“One of the greatest victories I’ve ever seen.” Derek Rucker

“One of the greatest victories I’ve ever seen.” 

You know NBL legend Derek Rucker has seen a few, so his take held water as Illawarra grafted its way to arguably the finest post-season victory in franchise-history on Wednesday night.  

To run through all the storylines arising out of the Hawks 80-71 win over Melbourne United would be akin to War and Peace, and the first half of that famous title is an apt description for what occurred at John Cain Arena. 

The primary one, though, is that the 2025 NBL trophy is bound for Wollongong, with the Hawks looking to ensure it stays there after producing a stunning boilover to level the championship series at two apiece. 

And they did it without two of their biggest trump cards, with Trey Kell unable to hobble through a fitness test on the knee injured in Game Three prior to tip-off. If that didn’t make the climb steep enough, he was joined on the pine by Sam Froling late in the second term.  

In heartbreaking fashion, the achilles injury that forced him off will bring an end to the longest active streak of consecutive NBL games (176) and leave the Hawks needing to claim the series decider without their co-skipper. 

Ordinarily, that would be the story to emerge from a Game Four, but this night it was one of several.

Dockyard brawl custom-made for ‘Davo’

All season long, coach Justin Tatum has talked up the depth of his roster. Still, the thought of winning a post-season game without just one of his big three – let alone two – would have been unthinkable prior to Wednesday night. 

Instead, a career night from Will Hickey, and a beautifully timed support act from Lachlan Olbrich, was enough for the Hawks to scrap their way to a famous win, keeping United to their lowest score of the season.  

Hickey had a monstrous 22 points, eight assists, and six rebounds in the absence of Kell as United kept Tyler Harvey to 12 points at 4-15 shooting.  

“We’ve never really been in that situation all year, so it was a first for us, but all year it's been about our bench, it's been about our depth, the next guy up,” Tatum said. 

“Davo played exceptionally well. He’s an energy guy and when he gets going on both ends, he can produce. He understood that he was going to potentially start a day ago and he was locked in on the scout and what he needed to do. He was just unbelievable.”  

Olbrich had 13 points, six rebounds and three assists, each one of them a lump of gold in a dramatically scrappy and low-scoring affair. 

“He got after himself for some of the chippies that he missed (early), but we believed in him because there was nobody to sub in for him and he's a matchup problem when he's out there,” Tatum said. 

Hawks make the ones that count 

Prior to the fourth quarter, it was one of those nights where the basket looked more like the corner pocket of a pool table than a regulation ring. 

The Hawks were 10-38 from the field at halftime, while United were only slightly better at 13-35. Clearly, it was a night where the first team to find their range from deep would get home, and it proved the be the visitors when it mattered. 

After getting his first start in several months, Darius Days was just short of a double-double with nine points and 11 boards, but his one three from three attempts on the evening proved the dagger. 

Up by six with 2.39 left on the clock, Days drained an open three for an eight-point lead that became a sledgehammer blow, when Harvey followed up with just his second three from nine attempts to push the margin out to 11 next trip up the floor.  

“We had a lot of good conversations before this game and we knew he’d be ready to go, I told him ‘no hesitation, man, you let that ball go, this is what you do’,” Harvey told the post-game coverage.  

To that point, Days’ most telling contribution was his defensive muscle on United’s Game-Three hero Jack White, who had just six points after dropping 20 in Wollongong four days earlier.  

Delly’s classy gesture amid Froling heartbreak 

He gives no favours on the floor, but United star Matthew Dellavedova spoke for many when he sent his thoughts out to Froling, who’ll be a spectator in Game Five after suffering the achilles injury.  

“Firstly, I just feel for Frols,” Dellavedova said to the first question fielded in the post-game presser.  

“[He’s a] great young player who’s worked really hard, so we hope he’s all right.” 

It leaves Tatum’s staff left to formulate a game plan that doesn’t involve their front-court linchpin in Game Five.  

“My EMT told me that it's achilles situation,” Tatum said. 

“We haven't had any scans, but Sam's in good spirits, we’re in good spirits with him. We just hope that he gets a good recovery, maybe not for game five, but just for his professional career.”  

The Hawks will be boosted by the return of Kell who was “extremely” close to taking the floor on Wednesday according to Tatum.

“Trey should be okay by Sunday,” Tatum said. 

“We want to make sure that he's a hundred per cent, or enough to go, but he's a competitor. Nobody wants to not play in a grand final championship game.”   

Bruises but no surprises.  

For all the elation that follows a win of such grit, Tatum cut a measured figure post-game with a job still to do. For his part, there was nothing shocking about the victory.  

‘[Belief] was through the roof, it never dropped,” he said. 

“Statistically, we don’t lose two games back-to-back often.  

“We wanted to force a Game Five and that’s what we did. Our back was against the wall, there was no tomorrow unless we created it.  

“You guys finally saw my team that you’ve seen all year in a consistent 40 minutes. Unfortunately, it was us without Sam and Trey, but it’s how we rotate guys in and out. 

“We kind of got away from that the first couple of games because we wanted to establish ourselves, but we went back to the old us.”  

Tip-off in the series decider at the WIN Entertainment Centre on Sunday is at 2.30pm