide who supported Cole despite his admitted use of the drug, the club board relented and Cole returned for the 1986 playoffs, though it was known that he would be sacked over the incident at the end of the season regardless of a championship win or not. During the year there had been rumours that the club board had not been happy with Cole despite the team's success, with Cole called before the club board after the tight home win over Geelong (2 weeks before the marijuana incident) to explain why the team wasn't dominating like they had hoped (the 36ers had an 18–2 record following the win over Geelong).[2]

Along with the 2nd placed Canberra Cannons, the 36ers were given a bye in the Quarter-finals. In their single game Semi-final against the 4th placed Illawarra Hawks, and with Ken Cole back as coach (when he was introduced to the crowd they gave Cole a 3-minute standing ovation showing their support), the 36ers as expected never gave the Hawks a look-in despite a heroic 28 points and 14 rebounds from their 6'10" (208 cm) Australian Boomers centre Ray Borner, with the 36ers leading 28–14 at the end of the first 12-minute period. Led by Darryl Pearce with 28 points and 7 assists, Al Green with 27 points and 8 rebounds, and with strong contributions from Mark Davis (17 points and 14 rebounds) and Bill Jones with 12 points and 13 rebounds, Adelaide ran out easy 116–92 winners to book their place in the club's second straight Grand Final.