page_title: National Basketball League (Australia)
section_title: Rivalries
hierarchical_section_title: National Basketball League (Australia) / Rivalries
caption_attribution_description: English: Cairns Convention Centre
context_page_description: The National Basketball League is a men's professional basketball league in Oceania, currently composed of 9 teams: 8 in Australia and 1 in New Zealand. It is the premier professional men's basketball league in Australia and New Zealand.
context_section_description: Adelaide 36ers vs Brisbane Bullets
  Arguably the NBL's oldest rivalry started in 1985 when the Brian Kearle coached Bullets defeated the Ken Cole coached 36ers 121–95 in the 1985 NBL Grand Final, the last single game Grand Final in NBL history. From 1985–1987, the Bullets and 36ers were the two dominant teams in the league and the two clubs met in the 1986 NBL Grand Final, the first NBL GF to be played over a 3-game series. An Australian indoor sports attendance record of around 11,000 saw the first game of the 1986 series played at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre with Adelaide, who had a 24–2 record for the season, winning 122–119 in overtime. Brisbane then handed Adelaide its only home loss of 1986 (the 36ers had gone 13–0 at the Apollo Stadium) when they won Game 2 104–83 before Adelaide won its first NBL title with a 113–91 win at Apollo in Game 3. The teams were evenly matched at the time with players such as Al Green, Mark Davis, Bill Jones, Peter Ali, Darryl Pearce, Mike McKay and Dwayne Nelson (Adelaide) against Brisbane's star import Leroy Loggins, captain Larry Sengstock, guard Ron Radliff, forwards Danny Morseu, Robert Sibley and Chris McGraw, centre John Dorge and (in 1985 and 1986) Cal Bruton. Loggins was the NBL MVP in 1986 and 1987 (and player of the match in the 1985 GF) while Mark Davis was the Grand Final MVP in 1986 and shared the league MVP award with Loggins in 1987.
  The Rivalry between the two clubs again reached fever pitch in the mid-1990s when Bullets guard Shane Heal earned the ire of the Adelaide crowd during Game 3 of the 1994 Elimination final series when he gave the crowd at the Clipsal Powerhouse a 'double bird'. Heal, who had scored 61 points in the last regular season game before scoring 42 points in Game 1 to lead Brisbane to a 116–105 home win over the 36ers, had not actually managed to score a point before half time in Game 2 which the 36ers had won 99–91 before also winning Game 3 101–84. Heal, along with former 36er Mark Bradtke who had left under acrimonious circumstances at the end of 1992 to join the Melbourne Tigers, became public enemy #1 to the 36ers crowd following the incident.
  With the Bullets returning to the NBL in 2016, the rivalry has continued with Adelaide defeating the Bullets in their first encounter at home, the Bullets returning the favour with an away win in Adelaide, while a week later Adelaide spoiled the Bullets regular season return to the Entertainment Centre for the first time since 1997 with a resounding 101–83 win.
  Adelaide 36ers vs Melbourne United
  Apart from the normal South Australian and Victorian rivalry, the 36ers vs United (formerly Tigers) rivalry started at the end of the 1992 season when 36ers centre Mark Bradtke joined Spanish club Juver Murcia following the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain for a short stint. Before he left he signed an agreement with the 36ers stating that he would finish his one-year contract with the club should he return within a certain time. Upon his return to Australia, Bradtke stated his intention not to return to the 36ers with the Tigers rumoured to be actively chasing him. After protracted negotiations with 36ers management that led to the club being prepared to buy out his remaining contract, the NBL stepped in and vetoed the buy out, effectively letting Bradtke leave for Melbourne without the 36ers receiving any compensation for the remainder of his contract with the club. When Bradtke returned to Adelaide with the Tigers on 4 July 1993 he was soundly booed whenever he touched the ball by the 8,000 strong crowd at the Clipsal Powerhouse. The booing of Bradtke and the Andrew Gaze led Tigers continued for a number of seasons.
  A new rivalry has emerged with Julius Hodge, a former 36er, returning to the NBL in November 2009, signing with the Melbourne Tigers. Hodge was a star in Adelaide when he joined the 36ers mid-season the previous two years, however issues relating to alleged missed payments caused him to walk out on the club in early January 2009 on bad terms.
  Hodge returned to his old home court for the first t
caption: Cairns Taipans and Melbourne United at Cairns Convention Centre
exif: {"Image Make": "Apple", "Image Model": "iPhone XS", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "12.1", "Image DateTime": "2018:11:03 20:14:53", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "192", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "S", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[16, 55, 3853/100]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "E", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[145, 46, 3981/100]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "1092932/131047", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[10, 14, 50]", "GPS GPSSpeedRef": "K", "GPS GPSSpeed": "0", "GPS GPSImgDirectionRef": "T", "GPS GPSImgDirection": "1211593/4096", "GPS GPSDestBearingRef": "T", "GPS GPSDestBearing": "1211593/4096", "GPS GPSDate": "2018:11:03", "GPS Tag 0x001F": "65", "Image GPSInfo": "1842", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2246", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "12945", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/100", "EXIF FNumber": "9/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2018:11:03 20:14:53", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2018:11:03 20:14:53", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "66479/10005", "EXIF ApertureValue": "54823/32325", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "54851/13476", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "17/4", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[3049, 1422, 751, 753]", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "681", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "681", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1536", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2048", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "26", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[17/4, 6, 9/5, 12/5]", "EXIF LensMake": "Apple", "EXIF LensModel": "iPhone XS back dual camera 4.25mm f/1.8"}