McDonald won the inaugural NBL1 title with the Nunawading Spectres on Saturday, and announced his retirment from competitive basketball after the match.

McDonald said it was a brilliant way to go out.

"To finish it off in that environment, in a grand final with a club that I've been with for so long ... it's pretty special," he said.

"Its just an awesome way to cap off my career, in such a great enviroment."

The Spectres had to win the championship the hard way, getting off to a slow start in the grand final and falling 14 points behind by quarter time.

"But oddly enough, there was no panic," McDonald said. "We'd been in that situation so many times over the last few years.

"We knew if we could get the game back on our terms wed be fine. Thankfully it happened pretty quickly."

Nunawading stormed back into the contest in the second quarter, pushed ahead in the third and held out in the fourth to claim a 99-90 victory.

"It was a strange feeling. Youre so focussed throughout the game, you dont want to let your mind wander to what it could be. They are a good team, so we knew they could come at any moment," he said.

"But apart from the first term, we played typical Spectre basketball. So to win it playing our brand and playing well was really awesome."

McDonald finished with 12 points and 10 assists in the contest, as he won his second championship with the Spectres.

"I couldnt relax until the last 40 seconds. Then I thought, 'maybe I can let this soak in'," McDonald said.

"When the game finished, Simon Conn - who I've played with for 10 years - was closest to me, so I went and jumped on him. Fortunately he's six-foot-nine, so he could hold me up no problem.

"It was a really special feeling."

McDonald chose not to publicly announce his retirement ahead of the championship game.

"I kept it a bit quiet, just because I didn't want to take away anything from the team in the lead up to the grand final," McDonald said.

"But I've known all year this was my last, so I've really soaked up every moment. The training, all the little moments in the changerooms after the game, and just including my young son in it as much as I could as well."

McDonald said he was proud to finish his career with a win.

"It's not often that you get to win your last game," McDonald said.

"I've always been a super competitive person. Losing has never sat well with me, so I'm definitely happy to have won the last three games of my career."

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