1985–86 National Basketball League season

{{Infobox sports season

| title = 1985–86 National Basketball League season

| league = National Basketball League

| sport = Basketball

| duration =

| no_of_games =

| no_of_teams = 15

| season =

| top_seed =

| MVP =

| MVP_link =

| top_scorer =

| playoffs = Roll of Honour

| conf1 = National League

| conf1_link =

| conf1_champ = Manchester United

| conf1_runner-up = Kingston Kings

| Play Off's =

| conf2 = Playoffs

| conf2_link =

| conf2_champ = Kingston Kings

| conf2_runner-up = Birmingham Bullets

| National Cup =

| conf3 = National Cup

| conf3_link =

| conf3_champ = Kingston Kings

| conf3_runner-up = Solent Stars

| seasonslist = List of English National Basketball League seasons

| seasonslistnames = National Basketball League

| prevseason_link =

| prevseason_year = 1984–85

| nextseason_link =

| nextseason_year = 1986–87

}}

The 1985–86 Carlsberg National Basketball League season was the fourteenth season of the National Basketball League formed in 1972.{{cite book|last=Matthews & Morrison|first=Peter & Ian|title=The Guinness Encyclopaedia of Sports Records & Results|year=1987|publisher=Guinness Superlatives Ltd|isbn=0-85112-492-5|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/guinnessencyclop00matt}}

The league was sponsored by Carlsberg for the second consecutive year and the Kingston Kings completed a Play Off's & National Cup double but Manchester United won the League title.{{cite web|url=https://www.basketballengland.co.uk/fixtures-and-results/national-league-archive/senior-men-league|title=Men's Senior League Winners|publisher=Basketball England}}{{Dead link|date=August 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Team changes

The EBBA increased the first division to fifteen teams adding two clubs from the second division; the two new teams were Brunel Uxbridge & Camden Ducks and the Tyneside basketball club. One club dropped out because Doncaster Panthers suffered financial trouble and were disbanded during the previous summer.

The gap in spending capability between certain teams seemed to be growing with the likes of Kingston, Manchester United and Portsmouth having much larger budgets than some of their competitors.

Carlsberg League standings

=First Division=

width=20\| Pos !width=300\| Team !width=20\| P !width=20\| W !width=20\| L !width=20\| F !width=20\| A !width=20\| Pts
class="wikitable" style="font-size: 100%"
align=center style="background: #ADFFD6;" \|1	align="left"\| Sharp Manchester United	28	25	3	2772	2464	50
align=center style="background: #E6B88A;" \|2	align="left"\| Team Polycell Kingston Kings	28	24	4	3193	2902	48
align=center style="background: #E6B88A;" \|3	align="left"\| Portsmouth	28	22	6	2721	2513	44
align=center style="background: #E6B88A;" \|4	align="left"\| Manchester Giants	28	18	10	2565	2456	36
align=center style="background: #E6B88A;" \|5	align="left"\| London Docklands Crystal Palace *	28	17	11	3237	3050	33
align=center style="background: #E6B88A;" \|6	align="left"\| Birmingham Bullets	28	15	13	2759	2720	30
align=center style="background: #E6B88A;" \|7	align="left"\| Brunel Uxbridge & Camden Ducks	28	14	14	2586	2629	28
align=center style="background: #E6B88A;" \|8	align="left"\| Walkers Crisps Leicester	28	14	14	2907	2957	28
align=center \|9	align="left"\| Hemel Hempstead Watford Royals	28	13	15	2864	2790	26
align=center \|10	align="left"\| Sperrings Solent Stars	28	12	16	2595	2568	24
align=center \|11	align="left"\| Nissan Worthing Bears	28	12	16	0000	0000	24
align=center \|12	align="left"\| Bracknell Pirates	28	11	17	2907	2985	22
align=center \|13	align="left"\| QRS Sunderland	28	8	20	2734	2967	16
align=center \|14	align="left"\| Home Spare Bolton & Bury Hawks	28	3	25	2678	3018	6
align=center \|15	align="left"\| McEwan Tyneside	28	2	26	2542	2884	4

One point deducted *

=Second Division=

width=20\| Pos !width=300\| Team !width=20\| P !width=20\| W !width=20\| L !width=20\| F !width=20\| A !width=20\| Pts
class="wikitable" style="font-size: 100%"
align=center style="background: #ADFFD6;" \|1	align="left"\| Calderdale Explorers	22	18	4	2511	1963	36
align=center style="background: ;" \|2	align="left"\| BPCC Derby Rams	22	18	4	2204	1923	36
align=center style="background: ;" \|3	align="left"\| Team Wakefields Nottingham	22	18	4	2181	1954	36
align=center style="background: ;" \|4	align="left"\| Brixton TopCats	22	15	7	1960	1752	30
align=center \|5	align="left"\| CAD Tower Hamlets	22	14	8	2043	1920	28
align=center \|6	align="left"\| ANC Liverpool	22	12	10	2057	1962	24
align=center \|7	align="left"\| Oldham Ioanian Celtics	22	11	11	2163	2090	22
align=center \|8	align="left"\| Plymouth Raiders	22	11	11	2062	2051	22
align=center \|9	align="left"\| English Estates Cleveland	22	6	16	2022	2219	12
align=center \|10	align="left"\| Team Telecom Colchester	22	5	17	1918	2210	10
align=center \|11	align="left"\| Swindon Rakers	22	4	18	1859	2185	8
align=center \|12	align="left"\| Peterborough Jets	22	0	22	1623	2374	0

Carlsberg playoffs

=Quarter-finals =

width=200\| Team 1 !width=200\| Team 2 !width=60\| Score
class="wikitable" style="font-size: 100%"
Leicester	Manchester United	2-1
Kingston	Brunel Uxbridge & Camden	2-0
Manchester Giants	Crystal Palace	1-2
Birmingham Bullets	Portsmouth	2-1

=Semi-finals =

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 100%"
width=200\| venue & date !width=200\| Team 1 !width=200\| Team 2 !width=60\| Score
March 21, Wembley Arena	Birmingham Bullets	Crystal Palace
March 21, Wembley Arena	Kingston Kings	Leicester

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 100%"

width=200| venue & date

!width=200| Team 1

!width=200| Team 2

!width=60| Score

March 21, Wembley Arena

Birmingham Bullets

Crystal Palace

March 21, Wembley Arena

Kingston Kings

Leicester

=Third Place=

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 100%"
width=200\| venue & date !width=200\| Team 1 !width=200\| Team 2 !width=60\| Score
March 22, Wembley Arena	Crystal Palace	Leicester	136-117

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 100%"

width=200| venue & date

!width=200| Team 1

!width=200| Team 2

!width=60| Score

March 22, Wembley Arena

Crystal Palace

Leicester

136-117

=Final=

{{basketballbox|bg=#eee

| date = 22 March 1986{{cite web|url=http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=oxfshlib&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=IF500457372&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0|title="Kingston in command." Times [London, England] 24 Mar. 1986|work=The Times Digital Archive}}

| time =

| report =

| teamA = Kingston Kings

| scoreA = 114

| scoreB = 97

| teamB = Birmingham Bullets

| points1 = Danny Davis (MVP) 37, Steve Bontrager 30, Martin Clark 30

| rebounds1 =

| assist1 =

| otherstat1 =

| points2 = Dip Donaldson 31, Butch Hays 26, Tyrone Shoulders 22

| rebounds2 =

| assist2 =

| otherstat2 =

| place = Wembley Arena

| attendance = ?
Kingston Coach Malcolm Chamberlain
Birmingham Coach Art Ross/Colin Wood

| referee =

| TV =

}}

[[Prudential plc|Prudential]] National Cup

=Second round=

width=280\| Team 1 !width=280\| Team 2 !width=60\| Score
class="wikitable" style="font-size: 100%"
Walkers Crisps Leicester	QRS Sunderland	105-113
CAD Tower Hamlets	Portsmouth	69-111
McEwan Tyneside	Oldham Celtics	111-98
Calderdale Explorers	Sharp Manchester United	70-97
Sperrings Solent Stars	Happy Eater Bracknell Pirates	111-97
Nissan Worthing Bears	Plymouth Raiders	107-85
Home Spare Bolton & Bury Hawks	Manchester Giants	76-95
Team Polycell Kingston Kings	Hemel Hempstead & Watford Royals	132-113

=Quarter-finals=

width=280\| Team 1 !width=280\| Team 2 !width=60\| Score
class="wikitable" style="font-size: 100%"
McEwan Tyneside	Portsmouth	76-98
Nissan Worthing Bears	Manchester Giants	87-82
Sperrings Solent Stars	QRS Sunderland	106-83
Sharp Manchester United	Team Polycell Kingston Kings	84-98

=Semi-finals=

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 100%"
width=250\| Venue & Date !width=240\| Team 1 !width=240\| Team 2 !width=60\| Score
Aston Villa Leisure Centre, Dec 15	Sperrings Solent Stars	Nissan Worthing Bears	101-83
Aston Villa Leisure Centre, Dec 15	Team Polycell Kingston Kings	Portsmouth	92-75

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 100%"

width=250| Venue & Date

!width=240| Team 1

!width=240| Team 2

!width=60| Score

Aston Villa Leisure Centre, Dec 15

Sperrings Solent Stars

Nissan Worthing Bears

101-83

Aston Villa Leisure Centre, Dec 15

Team Polycell Kingston Kings

Portsmouth

92-75

=Final=

{{basketballbox|bg=#eee

| date = 13 January 1985{{cite web|url=http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=oxfshlib&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=IF500024758&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0|title=Nicholas Harling. "Kingston triumph as Stars lose glitter." Times [London, England] 14 Jan. 1986|work=The Times Digital Archive}}

| time =

| report =

| teamA = Kingston Kings

| scoreA = 113

| scoreB = 82

| teamB = Solent Stars

| points1 = Steve Bontrager 33, Danny Davis (MVP) 28, Martin Clark 27, Andy Innell, Chrimes

| rebounds1 =

| assist1 =

| otherstat1 =

| points2 = TJ Robinson 28, Bryan Skoech 15, Ron Whitehead 14, Ken Nottage

| rebounds2 =

| assist2 =

| otherstat2 =

| place = Royal Albert Hall, London

| attendance = ?
Kingston Coach Malcolm Chamberlain
Solent Coach Steve Fitzsimons

| referee =

| TV = Live on Channel 4

}}

British Masters Cup final

{{basketballbox|bg=#eee

| date = 9 April 1986

| time =

| report =

| teamA = Birmingham Bullets

| scoreA = 87

| scoreB = 83

| teamB = Murray International Metals Edinburgh

| points1 = Butch Hays 26, Tyrone Shoulders 22, Dip Donaldson 19, Neville Hopkins

| rebounds1 =

| assist1 =

| otherstat1 =

| points2 = Sam Foggin 33, Stewart 14, Alton Byrd 13

| rebounds2 =

| assist2 =

| otherstat2 =

| place = Gateshead

| attendance = ?
Birmingham Coach Art Ross/Colin Wood
Edinburgh Coach ?

| referee =

| TV =

}}

1985–86 National Basketball League season

Team changes

Carlsberg League standings

=First Division=

=Second Division=

Carlsberg playoffs

=Quarter-finals =

=Semi-finals =

=Third Place=

=Final=

[[Prudential plc|Prudential]] National Cup

=Second round=

=Quarter-finals=

=Semi-finals=

=Final=

British Masters Cup final

References

See also