The 1988 NBL season was the tenth season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of 13 teams contested the league.

Clubs

Following the merger of the Sydney Supersonics and West Sydney Westars to form the

Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The Kings were formed from a merger between the West Sydney Westars and the ...

, the NBL had 13 clubs spread across all Australian states and territories with the exception of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

Regular season

The 1988 regular season took place over 21 rounds between 12 February 1988 and 9 July 1988.

Round 1

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Round 2

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Round 3

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Round 4

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Round 5

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Round 6

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Round 7

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Round 8

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Round 9

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Round 11

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Round 12

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Round 13

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Round 14

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Round 15

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Round 16

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Round 17

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Round 18

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Round 19

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Round 20

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Round 21

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Ladder

This is the ladder at the end of season, before the finals. The top 6 teams qualified for the finals series. 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. ''¹Head-to-Head between North Melbourne Giants and Brisbane Bullets (1-1). North Melbourne Giants won For and Against (+9).'' ''²Newcastle Falcons won Head-to-Head (2-0).'' ''³Head-to-Head between Illawarra Hawks and Eastside Spectres (1-1). Illawarra Hawks won For and Against (+9).'' ''⁴Head-to-Head between Hobart Tassie Devils and Sydney Kings (1-1). Hobart Tassie Devils won For and Against (+12).''

Finals

Playoff bracket

Elimination Finals

Both matches were single game elimination contests. The team that qualified 3rd at the end of the regular season would host the team that finished 6th, with the team finishing 4th hosting the team placed 5th. The teams that finished the regular season 1st and 2nd had a bye into the semi final stage.
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Semi Finals

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Grand Final

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1988 NBL statistics leaders

NBL awards

*Most Valuable Player:

Joe Hurst "Jumping" Joe Hurst (born East Saint Louis, Illinois), is a retired professional basketball player. In 1982, Hurst earned a sporting scholarship with Northwest Missouri State University. In five years, he played more than 200 games, and was all-c ...

Hobart Tassie Devils The Hobart Devils are a defunct professional basketball team that competed in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL). Based in Hobart, Tasmania, the team was the only representative from the state of Tasmania for the majority of its te ...

*Most Valuable Player Grand Final:

Phil Smyth Philip John Smyth AM (born 11 May 1958) is an Australian former professional basketball player and coach. He won three National Basketball League (NBL) championships with the Canberra Cannons before going on to be a three-time championship-wi ...

Canberra Cannons The Canberra Cannons are a defunct basketball team that competed in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL). They went into financial administration in 2003 and were relocated to Newcastle, where they became the Hunter Pirates. After t ...

*Rookie of the Year:

Shane Heal Shane Douglas Heal (born 6 September 1970) is an Australian basketball coach and former player. Playing career International Heal's international career highlights include representing the Australian Boomers at the 1992, 1996, 2000 and 20 ...

Brisbane Bullets The Brisbane Bullets are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) based in Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland. They competed from 1979 to 2008, and returned to th ...

*Coach of the Year: Bruce Palmer,

North Melbourne Giants The North Melbourne Giants, previously known as the Coburg Giants, were an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of ...

All NBL Team

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1988 NBL season NBL