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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 PERTH WILDCATS

CHALLENGE STADIUM, PERTH, MARCH 12, 2003

THERE have been immeasurable memorable games between Adelaide and Perth since the rivalry began in earnest in 1987.

That was the year Cal Bruton recruited a team for the Wildcats specifically built to beat Adelaide’s 1986 Invincibles and he succeeded in an epic semi-final series.

Naturally the rivalry went to a new level from there and it has never come down.

Some 16 years later in Perth, the Sixers were in a match they were not supposed to win and, from all indications, weren’t going to.

Having lost Game 1 of their 2003 best-of-three quarter-final series 116-119 in Adelaide, Game 2 in Perth loomed as an impossible challenge.

Instead, it turned into a “miracle”.

There has never been anything like it before or since in the history of the National Basketball League.

Down 54-80 with a quarter to play, shooting at 31 per cent and being belted 49-30 on the boards, the 36ers fashioned an incredible 45-11 final period out of pure inner steel.

Perth coach Alan Black watched in stunned and increasing sideline panic as Adelaide produced a last quarter miracle to stay alive with a 99-91 victory at Challenge Stadium.

It was, and remains, the biggest last quarter comeback in league history.

For a final?

It was even more impossible.

Virtually speechless and immensely proud of his Adelaide 36ers, coach Phil Smyth said the last-quarter escape would have done Houdini proud.

“I've never seen anything like it,” Smyth said post-game of the record-breaking 45-11 last quarter turnaround.

“It was just unbelievable.”

Smyth should have known too, having played 356 NBL games, represented Australia 355 times, and been Adelaide's head coach in 202 outings after countless additional state league matches.

“Sometimes in sport you have monumental comebacks but you don't see it a lot,” he said.

“It's a moment you'll always remember and what was most impressive was it showed the character of the group.”

The 36ers did not only seize the momentum but they did it against seemingly ridiculous odds.

To be down by 26 - seven more than the previous best recovery record set 11 years earlier - and to then outscore the Wildcats by 34 in the last period was mind-boggling.

Until then, the 36ers were shooting at 31 per cent and were 8-of-13 from the free throw line.

In the final quarter, they shot 12-of-21 from the floor, 18-of-21 free throws and vacuumed the boards 19-8, the Wildcats' 11 points coming off 4-of-19 shooting, 2-of-6 free throws and compounded by 13 frantic fouls.

Yet this was no traditional Sixers fightback based on a barrage of three-point bombs.

This was a team going into intense fullcourt defensive pressure, forcing a tiring and possibly complacent Perth into error after debilitating error, worse shot after bad shot.

This was no Jekyll-and-Hyde performance from Adelaide.

It was Jekyll-and-Hercules.

“At three-quarter-time in that situation, you're either thinking can you just get it to a respectable score so it's not embarrassing, or let's get it over with and get out of here,” Smyth said.

“Generally though, there's a couple who believe you can still do it.”

This time, Smyth had five who did.

And it quickly became 10.

Paul Rogers had been treated mercilessly and offensively by his former crowd, so much so that even Wildcats co-owners Andrew Vlahov and Luc Longley were privately embarrassed by the extent of the derision for a man who was instrumental in Perth winning the 2000 title.

Rogers had eight points, five rebounds and a block in a potent last quarter, Paul Rees rotating in to keep him fresh and hungry.

Martin Cattalini - the crowd's second favourite fall guy - hit the triple with 1:48 left that broke Perth's back in an eight-point last period.

Dusty Rychart had 10 points and three rebounds while initiating several great defensive plays, as did Charles Thomas who lifted to shut down Ricky Grace when the job needed doing.

Brett Maher, of course, was magnificent.

Having carried his team for three quarters, he too delivered a 10-point last period, Jason Williams and Mark Nash also in the mix which turned the NBL's records on their ear.

Perth had led by as many as 27 points (66-39) during the third quarter!

Sadly though, Adelaide’s monumental and memorable victory was its last in a finals match until this season!

For the record, the fourth quarter countdown went like this:

Three quarter time: 36ers 54 - Wildcats 80

9:09 Perth takes time-out after Brett Maher three completes 10-0 run for 64-80.

7:10 Perth back-up centre Matt Burston scores to keep Wildcats ahead by 16 at 86-70.

6:46 Paul Rogers completes a three-point play to ignite an unprecedented 23-0 avalanche.

5:34 Mark Nash tip-in brings Adelaide to 80-86.

5:21 Maher takes a charge from Rob Feaster and Perth takes another time-out.

4:38 Dusty Rychart strokes two free throws, 82-86.

3:44 Paul Rees ices two free throws, 84-86.

3:25 Feaster clunks two free throws.

2:47 Rychart's jumpshot ties the game.

2:26 Feaster misses two more free throws.

2:08 Rychart's jumpshot gives Adelaide its first lead of the night, 88-86.

1:48 Martin Cattalini hits a 3-pointer on the wing in transition, 91-86. Time-out, Perth.

1:03 Cattalini free throws stretch lead to seven after Perth turnover.

0.53 James Harvey nails a 3-pointer for 93-89, Adelaide.

0.49 Free throws by Charles Thomas and Rychart stretch the lead to 98-89 before a late Stephen Black consolation bucket and a Thomas free throw completes the 45-11 quarter and 99-91 sensation.