1997 Melbourne Tigers season

Australian basketball team season April 2022 March 2026 June 2018 1997 Melbourne Tigers #FFDF00 #FF0000 #000000 19 11 AUS Lindsay Gaze AUS Andrew Gaze Melbourne Park 2nd Champions(Defeated Magic 2–1) 1996 1998 The 1997 NBL season was the 14th season for the Melbourne Tigers in the Australian-based National Basketball League. The club won its first NBL Championship after defeating the Perth Wildcats 2-1 in the Grand Final series in 1993. In 1996, the Tigers lost to cross town rival South East Melbourne Magic in the Grand Final series 1-2. A year later, they won for the second time. The Melbourne Tigers played their home games at the 14,820 seat Rod Laver Arena. Roster NBL n 1997 Melbourne Tigers SF/SG 6 AUS Warrick Giddey 1.96 98 PF/SF 7 AUS Daniel Egan basketball 1.98 100 PG/SG 8 AUS Ray Gordon 1.91 80 SG/PG 10 AUS Andrew Gaze 2.01 95 C F 11 AUS Brett Jeffries 2.00 100 G 13 AUS Damian Chapman basketball 1.90 80 DP G/F 21 USA Lanard Copeland 1.98 88 I G 22 AUS Erik Wickstrom 1.90 75 DP G/F 23 AUS Brett Rainbow 1.93 100 F/C 31 AUS Blair Smith basketball 2.04 105 F 40 USA Marcus Timmons 2.02 100 I F 44 USA Jarvis Lang 2.01 100 I C 50 AUS Mark Bradtke 2.08 120 AUS Lindsey Gaze AUS Al Westover y Depth chart FF0000 FFDF00 000000 Reserves Mark Bradtke Blair Smith Marcus Timmons Brett Jeffries Jarvis Lang Warrick Giddey Daniel Egan Lanard Copeland Brett Rainbow Andrew Gaze Ray Gordon Erik Wickstorm Daniel Chapman Ladder 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 results in games played between the teams will determine order of seeding. Player statistics Regular season + No. Player GP GS MPG PPG FG% 3FG% 3P FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TOV 6 Warrick Giddey 30 30 31.24 3.38 .60 .00 0.0 .65 4.6 3.5 0.63 0.13 1.8 7 Daniel Egan 24 0 8.90 3.0 .48 .33 0.8 .60 0.0 0.0 0.8 0.30.2 8 Ray Gordon 30 0 17.40 4.77 .33 .27 1.0 .75 1.0 1.0 0.6 0.0 0.5 10 Andrew Gaze 30 30 48.00 31.68 .52 .39 4.0 .86 4.6 6.7 1.4 0.4 4.5 11 Brett Jeffries 11 0 7.54 2.45 .30 .00 0.0 .75 1.2 0.4 0.0 0.2 1.0 13 Damien Chapman 2 0 3.71 1.0 .25 .00 0.0 .00 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 21 Lanard Copeland 30 30 42.00 22.8 .44 .38 3.0 .80 4.6 3.1 2.0 0.7 2.4 22 Erik Wickstrom 8 0 3.44 0.30 .17 .000 0.0 .00 0.3 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 23 Brett Rainbow 11 0 4.50 0.92 .44 .20 0.1 .25 0.1 0.27 0.0 0.0 0.0 31 Blair Smith Blair Smith 28 10 22.30 6.47 .56 .00 0.0 .54 4.7 2.1 0.2 0.6 0.4 40 Marcus Timmons 17 17 38.84 16.82 .50 .38 0.6 .73 9.3 3.7 1.7 1.5 3.1 44 Jarvis Lang 8 8 42.30 19.1 .50 .000 0.0 .69 9.1 2.0 0.9 0.9 4.6 50 Mark Bradtke 25 25 44.20 20.36 .50 .000 0.0 .69 12.6 2.5 0.9 1.8 2.6 Team leaders Points per game 31.68 – Andrew Gaze Rebounds per game: 12.64 – Mark Bradtke Assists per game: 6.7 – Andrew Gaze Steals per game: 2.0 – Lanard Copeland Blocks per game: 2.1 – Mark Bradtke Finals No. Player GP GS MPG PPG FG% 3FG% 3PG FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TOV 6Warrick Giddey 5 5 33.96 1.4 .37 0.0 0.0 .75 5.8 0.2 0.4 0.6 2.0 7 Daniel Egan 4 0 4.90 3.0 .48 .33 0.5 .60 0.5 0.5 0.0 0.1 0.0 8 Ray Gordon 5 0 8.84 3.4 .33 .27 1.0 .75 1.0 1.0 0.1 0.6 0.2 10 Andrew Gaze 5 5 47.29 26.20 .52 .39 4.2 .88 4.5 8.2 0.4 0.3 4.0 11 Brett Jeffries 2 0 4.60 2.0 .33 .00 0.0 .66 1.0 0.5 0.0 0.0 1.5 14 Lanard Copeland 5 5 40.00 23.8 .44 .38 2.4 .80 4.2 3.8 2.0 0.6 2.4 23 Brett Rainbow 2 0 3.26 1.5 .37 .20 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 31 Blair Smith Blair Smith 5 0 13.41 2.0 .53 .00 0.0 .50 4.0 0.3 0.1 0.5 0.0 40 Marcus Timmons 5 5 41.38 19.6 .50 .40 0.6 .73 10.4 2.8 1.2 1.4 3.4 50 Mark Bradtke 5 5 46.00 20.60 .51 .00 0.0 .74 11.2 2.5 0.7 1.8 2.2 Team leaders Points per game: 26.20 – Andrew Gaze Rebounds per game: 11.20 – Mark Bradtke Assists per game: 8.2 – Andrew Gaze Steals per game: 2.4 – Lanard Copeland Blocks per game: 1.8 – Mark Bradtke Awards NBL award winners NBL MVP – Andrew Gaze All-NBL First team – Andrew Gaze and Mark Bradtke Grand Final MVP – Lanard Copeland NBL All-Star – Andrew Gaze, Mark Bradtke and Lanard Copeland NBL Coach of the Year – Lindsey Gaze NBL Most Efficient Player – Andrew Gaze NBL scoring champion – Andrew Gaze NBL 3 point champion – Andrew Gaze Season summary Regular season The 1997 Melbourne Tigers were determined to go one better and avenge their Grand Final loss to the South East Melbourne magic in 1996. Melbourne let go longtime import Dave Simmons after eight years and one championship with the power forward. In Simmons' place they signed import forward Jarvis Lang. The Tigers had a slow start to the season, starting off the season at 4-9. There was talk in the Herald Sun about sacking the team's long-term head coach Lindsey Gaze, but it was the import Jarvis Lang, who was dealing with knee soreness and struggling to learn the Tigers' shuffle offense, that was let go. In turn the Tigers turned the season around by winning 16 straight games 17-1 during the end of the regular season and finals. The Tigers went from second last at 4-9 on the ladder during the start of the season to finishing in second place at 19-11, with a 13-game winning streak to end the regular season. The Tigers were meant to finish the regular season with a 20-10 record, but because of some paper work that wasn’t finalized, the league stripped the Tigers of a win over in round 3 against the 36ers. As expected, the team was led by Andrew Gaze, who had one of his best shooting seasons of his career, averaging just on 4 3 point field goals made making 143 for the season, whilst averaging his typical over 30 points per game and over 6 assists. Alongside him in the back court, Lanard Copeland averaged his typical over 22 points for the season, whilst big man Mark Bradtke anchored down low averaging 20 points over 12 rebounds. Timmons averaged over 17 points and over 8 rebounds. Andrew Gaze would be named MVP, and he and Mark Bradtke would be named to All-First NBL team, whilst Andrew Gaze and Mark Bradtke were named to the All-Star game. Semi-finals Along with the 1st placed South East Melbourne Magic, the Tigers were given a bye in the quarter-finals. In their three-game semi-final against the 3rd placed North Melbourne Giants there was little resistance, sweeping them in two games. The Tigers would be moving on to their second consecutive grand final appearance. Andrew Gaze was outstanding in the semi-finals, averaging 36.5 points and 9.5 assists per game. Ahead of the Tigers was cross town rival South East Melbourne Magic, the same team that they had lost to the year before in the deciding game 3. NBL grand final The Tigers' opponents in the 1997 NBL Grand Final would again be the South East Melbourne Magic, the same team that beat the Tigers in the previous grand final in game 3. All three of the games would be held at Melbourne Park, game 3 if needed. Similar to the Tigers the Magic swept their previous round of the finals. Game 1 was a beat down from the Tigers, who were on full attack from the beginning, never trailing in the game and winning 111-74. Larand Copeland was the game's high scorer with 29, whilst Gaze added 23 and 9 assists. Frank Drimc was top scorer with 12 for the Magic.http://websites.sportstg.com/round_info.cgi?action=MATCH&fixture=500766159&client=0-189-12322-125723-369917 National Basketball League (NBL) Match Centre - SportsTG Websites.sportstg.com 2018-06-27 Similarly to the year before after dropping the first game, Game 2 was a lot better for the Magic. They started veteran John Dorge over the young Chris Anstey. The Magic bounced back to beat the Tigers, winning the close game to even the series at 1-1 and forcing a game 3 for the second straight year against the Magic and Tigers. The scores were 84-78 with Chris Anstey bouncing back from an average game one dropping 21 points in game 2. Lanard Copeland was the Tigers' high scorer with 28.http://websites.sportstg.com/round_info.cgi?action=MATCH&fixture=500764221&client=0-189-12322-125723-369917 National Basketball League (NBL) Match Centre - SportsTG Websites.sportstg.com 2018-06-27 For the second straight year the Melbourne Tigers played the South East Melbourne Magic in game 3 to decide who would win the championship. The Melbourne Tigers won the NBL championship with a score line of 93-83, the top scorer again being Larand Copeland with 26 points; Gaze added 22 and 9 assists. Lanard Copeland was named Most Valuable Player, and Andrew Gaze won his second championship ring.http://websites.sportstg.com/round_info.cgi?action=MATCH&fixture=500767036&client=0-189-12322-125723-369917 National Basketball League (NBL) Match Centre - SportsTG Websites.sportstg.com 2018-06-27 Game 1 #eee October 25th 12:00 p.m. EST Melbourne Park TV 0 Bill Mildenhall, Ray Hunt, Scott Butler South East Melbourne Magic 74 Melbourne Tigers 111 Box score 20-29 17-32 14-17 23-33 Frank Drimc 12 Larnad Copeland 29 Frank Drimc 11 Mark Bradtke 9 Sam Mackinnon 4 Andrew Gaze 9 Melbourne leads series, 1–0 Game 2 #eee October 29th 12:00 p.m. EST Melbourne Park TV 0 Bill Mildenhall, Eddie Crouch, Michael Butler Melbourne Tigers 78 South East Melbourne Magic 84 Box score 25-21 22-24 19-20 12-19 Lanard Copeland 29 Chris Anstey 21 Marcus timmons 12 Mike Kelly 10 Andrew Gaze 5 Sam Mackinnon 6 Series tied, 1–1 Game 3 #eee September 1st 12:00 p.m. EST Melbourne Park Bill Mildenhall , Ray Hunt, Scott Butler South East Melbourne Magic 83 Melbourne Tigers 93 Box score 21-25 15-25 19-20 28-23 Tony Ronaldson 26 Larnad Copeland 26 Frank Drimc 9 Marcus Timmons 13 Sam Mackinnon 6 Andrew Gaze 9 Melbourne wins series and NBL Championship, 2–1Grand Final MVP: Lanard Copeland (Melbourne) References Sources http://websites.sportstg.com/team_info.cgi?c=0-189-12322-125723-369917&a=STATS https://basketball.australiabasket.com/player/Warrick_Giddey/Australia/Werribee-Devils/8140 https://basketball.australiabasket.com/player/Daniel_Egan/Australia/Townsville-Heat/9957 http://basketball.eurobasket.com/player/Brett_Jeffries/Sweden/Alvik-Basket-Stockholm/15749 https://basketball.australiabasket.com/player/Erik-Wickstrom/Australia/Sandringham_Sabres/25312 https://www.tigersbasketball.com.au/20th-anniversary-of-melbourne-tigers-vba-championship-part-2/ https://basketball.australiabasket.com/player/Brett_Rainbow/Australia/Ringwood-Hawks/12349 https://basketball.australiabasket.com/player/Blair_Smith/Australia/Gladstone-Port-City-Power/12470 https://basketball.australiabasket.com/player/Marcus_Timmons/Australia/Hawthorn-Magic/24513 1997 Category:1997 NBL season by team Category:1997 in sport in Melbourne