Copes' Corner: 'No excuses' for Hawks duo

• NBL legend Lanard Copeland has joined Basketball.com.au as a columnist for the playoffs
• Copeland won two NBL championships with the Melbourne Tigers
• He has tipped Melbourne United to beat Illawarra 3-2

COPES' CORNER — An insight with NBL legend Lanard Copeland

Well, last column I said if Jack White didn't perform that Melbourne United were no chance. He did and look what happened.

This time, it's the All-NBL First Team backcourt of Trey Kell III and Tyler Harvey from the Illawarra Hawks that I have in my sights.

The Hawks should be up at least 2-1 now, with a chance to take home their first NBL championship since the famous 2001 title, but instead they're 40 minutes away from a disappointing end to an otherwise incredible season.

A major reason for their success is how good Kell and Harvey have been. But also a big reason why they find themselves trailing in this series, is also because of Kell and Harvey. They both had huge games in the game two win in Melbourne where Harvey hit the game-winner but other than that, they haven't been good enough. In their two losses, the duo has combined for 15 points and 17 points while they exploded for 42 points in the game two victory. Most of all, they didn't do what people would expect of them when Illawarra had a 10-point lead with seven minutes left of game three at home. And that's close it out.

Now they have to do it in one of the toughest situations in basketball, win a game on the road when their season is on the line.

This is it. These guys have played in the league and played all over the world but they haven't played in these championship games. Delly's been there, Ian Clark's been there, Jack White's been there and Dean Vickerman has been there multiple times, so all these guys have that experience. It's not easy because you get down by a certain amount of points on the road and it ain't easy coming back, man.

The crowd is into it, the team has momentum, Chris Goulding comes out and hits out a couple of threes and you're done. They got to come in here and take a win like they did before.

But these are the games that can take the legacy of players like Harvey and Kell to a whole other level as far as in the history of the NBL. Harvey's been a superstar in this league for a few years, Kell has improved after starting poorly with the South East Melbourne Phoenix but none of that means anything if you can't get the job done. It's on those two guys.

You two are the man, you get all the accolades, right now is when you take over. Yes, your veterans and your rookies and young guys can give you a boost but right now, this is when the big bucks take over and you get paid the big bucks. Ain't no six points or eight points in these finals games. Harvey's been disappointing and Kell's been disappointing, apart from game two.

At the end of the day, you've got to come to the party, especially when you're up 10 in the fourth quarter, that has to be a win, that's on their shoulders.

I expect them both to take it more upon themselves in game four, they have to. If they haven't already, I would've expected both of them to meet and talk about it and let each other know that we have to take over and I'm sure Justin Tatum would be empowering them to do exactly that.

Without Shea Ili, it should be easier for one of them to get going, they can't both be down. I remember when I played in finals games for the Melbourne Tigers, my numbers in the playoffs went up because all the focus was on Gazey, even though he would still go for 30. But between us, we knew we were taking care of 60 points between us and that needs to be the goal for Kell and Harvey.

You have to believe and say: "We are the guys. We're the Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. We're the dynamic duo that has to perform and if we don't then we're not going to win". It's that simple.

One thing technically for both Kell and Harvey, is there's just too many jump shots as well, especially down the stretch of games, there has to be a priority to attack the basket. Harvey is a big shot taker and a big shot maker but it doesn't have to be all threes for him, he has that trademark floater he can get to anytime because defenders have to respect his outside shot. While Kell is the biggest guard there, he needs to get in the post and create some penetration and some easy buckets from there. If they do that, they have the potential and experience of winning in Melbourne, we know that from game two.

I know Kell may have been injured in the last game but there's no excuses, if you're out there, you're expected to perform. If you're not good enough to go, sit out like Shea Ili did. Otherwise, no excuses.

A poker card Illawarra haven't played yet that I think could be huge late in games is fouling Marcus Lee and Jack White and send them to the free-throw line. Those two guys have been horrendous at the free-throw line, so if I'm struggling to score, when they get the ball, I'm going to foul them straight away. If they miss, it gives me another opportunity to go down and score and if they continue to miss, I'm going to foul them until Dean Vickerman has to take them out of the game.

I'm getting in their head and even though he had a great game three, remember when Jack White missed six free-throws against Perth and they were ugly and it got in his head? Send him to the line and see what happens. It's an option for the Hawks, especially when Goulding, Clark and Dellavedova are so good at clutch moments in big games.

But none of that means anything for Illawarra if their star backcourt don't come out and perform.

It's just like we spoke about with Jack White. If Harvey and Kell don't dominate, the Hawks won't win, that's the bottom line. Their season will be over and it will all be for nothing.

LANARD COPELAND'S PREVIOUS COLUMNS:

• Jack White must stand up for United to be champions
• The day Dean Vickerman dropped 32 points on me
• Sam Froling is Illawarra's x-factor