PART II - Playoff campaign begins in sweep

Adelaide 36ers will celebrate the 25-year anniversary of the 1998/99 NBL championship this Saturday night at home against Melbourne United.

We sat down with 1998/99 championship captain and Larry Sengstock Medalist Brett Maher to reminisce about the pathway to back-to-back titles.

PART 2 – PLAYOFF CAMPAIGN BEGINS
The first-placed 36ers started their playoff campaign with a qualifying final series against arch-rival Perth Wildcats.

Adelaide at that stage had the wood over the Wildcats and had eliminated Perth in two straight games in the 1998 semi-finals to qualify for the grand final series.

“We always had great battles against them and at that stage of the 36ers journey we had the better of them,” Maher said.

The 36ers went to Challenge Stadium in Perth for game one and came home with a 99-87 victory, with six players scoring double-figures, led by Kevin Brooks with 24 points.

Adelaide then again swept Perth out of the playoff race with a commanding 97-80 win in game two at home, Darnell Mee leading the way with 25 points, while Maher added 22 in a dominating display.

SAPWELL’S STUNNER
After sweeping the Wildcats, Adelaide faced a young, up and coming Wollongong Hawks side, which had made it through to the semi-finals as the ‘lucky loser’.

The Hawks were swept 2-0 by Victoria Titans, but after finishing third at the end of the regular season, a qualifying finals series loss to the fourth-placed Titans meant the Hawks made the final four.

Adelaide went to Wollongong full of confidence and the 36ers showed no mercy against the Hawks, opening up a double-digit lead early in the first half to run away with a 93-81 success.

Maher connected on five three-pointers to score a game-high 25 points, while Brooks added 22 points and Mee hauled in 10 rebounds.

But Illawarra came to Adelaide firing in game two, the Hawks with a stunning 30-17 second quarter to take a 10-point lead into the main break.

As much as Adelaide tried to fight back, Illawarra seemed to have all the answers and the 36ers were still trailing by three points with only seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

Enter Sapwell, his three-pointer to force overtime will live on forever in 36ers folklore, but Maher wasn’t all that confident game two was going to an extra five minutes.

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“It all came down to the last play and Rupert found himself open at the top of the key,” Maher said.

“His first shot, I don’t even think it hit iron, it just clanged off the backboard, but luckily it went straight to David Stiff.

“Turn around, bang, chucked it back to him (Sapwell) and of course, he nailed it.”

Maher took over in the extra period, Adelaide holding off a gallant Hawks to sweep the series after a 99-98 win.

“They were a very good team, Brendan Joyce was the coach, they had Sav (Glen Saville), Mat Campbell, some other great players,” Maher said.

“But he (Sapwell) has had some very big plays in grand finals and semi-finals, he came up big for us.”

CHECK BACK ON WEDNESDAY FOR PART III - THE TITANIC BATTLE