What is the best NBL performance of all time?

Thursday, August 24, 2023

It's an impossible task to determine the greatest individual performance in NBL history - but you can have your say on what you think should take the cake.

Selecting the greatest game in NBL history is a near impossible task. After all, what defines ‘the best’?

You could define it as the most points in a game, the most points in a win, the biggest influence on a title, a standalone quadruple-double, or any myriad of other ways.

That’s why we’re leaving this impossible task to you, the fans.

You can vote now on what you believe to be the greatest NBL performance in the history of the competition.

NBL Media has run through some of the performances that deserve to be in the conversation, but let us know on social media if there’s any we’ve missed.

* Performances are in chronological order

Reg Biddings – 63 points for Forestville Eagles vs Bankstown Bruins (Round 8, 1981)
The NBL was in just its third season when Forestville import Reg Biddings made history, with what is still the second-highest scoring performance in the history of the NBL.

The most impressive parts? Not only did he drop 63 points in a 40-minute game, he did so before the introduction of the three-point line – the arc was only added in 1984.

Biddings put in the seminal scorer’s performance in the history of the competition. He had 45 points by half-time, however second half foul trouble restricted his output to a comparatively miniscule 18 points.

By game’s end he had taken 50 field goal attempts and 17 free throws. Of those, he hit 25 of his shots and 13 of his free throws. He scored 63 of his team’s 98 points on the night, and only Chris Starling scored in double digits alongside him.

He also took almost twice the number of shots as his teammates combined.

And the kicker? He was just 23 years of age and had been appointed as player/coach of the team.

‘Sir Reginald’ as Biddings became affectionately known, ended the season averaging 28 points per game and finished third in MVP voting.

He was named the league’s scoring champion the following season as a member of the Adelaide 36ers, and finished his NBL career as a member of the St Kilda Saints in 1983.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Reg Biddings 63 points remains the 2nd highest score in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBLhistory?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBLhistory</a> and he did it before the three-point line (Al Green had 71 points) <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL</a> <a href="https://t.co/NjRiLlEgyn">pic.twitter.com/NjRiLlEgyn</a></p>— AussieHoopla (@aussiehoopla) <a href="https://twitter.com/aussiehoopla/status/852037358929100801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 12, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Al Green – 71 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists for West Adelaide Bearcats vs Frankston Bears (R15 1984)
Bidding’s scoring record would last just three seasons, with Al Green utilising the newly-introduced three-point line to break the standing marker of 63 points – and Green’s 71-point explosion still stands the test of time today.

A marker against Green’s bid to hold the greatest ever performance in NBL history is the fact his side lost to Frankston by 28-points on the night, despite his heroic efforts – but you certainly can’t blame the then 30-year-old.

Green hit 25 of his 51 field goal attempts – including four of 12 threes – in the defeat, while also dropping 17 of 22 free throw attempts.

He even added five assists for good measure.

Mark Gaze’s 43 points and Wayne Burden’s 42 points for the opposition proved too strong for Green’s heroics though, and the Bears ran out as 153-125 victors.

Green had won a title with the Bearcats just two years prior to his incredible scoring rout in 1982, and doubled up on that achievement with an MVP in the same year.

He added a second NBL title as a member of the Adelaide 36ers in 1986 and has since had his number 15 jersey retired by the club.

Overall he played 339 games in the NBL across 13 seasons.

Al Green as a member of the Newcastle Falcons.

Scott Fenton – 19 points, 18 assists, 11 steals, 6 rebounds for Sydney Supersonics vs Melbourne Tigers (R14, 1985)
Unfortunately, we never got to see the best of rising Australian basketball star Scott Fenton. The Perth-born guard was killed in a horrific car accident in 1989 at the age of just 25 alongside his fiancée and fellow basketballer Tina Christie.

Prior to his passing Fenton played half a decade in the NBL, and his greatest ever individual performance offers some insight into not only the incredible player he was, but the incredible player he could have been.

The Sydney Supersonics star fell just four rebounds short of the first quadruple-double in NBL history, when he faced an emerging Andrew Gaze and the Melbourne Tigers in 1985.

The Supersonics thoroughly dispatched the young Tigers on the night and, in a scoring sense, were led by Kendal Pinder and Wayne Kreklow’s 30-point performances. Who fed the scoring stars the ball on the night though? Fenton.

His 19 points on seven for ten shooting was enough to rank third for the team, but he ended the game with an incredible 18 assists – two more than the entire Tigers unit combined.

The Supersonics’ team defence was on point in the 39-point win too, and the team registered a massive 27 steals, as Melbourne struggled to get up the court and into strong scoring positions. Of those 27 steals, Fenton registered 11.

He also finished the game with just four turnovers.

At the other end of the court, a 20-year-old Gaze added 33 points of his own, but in what was a battle of two of Australian basketballs most notable rising young stars, it was Fenton who took the win.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBLhistory?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBLhistory</a> Scott Fenton played 140 NBL games with Bankstown (1982-84), Sydney (1985-87) and Perth (1988-89). During the 1989 NBL season, Fenton and his fiancée Tina Christie died in a horrific car crash. His No. 14 jersey became the first jersey to be retired by the club. <a href="https://t.co/EPZmkntBT5">pic.twitter.com/EPZmkntBT5</a></p>— AussieHoopla (@aussiehoopla) <a href="https://twitter.com/aussiehoopla/status/1020463633455894528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 21, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Daren Rowe – 25 points, 17 rebounds, 11 assists, 11 blocks for Geelong Supercats vs North Melbourne Giants (R18, 1990)
After Scott Fenton had come within just four rebounds of the first triple-double in NBL history, fans had to wait five years for somebody to make the leap and finish a game with the rare and iconic feat.

The emergence of the likes of Dean Uthoff, Kendal Pinder and Mark Davis at the centre position ushered in an era of big men dominance in the paint through the 1990s.

Daren Rowe was recruited to the Geelong Supercats in 1989 and averaged a double-double per game in two of the three seasons he played for the Victorian side.

He had already established himself as a league-leading shotblocker in his time in the competition, and had already registered a triple-double with points, blocks and rebounds earlier in the season against Nunawading – but he took his game to new heights against a helpless North Melbourne.

Rowe was a post player who was playing before his time. He had the ability to step out and hit the three and was able to find his teammates with tough passes. In fact, he shot over 45 per cent from the three-point line in two of his three seasons in the NBL.

Rowe was given every chance to fill up the stat sheet on his historic night, and was on the court for all-bar 34 seconds of the Supercats’ win.

A young Shane Heal and fellow import Bobby Locke may have top scored for the Supercats with 31 points apiece on the night, but Rowe well and truly stole the show in the 131-123 victory.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBLhistory?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBLhistory</a> Daren Rowe played 3 seasons for the Geelong Supercats, averaging 20 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in 40 mins per game. He recorded two triple doubles as well as the NBL's only quadruple double ever. <a href="https://t.co/9GT31c7xw6">pic.twitter.com/9GT31c7xw6</a></p>— AussieHoopla (@aussiehoopla) <a href="https://twitter.com/aussiehoopla/status/1023549182207033345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 29, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Derek Rucker – 24 points, 24 assists, 3 steals for Newcastle Falcons vs Geelong Supercats (R4, 1994)
How many assists did Derek Rucker actually register on the night he set the all-time NBL assists record? The former MVP recently reminisced about his record-breaking performance for Newcastle with NBL Media and said people believe he dropped “anywhere between 22 and 27” dimes.

Whether it was 22 assists, the official 24, or 27, it’s still enough to sit clear of Casey Jones and Shane Heal’s mark of 20 – enough for second in the rankings.

RELATED: Remember When... Derek Rucker dropped 24 assists

The Falcons entered their fourth game of the season with an 0-3 record, and star signing Rucker was told to lift by coach Tom Wisman – and lift Rucker did.

After 18 assists in his first game of the season, Rucker turned scorer in Round 2 with 40 points, however Wisman wanted his star guard to provide for the rest of the team.

He started the game on fire and by the time the fourth quarter rolled around the Supercats’ resistance was broken.

Rucker dropped 40 points 25 times through his glittering NBL career and averaged 10.6 assists per game across what was a personally productive solitary season with Newcastle.

Chris Goulding – 50 points, 6 rebounds for Melbourne Tigers vs Sydney Kings (R21, 2014)
The return of the 40-minute era and the added bench rotations that have creeped into the modern game has seen a reduction in ridiculous individual scoring performances.

Chris Goulding bucked the trend with his career-high 50-point game for the Melbourne Tigers in 2014 and remains the only person to have dropped a half-century in the modern 40-minute era.

Goulding was in the midst of a breakout run in his career. After earning All-Star MVP honours in 2012, 2014 was the year he established himself as one of the biggest players in the competition.

Each of Goulding’s top six career scoring games came in the 2013-14 campaign, and he was named the NBL’s scoring champion and a member of the All-NBL First Team.

Who better to hit with the most iconic game of your career than your biggest rivals though. The Sydney Kings were on the unfortunate end of Goulding’s lights out game.

Once he got hot, Melbourne just looked to feed their star scorer. He took 33 of the team’s 64 shots on the night, and only Mark Worthington hit double figures alongside the emerging star of Australian basketball.

An immense final quarter run that was led, of course, by Goulding, saw Melbourne defeat their rivals 92-82 after being level at quarter time in what is remembered as one of the most incredible individual games of the modern era.

Tigers legend Chris Anstey was coaching Melbourne on the night, and recently reflected on his time leading Goulding.

“He’s hit iconic shots, he’s had iconic games,” Anstey told NBL Media.

“I was fortunate enough to coach that game and we didn’t complicate anything. We had Nate Tomlinson and Mark Worthington, and the goal was just to get Chris open, and Chris was incredible.”

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Bryce Cotton – 45 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals for Perth Wildcats vs Illawarra Hawks (Grand Final, 2017)
After the achievements of some of the import players named earlier in this list – the likes of Al Green, Derek Rucker and Reg Biddings – Bryce Cotton’s status as arguably the greatest import in NBL history is a homage to just how good the Perth star has been during his time in the league.

Cotton in comparable to the consensus NBL GOAT Andrew Gaze in that his greatness hasn’t absolutely unleashed itself in a game akin to Daren Rowe’s quadruple-double, or even Chris Goulding’s 50-piece. Rather, he’s been consistently exceptional for years.

Cotton’s greatest game in a Wildcats jersey, of course, came on the biggest stage. With his first NBL title on the line, the future three-time MVP put the Wildcats on his back and ensured they got the job done against Illawarra.

In a game that was filled with modern-day legends of the competition – Damian Martin, Casey Prather and Shawn Redhage were alongside Cotton for Perth, and they came up against the likes of Rotnei Clarke, Tim Coenraad, AJ Ogilvy and Nick Kay.

Cotton didn’t just score 45 points, he did it on just 17 shots – of which he hit 12. He also dropped 14 of his 15 free throw attempts in the nine-point win.

He was efficient, he was hot, and he was deadly.

That consensus of Cotton being one of the top imports in the history of the NBL has slowly been forged over the course of the consistent greatness he’s provided the NBL during his time here, but it was here, Game 3 of a Grand Final, where it truly began.