Shea Ili ruled out of game3. Does this mean Ian Clark gets more game time. As a Hawks fan I hope not.

Sweet starts right after the Grand Prix but on 10 Bold.

so glad they realised not to schedule the game and the GP for the same time

Hawks should win but Clarle with more minutes might have a masterclass!

Thumbs up for a Sunday game not being at stupid early o'clock.

Nearly forgot the game was on, go hawks.

How good was that Grand Prix! And now right into the basketball, love it

Where are all the 36ers fans?

Investigate United now!

Koppens must be on court to clothesline someone.

Didn't have Tom Koppens Q1 minutes on my bingo card, the guy is becoming a meme at this point

Nah no disrespect who tf is Koppens. Why is Vickerman playing him, what's his game?

Strange that no Cameron so far.

United need to start passing the ball. Very stagnant now.

If the refs were calling Jack White like they call Lachie Olbrich in this series, White would be on court a lot more

2 games in a row they're continually calling soft stuff on White, while letting Olbrich throw his weight around.

If the refs were calling Jack White like they call Lachie Olbrich in this series, White would be on court a lot more

2 games in a row they're continually calling soft stuff on White, while letting Olbrich throw his weight around.

Grida clumsily falls over Lee, who was in position. Lee foul. White and Lee both early foul trouble again.

Meanwhile Olbrich throws elbows, runs through people off the ball etc. Only got one foul and it was a double with Bowen.

CG copping treatment. They've called a couple but missed others

One team can play physical, the other can't tonight.

What a crock of shyte

LV playing the Perth Anon role.

LV chill

Good game this, MU putting out some funky line ups.

Hawks (ironically Lv) could have a few in foul trouble in the second half.

Not sure which way this game will end up

MU started 2 half well

Game of runs. Days a great end to the 3rd.

Both sides so well scouted but smart enough to run counters.

Both very unselfish.

"What a crock of shyte"

Carn the Crows!

Olbrich been fantastic, get him back on.

Yet another run. This time United.

What are MU doing? They've been lucky with some chucking. If they run through their plays they look so much better and will win. If they fall back into the trap of early threes they'll blow this lead and lose it

MU hitting the front late.....

In no reality is that 3 FT's for Delly to seal the win for MU.

Nothing to say now LV?

Absolute disasterclass from Tyler and Trey.

Delly has been enormous this Q.

I'm going to have to follow up watching my least favourite WNBL team win the title with watching my least favourite NBL team win the title, aren't I?

Too tough. Too experienced.
Well done United.
Can the Hawk's get another road win?

Delly is a deadset beast.

Goulding +28
Swaka -30
Days + 14
Lee + 15
OlBrich + 14

Some odd lineups for Illawarra

Huge!

This series feel like last year- except United are the JJ's:

- Great defense
- All the one percenters, Grit and teamwork, never say die approach, sticking to the scout
- Finishing games well- giving up double digit leads but keep coming back
- Winning games away from home

What an effort- United just kept the best scoring team of the last 20+ years, to 10 points in the last quarter, with incredible defense and grit to come from behind and win

And they were missing the Defensive player of the year!!

Incredible victory. This has become a series for the ages.

LoBuluk, -30 and commentary talking up his offence, all Illawarra starters in the minus, Froling and Peatling minus 22 and 18. Vickerman and Delly just experienced, Tatum out of his depth here. Goulding plus 28, again so experienced. I don't see anyway back now for hawks. I hope I’m wrong.

The last couple of minutes is exactly how they called it, bully ball by Delly. Just like watching a dad shut up his 15 year old by just backing them into the paint and overpowering them.
And 10 points in the last quarter by the Hawks, shit offence or great defence or a combination of both? Or will Tatum accuse the refs of something more untoward?

Full credit to United Vickerman continues to show he's the best in the business. Winning both games on the road and without their best defender today too. Delly was huge in the second half.

Hawks are shitting the bed this series dropping both at home and Trey Kell like Matt Hurt in the SF is finding himself being exposed. Kell ain't no PG, poor handles, bad decision making and too many crap shooting games. Harvey's a chucker so you need someone more reliable alongside him. Froling needs to have a good hard look at himself too getting manhanded and totally outplayed by a guy 6 inches shorter than him. Jack White humiliated him today.

[Carn the Crows]

Haha. Get outta here.

Not surprised - I was amazed the bookies had that game so close (21.5 was the line, I thought 30-40 point loss would've been a fair result for the Saints

[Carn the Crows]

Haha. Get outta here.

Not surprised - I was amazed the bookies had that game so close (21.5 was the line, I thought 30-40 point loss would've been a fair result for the Saints

How is no one talking about Delly getting 3 shots? The contact had already happened before Delly throws the ball towards the ring standing basically near half way. Aylen basically gave United the championship with that terrible call. No league in the rest of the world would have allowed that to be 3 shots.

Well done to United today, White and Delly on fire. would love to see this series go right down to the final qtr of Game 5, but not sure how much more hype of young Felix I can take. It might even *cough* force me to cheer United on for Game 4!

The refs have not given United this championship. They've got the best coach, are the best prepared, hardest working and the best defensive team. Under no circumstances did I, or even LV for that matter, think this United team had any chance of winning the title this year.

They lost Lual-Acuil, Hukporti and Travers from last season and replaced them with Jack White, Marcus Lee and Rob Loe. That's almost waving a white flag on the season, we'll try and reload with better signings the following season. Incredible really.

Ultimately coming in, Hawks appeared to have a higher ceiling than United.

I think United's experience, culture, character and system has come to the fore and they're playing very very good basketball.

United is peaking at the time of year when you need to peak.

Illawarra has the ability to bounce back, execute at their absolute best level and win this series. But will that happen?

I think Vickerman has won the coaching battle so far.

He's recognised the value of Lee, playing him more and more.

Threw Koppens out as a decoy. A fearless move.

Their defensive schemes were top-notch today, switching and communication spot on. Illawarra had very few easy baskets.

They've made the decision to let Hickey shoot and give Hickey space. He shooting a low percentage- 12 from 33 FG's for the series.

Where were you when Tom Koppens took a bunch of roleplayers to an NBL a championship?

I'm still laughing about the conspiracy theory raised on here- Koppens was subbed on to deliberately goad Harrell into that fight (when Jack White was injured no less)

Koppens appearance in the first quarter of the game was raised as (the sole piece of?) evidence of this theory

An allegedly respectable, reputable member of this forum raised that idea in a serious manner

Surely one of the dumbest takes I've ever heard, in all my years reading forums like this

An allegedly respectable, reputable member of this forum not only raised that idea in a serious manner, but expected us to believe the NBL integrity unit was following that line of enquiry

That was devastating. This really felt like our season. This is the best team Hawks will ever have and Melbourne is ageing and mediocre. This was our year and we let it slip through our fingers. Disappointed is an understatement. Now we'll fold without winning another championship. It’s a bad feeling.

I've got a feeling Tatum might be on the way out too.

I fucking despise Melbourne. It would be easier if it was anyone but them. I can't really stand the the smugness of flopface and dellawanker, and Wicketman pisses me off too. It’s gotten to the point where it will start affecting my support of the Boomers when Goulding plays. I dislike him very much.

Honestly I wouldn't be so down if not for the Kell injury. Out of all the players, it just had to be him. I just can’t see how we win 2 in a row without him.

Derider - You think the Hawks are going to fold?
What makes you think that?

Hawks amazing starters let them down, to much bull shit hype now in the nbl. The love for some players by media is just not required, at least Damien Lowery calls it the way he sees it. Gaze reasonably good as well, Rucker ok but has a few overrated favourites. Hopefully the hawks can shove it down my throat next game but they will need a lots improvement.

"Derider - You think the Hawks are going to fold?
What makes you think that?"

They're always on the verge of folding. I can think of at least 4 times where they were rescued from liquidation at the last possible moment, either by a local millionaire or the NBL. I don’t think it will happen immediately, but it’s inevitable. Wollongong always loses its professional teams eventually. It happened with the Steelers in NRL and Wolves in soccer. I guess the city’s not quite big enough to support a professional sports team in the long run (though it’s bullshit - 300,000 people should be more than a big enough population but Australian leagues only really accept metropolises for the long term). Not enough sponsors, not big enough crowds, not a marketable geographical name for the NBL. Most people have no idea where Illawarra even is.

And even on this forum, watch the people sharpen their knives and start calling for the Hawks’ expulsion as soon as they start struggling on court. They obviously can’t say anything now since the crowds have been fantastic this season, but watch the vultures come out of the woodwork the next time Hawks are average.

I respect Gaze as the best Australian player of all time, but it's really hard to put up with his cheerleading for Melbourne as a commentator. He doesn’t even try to hide it. It’s completely unprofessional.

Well, like death and taxes....

Tatum also called out the officials.

The second-year coach was unhappy that his team went to the foul line just eight times compared to United's 21.

The Hawks were charged with 19 personal fouls to United’s 14.

Asked if he would ask for an explanation from the NBL, Tatum scoffed.

"Who cares, talking to them is irrelevant," he said.

“I can send in whatever I need to send in, it doesn’t matter.

“We’ve just got to play through whoever they send to officiate the game, whoever they send to commentate the game, we don’t care, we just care about the Hawks, that’s it.”

Two good media conferences. Tatum absolutely spewing but made some fair points, certainly the one re Delly.

Just a thought for kings fans, JVG brought in Vickerman to be Gaze assistant, he stayed for one season and been at United ever since, yes the kings did get back to back but united over the distance been far better.

I'm still hoping the hawks can tie it up but just don’t see it. There is no plan b, it’s been shown up by Vickerman how to stop them.

Tatum's conference was an absolute joke.

Add the post game conference to his list of fines for comments about the refereeing. He makes the Hawks impossible to support with his attitude.

Tatum is a man with a massive chip on his shoulder.

Tatum showed post game showed why they won't win. Such a woefull attitude. He’s acting like it’s regular season game where he can just have a bitch and move onto the next game. Not much positivity out of him at all.

I actually didn't mind when United lost to the JJ's. It was a fairytale story, and Roth's a top bloke.

But this year I hope they smack the Hawks by 20. Tatum's so classless.

Was always about vickermans ability to make adjustments with his coaching staff and Tatum just turning up the volume of what they already do.

Hawks
Pushed harder in trans with more staggers, untied countered with switching and zoning off poor shooters.

Hawks move to more of the floppy action and united top locked shooters and hawks didn't back cut them.

Hawks got more physical on IC and CG and they just back cut or rejected screens for buckets, even Lee rolling out early to punish them in Zoom actions.

Hawks in Game 3 put Peatling on Delly, and United just emptied the post in transition and let delly roll in 1 on 1 to the hoop, hawks never made the adjustment of getting a man under the ball in transition.

Out coached maybe not, out smarted on every adjustment by Vickerman. Meanwhile Tatums go to is to blast the officials

Just read Tatums post game press conference. Has to be the sorest looser in the history of sport. An absolute flog. Blame your own team for blowing a 10 pt lead in the 4th quarter. Referees or the NBL didn't continually chuck up rubbish shots and play with no poise down the stretch.

Any news on Trey Kelly's injury ?

Putting aside Coach Tatum's complaints in the context of raw emotion after the loss, I’m interested to hear if anyone thinks the decisions to stop and not stop the game were wrong. They stopped the game in the third after two players slipped in the same spot about 1 second apart. Seems to be a safety call that is within a ref’s power.

In the last, the Kell injury became apparent after United took the ball to the other end and he couldn’t get up. At that point stopping the game would not protect him, so I would assume the ref decision was a correct application of FIBA rule 5.2. If Illawarra retained possession then the game definitely should have been stopped with a player injured on the floor under their basket. Am I missing something?

Yes that's the correct application of the rules.

Swaka Lo Buluk cleaned up someone to get a foul call to stop the game, and could have been given an USF for how excessive the contact was.

The excuses you made for Tatum's comments are hilarious. He's a professional and didn't say those things from emotion, or he would have used the words "the refs let them bully and foul us" or "the refs screwed us over". It was premeditated to play the victum while thinking he was vague enough to also having deniability. It was a cheap shot, one of many over the time from him.

Didn't see the Delly delay, but with Kells the Hawks had options. The refs can't stop a game whilst it's going the other way and there's no danger to the player. Else we'll start getting flopping, especially in the final minutes where a player will go down and stay down deliberately to prevent a fast break. And in this case it was a quick decision, Kell might have hopped up after a few seconds and played on, it's not like he landed on his head.
But the Hawks could simply have played 4 on 5 and when possession changed the game would have been stopped. Don't know if the bench were calling out to foul, but if they did and Delly shot it then good on him. Imagine if they faked the foul and the shot came.
And for all this fair play business, the carry on they had against SEM a few weeks ago when the game was over is a bit hypocritical. That moment was when a lot of impartial fans that favoured the Hawks as underdog turned. So maybe it's a bit of karma.
Tatum is really letting the success go to his head, as well as the players. And now they're getting the yips no-one is really feeling sorry for them. At least it wasn't a racial thing this time blaming not liking Kells type as the reason for letting play go on.

"That moment was when a lot of impartial fans that favoured the Hawks as underdog turned."

Ain't that the truth. As a SEM supporter, I thought if Illawarra beat SEM that I'd support them over MU, even though I'm a Victorian. But with that carry on towards the end of and after the SEM game, they lost me.

Assuming they win Tatum still isn't as bad as the only other Hawks coach who did so in Brendan Joyce.

Tatum chucking multiple tantrums still has a more likeable team than MU.

I am still hoping the Hawks roll them in the last 2, however unlikely that seems now.

So am I, I was a little sympathetic towards united as thought they were very unfortunate last season, but after the fiasco that happened against the Sixers I'm on the hawks bandwagon, just can’t see them winning.

Haha, S1L3NC3R83, please explain this...

"The refs can't stop a game whilst it's going the other way and there's no danger to the player."

Probably was the correct call by the refs (but the in-the-act-of-shooting was a bit dubious).

But I recall a Hawks game earlier, when the Hawks were on a fast break after a turnover, crosssing half-way. AND ref stops play to get the floor wiped. In the Hawks back court. After they had passed the moist spot.

Another inconsistency: letting Melbourne inbound the ball in their front court when Tyler (who had been in the Hawks front court) was getting back. Yes he was a bit slow getting back. But last game: Hawks had a timeout, refs signal end to timeout to both teams, Hawks obey, waiting to inbound. 10 seconds or so later Melbourne finally wander back on court, refs nicely wait until they're in position before giving ball to Hawks.

And I know the refs can put the ball in play without a team being ready. Roger did it to the Hawks (and, no, I'm not bitter - I've met Roger and he's not a bad bloke, and a good 3 point shooter in his day!)

Which game are you referring to re: Shiels?

THIS is the standard basketball fan .....

here's 3 completely different situations and the refs didn't do the same thing. Where's the consistency!?!?!?!

Melbourne is the most arrogant, unlikeable team in the league and it's not even close. Everything about them screams entitlement. And as abrasive as Tatum sometimes is, he has a point. The refs are definitely biased towards the bigger teams in clutch moments. It might even be unconscious, but it’s pretty obvious. Melbourne undeniably got the rub of the green in this one. Delly slips and the game is stopped immediately with the player given all the time he needs to dust himself off and get back in position. Kell slips - no, play on and f you, here’s 3 free throws to United for good measure. Melbourne is called for only 2 fouls the whole second half. It’s clear bias and Tatum is correct to call it out. And that’s not even mentioning the Melbourne cheersquad in the commentary box.

Still, Hawks shouldn’t have needed any help from the refs. When you’re 10 points up in the 4th and lose, you’ve got no one to blame but yourself. They chucked it away.

If you think MU got the 'rub' in this scenario, it just means you don't understand the rules of basketball. There is no bias in it, just a solid effort by Tatum to distract from the reality that his team got beaten. If anything, the game getting stopped when Delly slipped resulted in a Krebs dunk getting waived away, so arguably MU got disadvantaged.

The arrogance, in my opinion, comes from Illawarra. They've been acting as if this championship is in the bag for months - just ask anyone at the Sydney Kings. Whenever something doesn't go their way, their sense of entitlement shines.

^ 100%

The "small town battler" narrative is there for the taking. JJ's used it to perfection last year and Roth channeled the "defend the island" mantra. A masterclass of coaching, culture and "next man up" mentality. Eg Majok Deng taking over....game 4 was it?

Tatum is fast becoming the next Chase Buford- a whiny brat American coach who comes here with a bad attitude.

Remains to be seen whether he can emulate Chase's achievement and win a title. Without one, Tatum might just leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth, even Hawks fans.

Tatum fined $7,500 for his childish press conference