NICKNAME/S: Super Mario

BIO: Mario Donaldson was born in Rockton, Illinois (USA).

NBL EXPERIENCE

Mario Donaldson made his NBL debut with the Sydney Kings at 25 years of age. He scored 28 points in his first game.

After three seasons of import duo Dwayne McClain and Ken McClary, Kings coach Bob Turner chose to go in a different direction in 1994. With rumours of McClain’s rise in popularity leading to difficulties in coaching the star, the decision was made not to re-sign McLain and McClary and find younger talent to replace them. Coach Bob Turner signed swingman Mario Donaldson, who he spotted playing with Omaha during the 1993 CBA championship season.

He paired Donaldson with a relatively unknown forward, Leon Trimmingham, who had played at Briar Cliff University and was recommended to Turner by former Hobart coach Dr David Atkins.

The majority of the remaining roster was retained, with the only major loss being Tony De Ambrosis (to Gold Coast), who was replaced with young guns Neil Turner and Brad Williams.

Sydney came out on fire to start the season. With Trimmingham, whose nightly pyrotechnics drew crowds to the Kingdome like moths to a flame, leading the team in scoring and Donaldson’s deadly outside scoring and lockdown defence, Sydney defeated South East Melbourne Magic on opening night and won three games in a row before losing their first game of the season in Perth.

At the halfway mark (8-3), the Kings looked like a title contender, but the lack of experience amongst the roster started to show, and Sydney went 8-7 for the remainder of the year and narrowly scraped into the playoffs in seventh place (16-10).

Trimmingham (27.3 points, 10.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.2 blocks) led the team in points, rebounds and blocks while becoming a fan favourite across the league. He also finished the season second in scoring behind league MVP Andrew Gaze. Donaldson (22.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.8 steals) and Greg Hubbard (18.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists) provided the additional scoring as Sydney drew second-placed North Melbourne in the first round of the playoffs. Sydney entered the series as decided underdogs, especially given that North Melbourne had whipped them in two regular-season meetings. However, in Game One of the series, the Kings had other ideas. In front of a disbelieving Monday night crowd of 9,092, Sydney rocketed out of the blocks, taking advantage of some fatigue from the Giants, who were playing their third road game in four days. But the home team showed no mercy, hitting one long bomb after another, going on a 11-0 run in the first 71 seconds. At the end of the first period, the Kings were up 43-25 and the Giants simply didn’t know what had hit them. The Kings kept firing away from the outside and kept knocking them down, and by halftime, the game was over. The Kings received a standing ovation as they returned to the changing rooms with a 26 point lead at halftime (77-51).

The second half was a mere formality as the purple and gold cruised to the win, but the biggest story to come out of the game was Sydney’s unbelievable performance from the perimeter, with the team setting a franchise playoff record by knocking down 15 three-pointers from just 18 attempts – a success rate beyond the arc of a absurd 83.3%. It was arguably the greatest three-point shooting exhibition ever by a team in a NBL playoff game.

The Kings finished the game having hit 15 of 18 three-point shots. Greg Hubbard was the chief destroyer, going eight of nine from long distance and finishing with 32 points in just 28 minutes of court time, and he had plenty of help. Mario Donaldson went three of four from the outside as part of his 27-point performance, and co-captain Damian Keogh chipped in with four threes at 80% in his near triple-double of 18 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.

Once the series returned to Melbourne the Giants returned to their winning ways, defeating the Kings in game two (112-91) and game three (104-95). North Melbourne would then go on to win the NBL Championship.