'I was the hero in 1993', who will it be in 2025?

• 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

One thing is certain in these winner-take-all championship games, there is going to be a hero.

Somebody's going to have to be and the great thing about these types of games is we don't know who it's going to be. It could be Chris Goulding for Melbourne United, it could be Trey Kell for the Illawarra Hawks, or it could be just a normal guy coming off the bench who knocks down two jump shots in a row. You just never know but mark my words, there is going to be a hero.

These deciding games are just completely different to anything else. Players from both teams will be overthinking everything. You see everything on the television, radio and the newspaper is all about the game. At the end of the day, the team that can relax, breathe and be calm is the team who's going to win.

It's also different as far as the series goes because you've played them four times already. You know what they're going to do, what they're not going to do, what play they're going to run, what play they're not going to run. You know everything that's going to happen. This game comes down to your ticker, what's in your heart, whoever wants it the most, that's what it comes down to.

When we, the Melbourne Tigers, went to Perth to play the Wildcats for the deciding game three in the 1993 championship series, we had not won there in 10 years. I woke up the morning of the game thinking What the hell is going on? Why is it so hard to win in Perth? I mean, we've won everywhere else. That game I had 35 points and we won the championship.

I was the hero, it was one of those games where I played quite well and we needed something like that to get us over the hump. But how to you overcome thinking about all the pressure that comes with playing in such a big game? It's hard man but at the end of the day, this is the last game, this is about the ring, this is about the championship, it's about your legacy.

The days leading up to that game in 1993, Lindsey Gaze was calm and everyone in our team was calm, and I think that helped. But for me, the biggest thing was going to shootaround on game day and seeing the Wildcats preparing for a championship celebration. They had the balloons ready to go in the net, they were getting the champagne bottles out. That turned something on for me and I was like 'wait you guys are already counting this win'.

I remember Scott Fisher from the Wildcats on the news or something saying we couldn't win in Perth and it got to me. Surprisingly, it got to everyone on our team, everyone was on board with me and felt an extra little bit of motivation and those little things you can grab a hold of in those big games can mean a lot.

It turned out everyone played quite well but I stood out a little because I got really hot in that third quarter. I was in the zone. I threw something up and it went in, got another shot, went in, got a back door cut and then hit a three. I was just in a zone where Druey (Andrew Gaze), Warwick Giddey and Mark Bradtke were like, 'get him the ball and get out the way'. It was one of those zones.

I was talking trash as well because Ricky Grace and I didn't like each other back then. But when Ricky got his fourth foul, I knew we had a chance and we came away with a memorable win.

Someone is going to get in that zone today.

While in 1993 we were thinking why couldn't we win in Perth, Illawarra are probably thinking why can't we win at home this series? While Melbourne is thinking we let another chance slip on Wednesday night, we can't have a repeat of last year and miss out on another title. There's a lot that will be playing on the minds of both teams.

There's a lot at play today, including the legacy of some of our greatest players. Is your legacy diminished if you lose the series? It does if you can't get it done two years in a row, which could be the case for United.

Last year was an anomaly, United lost and they shouldn't have lost. If you come back and win this year and everything's back on track. If you lose it this year, people start looking at you as if you can't win it, you don't have enough to win it or you're not good enough to win it anymore, so it can hurt you, it can really hurt you. On the other hand, if the Hawks win it with this team, I don't see why they can't win it again.

This series has certainly been one to remember, last year's grand finals series with Tasmania winning was one we will never forget. Mainly because of Jack McVeigh's shot and how they were able to win it. But this year's has been very good and it's always going to be good when you get the first and second teams, who are full of stars, playing. What makes this so much better is no one knowing how to win at home.

Before the series, if you spoke to me and the experts, we all would have picked the home teams to win the first four games then it all coming down to a game five. However, we are still on track for my prediction of Melbourne winning 3-2.

It's going to be a game to remember, to finish a series and season to remember. Whoever wants it the most will win.

LANARD COPELAND'S PREVIOUS COLUMNS:

• No excuses for Illawarra's star duo
• 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