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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

APOLLO ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE, APRIL 23, 1989

THE best and most enduring rivalry in the NBL had a most extraordinary chapter written on opening day of the 1989 season in Adelaide.

As is the case with the start to any season, the two clubs were primed and excited about their new players, new strategies and all the promise of what lay ahead.

But in 48 minutes of sizzling basketball, the West End Adelaide 36ers produced perhaps their best performance since their 1982 inception, demolishing Perth by 39 points at Apollo Centre.

There was no real hint of it through a torrid and typical 36ers-Wildcats first quarter of high-powered action as Adelaide led 33-27.

The Sixers produced a 29-26 second period to lead 62-53 at halftime but no-one could expect or predict a nine-point lead would blow out in the manner that it did.

The Wildcats simply could not contain Adelaide, which went off for a 34-27 third period to lead 96-80 … with a quarter still to play!

But the 36ers certainly saved the best for last with a whopping 36-13 period that had the full house in a frenzy for a 132-93 rout.

Adelaide’s run and pressure simply crushed the spirit out of the flailing Wildcats.

Not since their 1986 NBL championship revelry had the Sixers produced such a complete display of skill, discipline and power.

Mark Davis was a monster with 24 points and 16 rebounds and Mark Bradtke was no less imposing, his 24 points at 73 per cent, with 10 boards to boot.

Al Green’s personal rivalry with Cal Bruton also produced fireworks, the Mean Machine with 20 points, the Black Pearl with 18.

James Crawford was his usual imposing self for the Wildcats, with a game-high 32 points plus 11 rebounds.

But he was fighting a lone battle, Paul Kuiper and Tiny Pinder unable to curtail Bradtke, Davis and Orlando Phillips, who also had a 13-point, 10-rebound double on debut for the 36ers.

Mike McKay, Darryl Pearce, Scott Ninnis and Peter Ali all thrived against the wasted Wildcats, who had worse to follow post-game.

Adelaide coach Gary Fox had seen his team play well during his first two seasons at the helm, but this was something to behold.

“If anything, that performance exceeded even my own expectations of what would happen,” he said.

“We applied relentless pressure and it paid dividends. Perth could not handle it. Every player played well. It was an outstanding team effort.''

That’s putting it mildly.

Perth coach Alan Black also was impressed, describing Adelaide's performance as “awesome.”

But Wildcats' owner Bob Williams had another view and it wasn’t nearly so generous.

Williams was so upset with the result and the manner of Perth’s capitulation, that he delivered a very public ultimatum to every member of the Perth team on the steps of the Hilton International Hotel in the city the next morning.

He told the players they had 24 hours to consider their own futures. They effectively had, he said, 24 hours to shape up or ship out.

It was a riot-act-reading reminder of the inherent pitfalls of private ownership in pro sports.

Certainly, the Wildcats were kept well below their best and some of the players possibly were not completely committed at the defensive end as the game wound to its inevitable conclusion.

But there was no stopping the 36ers, who crashed the boards to the tune of 47-31, hustled defensively as well and fast-broke until the ‘Cats broke.

Williams evidently failed to grasp no team in Australia could have stopped the 36ers on this particular evening.

Running the floor with an intensity not always apparent in 1988, Adelaide worked its offence to a treat as every player posed a scoring threat.

The faces largely were the same but this team was in a different class to the outfits of the previous two seasons.

Davis, Pearce, Dwayne Nelson and Peter Ali maintained their high standards, but Ninnis, Bradtke, McKay and David Spear had definitely improved.

Ninnis and Bradtke were revelations. A fringe member of the team for several years, Ninnis elevated himself into being a valuable contributor.

In 15 minutes on court he dazzled the crowd with a stunning series of fast breaks but, equally importantly, showed his vastly improved defensive skill set when Perth had the ball.

Bradtke's meteoric rise to Olympic stardom had not always been accompanied by impressive performances in the NBL.

However, his first-up effort here showed his potential to become the dominant big Australian in the league for years to come.

His height, weight and strength always gave him license to drive to the bucket but he had not always finished off productively.

On this evening though, he rarely missed, scoring 11 of his 15 shots, several of which were swished from outside his regular shooting range.

Then there was Phillips, making his import debut for the 36ers. Tough, mean and aggressive, he took on Perth strongman Tiny Pinder at his own game, and won the crowd over immediately.

Phillips' shooting was a little rusty, but he crashed the boards with enough strength to suggest Adelaide would have an unbeatable frontcourt once his right knee recovered fully from his surgery in January.

Sadly, it never really did.

Perth had its revenge later that season when it KO’d Adelaide in the quarter-final round 2-1 but on April 23, the 36ers were peerless, their 70-point second half one of the club's most memorable.

TOMORROW: It's "welcome back Damian" at the Kings. And no, not Keogh.