Nelson, who had averaged 25.9 points and 10.1 rebounds in 24 games in 1984, adjusted well to his new role as a bench player backing up both Mark Davis and Peter Ali.
As expected, the team was led by its Twin Towers import front court combination of centre Bill Jones and Power forward Mark Davis and along with the tough defence of 1980 Olympic Games forward Peter Ali and Dwayne Nelson, plus the scoring ability of guards Al Green, Darryl Pearce and Mike McKay, the 36ers emerged as the league's dominant team.
With 13 seconds remaining, a 3-pointer from Cats veteran Boomers forward Ian Davies gave the visitors a 119–118 lead and it appeared might Adelaide would lose at home for the first time.
Captain Bill Jones flew high to grab the rebound and in one motion tip-dunked the ball to give the 36ers a 120–119 win on the buzzer.
Despite the on court success, there was controversy at the club late in the season with coach Ken Cole suspended by the club board over his smoking of marijuana joint during a road trip to Brisbane, a situation that Cole was open about and never denied, stating publicly that he was recommended it by his family doctor as a way of dealing with health problems and physical pain.
After the story was broken in one of Adelaide's daily newspaper's at the time, The Advertiser, Cole was suspended by the club for the last two games and the team was coached by his assistant Don Shipway.
The story was broken by journalist Andrew Both who was in Shipway's hotel room following their win over the Bullets when Cole asked those present if they minded him smoking the joint since he didn't drink.
In their single game Semi-final against the 4th placed Illawarra Hawks, and with Ken Cole back as coach (when he was introduced to the crowd they gave Cole a 3-minute standing ovation showing their support), the 36ers as expected never gave the Hawks a look-in despite a heroic 28 points and 14 rebounds from their 6'10" (208 cm) Australian Boomers centre Ray Borner, with the 36ers leading 28–14 at the end of the first 12-minute period.
After 7 years with the Grand Final being a single game, in 1986 the NBL decided to follow the NBA's model of a playoff series to determine the championship.
After sitting out most of the 2nd with foul trouble, Leroy Loggins lit up in the 3rd to drag Brisbane back into the game and Adelaide's lead was cut to 76–73 with one period remaining.
In 2016, the 1986 NBL champion 36ers had their 30th anniversary in an official function held by the club in the Scouts Deck restaurant located in the 36ers home venue (since 1992), the Titanium Security Arena.