1989 NBL season explained

1989 NBL season
League:	National Basketball League
Sport:	Basketball
Duration:	20 April – 24 September 1989 29 September – 8 October 1989 (Semi-finals) 14 – 20 October 1989 (Grand Finals)
No Of Teams:	13
Season:	Regular season
Season Champs:	Canberra Cannons
Top Scorer:	Andrew Gaze (Melbourne)
Top Scorer Link:	List of National Basketball League (Australia) annual scoring leaders
Mvp:	Scott Fisher (North Melbourne)
Mvp Link:	NBL (Australia) Most Valuable Player
Finals:	Finals
Finals Link:	1989 NBL Finals
Finals Champ:	North Melbourne Giants (1st title)
Finals Runner-Up:	Canberra Cannons
Finals Mvp:	Scott Fisher (North Melbourne)
Finals Mvp Link:	NBL (Australia) Most Valuable Player – Grand Final
Seasonslist:	List of NBL seasons
Seasonslistnames:	NBL
Prevseason Link:	1988 NBL season
Prevseason Year:	1988
Nextseason Link:	1990 NBL season
Nextseason Year:	1990

The 1989 NBL season was the 11th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of 13 teams contest the league.

Clubs

Club	Location	Home Venue	Capacity	Founded	Head Coach
Adelaide 36ers	Adelaide, South Australia	Apollo Stadium	3,000	1982	Gary Fox
Brisbane Bullets	Brisbane, Queensland	Brisbane Entertainment Centre	13,500	1979	Brian Kerle
Canberra Cannons	Canberra, Australian Capital Territory	AIS Arena	5,200	1979	Steve Breheny*
Eastside Spectres	Melbourne, Victoria	Burwood Stadium	2,000	1979	Brian Goorjian
Geelong Supercats	Geelong, Victoria	Geelong Arena	2,000	1982	Barry Barnes^[1]
Hobart Tassie Devils	Hobart, Tasmania	Derwent Entertainment Centre	5,400	1983	Tom Maher
Illawarra Hawks	Wollongong, New South Wales	Illawarra Basketball Stadium	2,000	1979	Dave Lindstrom
Melbourne Tigers	Melbourne, Victoria	The Glass House	7,200	1931	Lindsay Gaze
Newcastle Falcons	Newcastle, New South Wales	Broadmeadow Basketball Stadium	2,200	1979	Ken Cole
North Melbourne Giants	Melbourne, Victoria	The Glass House	7,200	1980	Bruce Palmer
Perth Wildcats	Perth, Western Australia	Perth Superdome	4,500	1982	Alan Black
Sydney Kings	Sydney, New South Wales	State Sports Centre	5,006	1988	Bob Turner
Westside Saints	Melbourne, Victoria	Keilor Stadium	2,000	1979	Colin Cadee

NOTES

• Steve Breheny was suspended by the league following the semi-finals series between Canberra and Sydney for allegedly headbutting Kings player Damian Keogh.^[2] Assistant Coach Andy Campbell was in charge of the team for the Grand Final Series.^[3]

Regular season

The 1989 regular season took place over 22 rounds between 20 April 1989 and 16 September 1989.

Round 1

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Round 2

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Round 3

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Round 4

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Round 5

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Round 6

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Round 7

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Round 8

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Round 9

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Round 10

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Round 11

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Round 13

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Round 14

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Round 15

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Round 16

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Round 17

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Round 18

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Round 19

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Round 20

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Round 21

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Round 22

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Ladder

This is the ladder at the end of season, before the finals. The top 6 teams qualified for the finals series.

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.

¹Perth Wildcats won Head-to-Head (2-0).

²Head-to-Head between Sydney Kings and Adelaide 36ers (1-1). Sydney Kings won For and Against (+7).

³Head-to-Head between Westside Saints and Hobart Tassie Devils (1-1). Westside Saints won For and Against (+5).

Finals

See main article: 1989 NBL Finals.

Playoff bracket

There were two best of three Elimination finals, four best of three Semifinals, and then best of three grand final series.

Elimination Finals

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Semifinals

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Grand Final

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1989 NBL statistics leaders

Category	Player	Team	Stat
Points per game			34.5
Rebounds per game			17.0
Assists per game			7.2
Steals per game			3.3
Blocks per game			3.2
Free throw percentage			87.5%

NBL awards

• Most Valuable Player: Scott Fisher, North Melbourne Giants
• Most Valuable Player Grand Final: Scott Fisher, North Melbourne Giants
• Best Defensive Player: Phil Smyth, Canberra Cannons
• Most Improved Player: Mark Bradtke, Adelaide 36ers
• Rookie of the Year: Justin Withers, Illawarra Hawks
• Coach of the Year: Lindsay Gaze, Melbourne Tigers

All NBL Team

width=25		width=150	Player	width=150	Team
PG		Canberra Cannons
SG		Eastside Spectres
SF		Melbourne Tigers
PF		North Melbourne Giants
C		Adelaide 36ers

References

1. Web site: Honour Boards.
2. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Web site: NBL 1989 Basketball Highlights (02of13) *PLAYS OF THE YEAR - ALL STAR GAME - MAZDA SLAM DUNKS* (VCD) . YouTube.
3. Web site: live. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/-RNGnSIy-vo. 2021-12-05. NBL 1989 Basketball Highlights (11of13) GAME 1 Finals Nth. Melb. Giants vs. Canberra Cannons (VCD) . YouTube.