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WAYBACK Wednesday was a weekly feature I wrote last season for Adelaide 36ers website, which now you can revisit, see for the first time or completely ignore!

ADELAIDE 36ERS V ILLAWARRA (now WOLLONGONG) HAWKS

APOLLO ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE, OCTOBER 4, 1986

THEY were the best of times, they were the worst of times, to paraphrase Charles Dickens.

It started on a road trip when controversial Adelaide 36ers coach Ken Cole smoked a marijuana cigarette and the news came straight back to the club’s management and the public at large.

In the very season the Sixers were enjoying a dominance no side previously had experienced, disaster had struck from within, Cole initially dismissed for bringing the game/club into disrepute, then the penalty reduced to three games.

That took the 36ers to the end of the regular season, Cole reinstated for the playoffs on the understanding he would not continue after the season ended.

Apollo Stadium was packed tighter than a sardine tin with 3,500 roaring supporters in full voice for the semi final against Illawarra.

But while few could imagine any team being good enough to beat Adelaide in a best-of-three series, in 1986 the semi was a one-and-done KO playoff game with no margin for error.

Illawarra coach David Lindstrom was glad his team only had to get it right once against Adelaide.

“Anything can happen in one game, but the best team usually wins a best-of-three series and there's no doubt in my mind that Adelaide is the best team in the league,” Lindstrom said.

“I believe we can beat Adelaide. We might get lucky or play really well. If we put the ball in the bucket often enough there's no reason why we can't win.”

Cole agreed.

“In many ways this game is the grand final,” he said.

“We know it's sudden death and that everything could be undone in one game.”

Illawarra took Adelaide to overtime at Apollo five months earlier, Geelong the only other team to challenge the 36ers in the same way at the Apollo stronghold where Adelaide had gone unbeaten.

The Hawks played their best game for the season to beat West Sydney by 19 points in their elimination final and had nothing to lose in Adelaide.

Illawarra’s starting five - Jim Bateman, Don Bickett, Ray Borner, Alphonse Hammond and current Hawks’ coach Gordie McLeod – was as good as most and Lindstrom well respected as coach. But the team fell away after its starters.

Forwards Bateman and Bickett and centre Borner did the bulk of the boards work and had 657 rebounds between them.

That, however, was 42 less than Adelaide's duo of captain Bill Jones and power forward Mark Davis.

Al Green, Mike McKay and Darryl Pearce were at their most dangerous from range, giving Adelaide another edge.

Illawarra's US guard Alphonse Hammond could certainly light up but Green usually had his measure.

But then, Illawarra only had to get it right on one night as Adelaide pursued its 20th successive home victory and a berth in the Grand Final against Brisbane.

In the electric atmosphere of the crucible known as Apollo Stadium, the Adelaide 36ers ran out to a frenzied full-house of screaming and adoring supporters.

The Premier, Mr Bannon, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Olsen, local Aussie Rules football legends Neil Kerley, Graham Cornes, Mike Nunan, Bob Hammond, Test cricketer David Hookes, members of the State's sporting teams and other well-known people were packed into the crowd, ready to witness more spectacular Sixers history.

The atmosphere was evident even during the warmup as the cheer-squad incited the crowd to stamp its feet, yell, scream and barrack for its team, and this was BEFORE player introductions.

The noise was at fever pitch as the players finally were acknowledged and then, the moment 3,500 fans had awaited for more than two weeks arrived with the introduction of the flamboyant Cole.

His name prompted a two-minute standing ovation that could have lifted the stadium's namesake off its launching pad at Cape Canaveral and also gave the ideal opportunity to show a new range of T-shirts and windcheaters, all proclaiming simply: “Let Ken Cole Coach the 36ers.”

It was a hot night in Adelaide, for sure.

The 36ers immediately jumped out to a 5-0 start and the Hawks never threatened, Adelaide moving into the grand final with a comprehensive 116-92 win.

In 48 glorious minutes, the 36ers left no doubt they were no longer vulnerable to self-doubt or the big occasion, as had been their undoing a year earlier.

If ever they were going to crack, this was the time to do it, going into the match under enormous pressure.

But Adelaide at no stage looked like succumbing to any tension, leading 26-7 towards the end of the first quarter and maintaining a comfortable cushion the rest of the way.

Cole, worried about the effects his two-week suspension as coach might have on the team, took charge again on the Tuesday and sensed all was not well.

“I've felt all through the year that we are mentally tougher than the other teams, but I was a bit worried early in the week,” he admitted.

“I'm pleased we got our heads back together. We kept our composure really well and didn't show any signs of panic, even after fouls on key players.”

Lindstrom was full of praise for the 36ers.

“If they continue to play like that, I'll put my money on them,” he said.

“Adelaide has the best basketball team in Australia. I don't think they've got a weakness.

“When you dig a hole like we did early, it's difficult to get out of it.”

Adelaide's game plan was simple and effective, Jones on Borner, Peter Ali shutting down Bateman and Green doing a number on Hammond.

Illawarra's three key scorers were completely shut out of the game, Hammond and Borner scoreless in the first quarter and Bateman with only one point as Adelaide led 28-14 at the first break.

The Hawks made no inroad into Adelaide's lead in the second half, despite not having to contend with either Davis or Jones for most of the third quarter after each had run into foul trouble with four apiece.

Green was the stand-out with 27 points at 58 per cent, eight rebounds but, more importantly, containing Hammond to eight points.

Darryl Pearce put the game on “ice”, sticking 28 points at 55 per cent, including six 3-pointers.

Relishing his extended court-time, Ali played probably his best match of the season as Adelaide emphatically kept its appointment with the Bullets for the 1986 Championship series.

Lindstrom's assessment of the 36ers would prove prophetic there.