'They'd die for him': NBL legend backs Tatum

• Justin Tatum won the NBL's Coach of the Year after leading the Hawks to the minor premiership
• Joey Wright was named NBL Coach of the Year in 2004, 2007 and 2017
• No home teams have won a game so far in the NBL Championship series

The NBL championship mentor, who Illawarra Hawks coach Justin Tatum has drawn comparisons to, has squashed claims the Coach of the Year's comments towards the referees and the league could cost his team ahead of their do-or-die game four clash with Melbourne United tonight.

Three-time NBL Coach of the Year, Joey Wright, says Tatum's comments are all part of publicly backing his players until the end and creating an "us verse them mentality" that has worked for the Hawks all season and led them to the minor premiership as well as the championship series.

Wright, who won a championship with the Brisbane Bullets in 2007, is ranked third all-time for wins as a coach in the NBL and was known for creating the same environment as a coach, especially in his years with the Adelaide 36ers, where he took them to a five-game championship series against Melbourne United in 2018 and also when the team finished the regular season in first place in 2017 despite experts predicting them to finish towards the bottom.

The former Bullets, Gold Coast Blaze and 36ers coach said he has loved watching what Tatum has done with the Hawks this season and said his players would die for him out on the court.

"If anything, these types of situations where the coach comes out and sticks up for his players, whether it's right or wrong will galvanise a team," Wright said.

"It's what you do as a great coach, I haven't seen a great coach who wouldn't come out and back his players. Dean Vickerman does the same thing for his players, otherwise his players wouldn't love playing for him.

"Sometimes you just feel things as a coach, whether it's calls not going your way, or injuries or whatever and you can come out and say something and then the players hear it and go 'you know what, he's right' and then that may fire them up a little bit.

"It's all about that us verse them mentality that we've seen work for a lot of sports teams, especially basketball teams over time.

"But Justin has been great with Illawarra, he's been a breath of fresh air with the way he's gone about it and he's really turned things around with the Hawks to the point where they're within two games of a championship."

While United will head into tonight's game four as favourites, playing in front of their home fans at John Cain Arena and needing just one win to claim their third title under Vickerman, Wright said the Hawks needed another memorable performance from star guard Tyler Harvey to keep the series alive.

"He's shown he's definitely capable of it but he's the man I think, if he can go off, Illawarra have a chance," he said.

Game four tips-off tonight at 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN, 10 Bold and 10 Play.