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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 WOLLONGONG HAWKS

CLIPSAL POWERHOUSE, APRIL 10, 1999

RUPERT Sapwell felt more nervous watching the TV replay of his game-saving three-point shot than he did when he actually took it.

The Adelaide 36ers' reliable benchman watched his first attempt to tie Game 2 of the semi-final series with Wollongong miss its mark, only to have the superbly athletic David Stiff retrieve the ball to give him a shot at redemption.

It was a great “heads-up” play by Stiff.

The swish was heard all around the Clipsal Powerhouse as the crowd erupted in full voice, the Sixers having saved the game at 88-88 to force overtime.

They now were just five more roller-coaster minutes from a second consecutive National Basketball League grand final, finally turning down the Hawks 99-98 to complete a two-game sweep.

To say those additional five minutes lasted an eternity is to understate the length of eternity.

For Sapwell, who joined Stiff as the game's unlikely heroes, it was a privilege to even be on the hardwood at the business end of such a dramatic finale.

“I was rapt (coach) Phil (Smyth) gave me the opportunity to be on the court at that time,” an elated Sapwell said after the noise and excitement had died down.

The Sixers trailed 85-88 with 9.9 seconds remaining in regulation when Smyth called time-out and looked to Sapwell as an option to tie the match.

“I think it surprised them too,” Smyth said of the Hawks.

“Especially when Brett (Maher) passed the ball in.”

Maher and/or Kevin Brooks would have been expected to take the big shot, even by Sapwell, who found himself with enough room to tentatively let his attempt go.

“Like any athlete, when you lose, you want a chance at redemption,” Sapwell said.

“I equate that (first) shot as a loss. When Stiffy got the rebound, I had a bit more room for the second one.

“Everything seemed calm and in slow motion. It felt good off the hand. I got more nervous watching the replay when I had a chance to start thinking about the gravity of it.”

Having won six consecutive games going into the second of the semi-final series, Adelaide was overdue a bad performance.

The Hawks came out aggressively, C.J. Bruton, as predicted, firing up the shots and topscoring with 27 points.

But his tally came from an ordinary 10-of-33 shot attempts.

After Adelaide's 93-81 win in Game 1 at the Sandpit, the Hawks knew they were a hook away from elimination and picked up a gear.

Not since Game 1 of the 1994 grand final series against North Melbourne were the 36ers put through a more heart-pounding and tension-wracked play-off game.

Not coincidentally, that one also went into overtime.

Against the gallant and surprisingly relentless Hawks, the 36ers had to find every ounce of their championship resolve to escape with easily the toughest finals win in Smyth's two years at the helm.

It took the biggest shot of Sapwell's career to force the overtime, where Wollongong again showed courage and fight way beyond expectations to recover from a 97-90 deficit with 2:01 left.

Bruton's free throws trimmed it to 92-97 with 1:24 left, then Mark Dalton intercepted a tired pass for a dunk and 94-97 just eight seconds later.

With 67 seconds left, Brett Maher hit a free throw for 98-94.

Then Stiff - who was sensational - blocked a Bruton shot, claimed the rebound, then lost the ball to Dalton for the veteran's second lay-up and 98-96.

Darnell Mee, another hero in a match full of them, hit the first of his two free throws with 51.3 seconds to play, the Hawks fouling quickly to stop the clock.

Eric Cooks claimed the defensive rebound, then Bruton went coast-to-coast, missed, but Cooks followed up with a putback dunk for 99-98.

Adelaide called time, the fans still reeling having watched a seemingly safe seven-point buffer swallowed up in stunning fashion.

The 36ers had 16 seconds left on the shot clock and 28.3 on the game clock when they returned for their last gut-wrenching attack.

Mee's drive was blocked by Cooks and the Hawks were alive with 8.8 seconds.

The 36ers swarmed all over Bruton, who put up a prayer.

Mat Campbell grabbed the rebound, but the siren already was being drowned out by a near-capacity Powerhouse crowd celebrating a return to the grand final for the first time since the club's 1985-86 double.

Having lost Game 1 at home, the Hawks had nothing to lose and stayed true to a slow-down strategy which, by midway through the second quarter, was frustrating an Adelaide side too eager for the quick kill.

Wollongong pushed its lead out to 16 points behind an outstanding third quarter by Campbell, his 12th point of the term making it 77-61 to the Hawks with 2:53 to play.

A deciding third game rapidly looming, the Sixers clicked up a gear with Stiff, Sapwell and Davis prominent, and Mee in everything at both ends.

Producing a 10-0 run to close the third, the Powerhouse noise was at full deafening throttle when Maher finished an intercept with a lay-up for 71-77, a half-minute left.

Campbell opened the last term with a three-point play as Wollongong would not be denied.

Adelaide's defensive resolve hardened, however, holding Wollongong to 11 points and scoreless for the last 2:43 of regulation after Theron Wilson's terrific three-point play.

Sapwell cut it to 85-88 with two pressure-free throws, then the sides traded misses before the Sixers had possession with 9.9 seconds to play.

You know the rest.

Sapwell's second 3-pointer was all net, making it 88-88 and putting the 36ers just five dramatic minutes from the grand final.

Campbell had found his range in the third quarter, Jason Brettell and Cameron Dickinson provided value-for-minutes and veterans Dalton and Cooks instrumental in Wollongong finding itself in a position to win.

It just didn't know how.

It could so easily have prevented Sapwell's shot by fouling on the inbounds play and sending Adelaide to the line for two free throws.

It could have fouled Stiff on his rebound of Sapwell's first attempt.

It could . . . well, the Hawks had all winter to work it out and obviously eventually did.

Just two years later they had a title of their own.

Stiff, with 22 points at 80 per cent, seven rebounds, six blocks and 6-of-7 free throws – at a time still when every Stiff free throw attempt was an adventure - picked up where Martin Cattalini, Brooks and Maher left off.

Mee was a sensation all game, with a match-high 12 rebounds to go with nine points, six assists, three steals and three blocks.

As often was the case in the big games, he was a marvel.

“The toughest thing was not getting Pud (Mark Davis) back into the game after the way he'd played,” Smyth said.

“It's just that we had the momentum and to toy with it was dangerous.”

Instead, Adelaide showed the character which would carry it to a second straight championship a fortnight later.

TOMORROW: A catalogue of catastrophe.