# 2018 NBL Finals

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 vte | 2017–18 NBL season vte | 2017–18 NBL season vte | 2017–18 NBL season vte | 2017–18 NBL season vte | 2017–18 NBL season vte | 2017–18 NBL season vte | 2017–18 NBL season vte | 2017–18 NBL season vte | 2017–18 NBL season vte | 2017–18 NBL season vte | 2017–18 NBL season vte |
| Pos | 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 Taipans$^1$ | 28 | 11 | 17 | 39.29% | 1–4 | L1 | 8–6 | 3–11 | 2215 | 2281 | 97.11% |
| 7 | Sydney Kings$^1$ | 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.
2017–18 NBL season vte :
| 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

* Melbourne United
* Adelaide 36ers
* Perth Wildcats
* 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.

### Playoff bracket

| Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Grand Final | Grand Final | Grand Final | Grand Final | Grand Final | Grand Final | Grand Final |
| 1 | Melbourne United | 88 | 88 | X | | | | | | | |
| 4 | New Zealand Breakers | 77 | 86 | 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 | 2 | Adelaide 36ers | 96 | 110 | 98 | 90 | 82 |
| 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: | Starters: | 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: | Reserves: | 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: | Starters: | 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: | Reserves: | Reserves: | | | |
| PG | 7 | Brendan Teys | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| PG | 19 | Adam Doyle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| PG | 8 | Nelson Larkins | 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 ||||||