The NBL Finals Schedule & Format 2025
(Updated: March 5, 2025)
The NBL Championship Series will consist of 5 games (if required) with the team to take three victories being crowned the NBL25 Champions. The matches will begin on Saturday the 8th of March and a winner will be crowned no later than March 23rd.
Times, dates and venues for the NBL25 Finals Championship Series matches
Championship Series Illawarra Hawks vs Melbourne United
Game 1: Saturday 8 March
Illawarra v Melbourne, WIN Entertainment Centre, 8:00pm AEDT
ESPN
Game 2: Wednesday 12 March
Melbourne v Illawarra, John Cain Arena, 7:30pm AEDT
ESPN
Game 3: Sunday 16 March
Illawarra v Melbourne, WIN Entertainment Centre, 5:30pm AEDT
ESPN, 10 BOLD
Game 4 (if required): Wednesday 19 March
Melbourne v Illawarra, John Cain Arena, 7:30pm AEDT
ESPN, 10 BOLD
Game 5 (if required): Sunday 23 March
Illawarra v Melbourne, WIN Entertainment Centre, 2:30pm AEDT
ESPN, Channel 10
NBL Playoff Series Schedule
Semifinal 1 (3 Game Series)
Illawarra Hawks (1st) vs South East Melbourne Phoenix (4th)
Game 1: Friday, February 28, 7:30PM (AEDT) at WIN Entertainment Centre
Game 2: Sunday, March 2, 2:30PM (AEDT) at John Cain Arena
Game 3: Wednesday, March 5, 7:30PM (AEDT) at WIN Entertainment Centre (If required)
Semifinal 2 (3 Game Series)
Melbourne United (2nd) vs Perth Wildcats (3rd)
Game 1: Thursday, February 27, 7:30PM (AEDT) at John Cain Arena
Game 2: Saturday, March 1, 8:00PM (AEDT) at RAC Arena
Game 3: Tuesday, March 4, 7:30PM (AEDT) at John Cain Arena (If required)
Championship Series (5 Game Series)
Winner of Semifinal 1 vs Winner of Semifinal 2
(Times, Dates & Venues to be confirmed)
The NBL Play-In & Finals Schedule & Format 2025
The NBL25 regular season is behind us and the postseason is now in front of us as the league gets into the real nitty-gritty to find out who will be the new Champion of the National Basketball league.
The NBL postseason will begin on the 13th of February and will be played out until the end of March with a FIBA Break between the 18th-25th of February for international qualifying.
Below is a breakdown of the format of the NBL Play-In and Finals schedule & format 2025 and the expected times and dates for each game and series.
The NBL Play-in Schedule & Format 2025
The NBL Play-in tournament is set to be played before the FIBA Break between the dates of the 13th-17th of February.
The play-in will consist of a one-off match between the 3rd-placed Perth Wildcats playing the 4th-placed South East Melbourne Phoenix in the Seeding Qualifier on Tuesday, February 11. The winner advancing directly to the semifinals, playing Melbourne United as the 2nd-placed team.
On Thursday, the Sydney Kings (5th place) will play the Adelaide 36ers (6th place) in a one-off match. The loser will be eliminated and the winner will play the loser of the above Seeding Qualifier.
The final game of the play-in will see the loser of the Seeding Qualifier (2nd v 3rd) play the winner of the Play-In Qualifier (5th v 6th). The victorious team in what is officially dubbed as the Play-In Game will advance to the semifinals and take on the top-ranked team the Illawarra Hawks, who finished the regular season on top of the NBL25 ladder.
Times, dates and venues for the NBL25 Play-In matches
Seeding Qualifier (1 Game)
Perth Wildcats (3rd) vs South East Melbourne Phoenix (4th)
Tuesday February 11, 9:30 AEDT at Perth High Performance Centre
Play-In Qualifier (1 Game)
Sydney Kings (5th) vs Adelaide 36ers (6th)
Thursday February 13, 7:30 PM at Qudos Arena
Play-In Game (1 Game)
South East Melbourne Phoenix vs Adelaide 36ers
Sunday, February 16, 2:30 PM at John Cain Arena
