1-1: Harvey's clutch triple stuns United to level championship series

• Tyler Harvey hit a clutch three with six seconds left to win the game for Illawarra
• Melbourne United fought back from an 11-point deficit at three-quarter time to lead with 10 seconds left
• Shea Ili missed the second half of the game after a hit to the head

Tyler Harvey has hit the biggest shot of his career, connecting on a clutch three-pointer over Ian Clark, to lead the Illawarra Hawks to a 102-100 win over Melbourne United in game two of the NBL Championship Series at John Cain Arena.

"I was really pissed about the play before when I fouled Clark," Harvey said.

"During the timeout I just prayed. I was like, 'God, please just give me a chance to redeem myself'.

"That was just such a bonehead play and almost cost us the game, so I'm just thankful that my teammates trusted me to give me the ball.

"Sometimes they go in and sometimes they don't. Tonight it went in."

Harvey had fouled Clark on a tough end-of-clock three ball from the corner. The 91% free throw shooter hit the bottom of the net on all three to put United in front 100-99 with nine seconds left to set up the grandstand finish for Harvey.

He got his chance. Money!

Illawarra responded in perfect fashion to their game one loss at home to United with Harvey, Trey Kell III and Sam Froling combining for 65 points to cause United’s usually suffocating defence all sorts of problems and level the series at one game apiece.

But it was Melbourne who seemed to have built of the confidence from the second half of the series opener on Saturday, running out to an early lead.

‍Chris Goulding found space for two early triples, even forcing two fouls on Wani Swaka Lo Buluk and forcing the defensive stopper to the bench, while Ian Clark also connected on a four-point play as Hawks players seemed to be switched off after wanting a coach’s challenge, which Justin Tatum didn’t call.

The Hawks All-NBL First Team backcourt of Kell and Harvey increased their aggression on the offensive end, finding opportunities they didn’t have in game one at Illawarra to have a 29-26 lead with just seconds remaining in the first quarter. However, United’s Tanner Krebs played with some newly discovered confidence and hit a buzzer beating step back three, his second of the period, to level the scores at 29 at quarter time.

Krebs was fired up, scoring six points in an 8-0 Melbourne run to start the second quarter as the situation started to look grim for Illawarra. But the visitors responded, as they always do, with a 22-10 run to finish the half as they dominated on both ends of the floor. Harvey connected on a long range bomb to ignite emotion not only from himself but from coach Tatum and Froling also attacked United’s bigs, who all found themselves in foul trouble. Rob Loe and Jack White were benched with three fouls while Marcus Lee had two. 

A late Ian Clark floater on the halftime buzzer gave United some momentum to close the first half but the home side trailed 51-49 at the main break. 

Melbourne started the second quarter already with their backs against the wall with the Defensive Player of the Year Shea Ili staying in the change rooms after taking a hit to the head towards the end of the second quarter. The offensive potency of the Hawks was even more evident in the third as their big men in Froling, Lachlan Olbrich and Darius Days continued to take advantage of their advantage inside the paint as Kell continued with his form and Hyunjung Lee hit a massive three to give Illawarra even more confidence. 

Their defence for the visitors was just as good as their offence, even switching all screens at stages to cause United to be stagnant - much like the Hawks were in the second half of game one. And to make things worse for Melbourne, a William Hickey three-point attempt bounced in after it hit every part of the basket as Illawarra went into the three-quarter time break with a game-high 82-71 lead.

Clark, an NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors, answered the call for United scoring five straight points to make John Cain Arena erupt and have the home side back within six points leading to an Illawarra timeout.

Swaka Lo Buluk responded with another triple which silenced the United faithful before back-to-back threes from Goulding and Dellavedova gave all the confidence and momentum to Melbourne, who trailed by just three. While Froling scored his 23rd point of the game to maintain the lead for Illawarra, the Hawks lost Goulding at the three-point line again for United to be within one, forcing Tatum to call his second timeout of the quarter.

While the Hawks managed to find a few baskets, the momentum was all with Melbourne as a Lee dunk and layups from Dellavedova and Clark tied scores up at 97-all with 1:05 left.

The ever-growing confidence of Hickey was on show when it mattered most for the Hawks, driving to the basket to force Lee into his fourth foul and knock down two crucial free-throws to put Illawarra up by two with under one minute on the clock.

Kell came up with arguably the biggest defensive play of the game, blocking a Dellavedova floater to get the ball back for his team with 37 seconds left. He then missed an open mid-range to all-but put the game to bed for Illawarra before the Harvey fouled Clark on a three-point shot once again.

The man, who won an NBL championship with the Sydney Kings, connected on all three free-throws to give United a 100-99 advantage with 10.4 seconds remaining. But as he has done so many times in the NBL, Harvey knocked down the biggest shot of his career in the league with a triple over the outstretched hand of Clark to give the Hawks a two-point lead before a last-second heave from Goulding rimmed out for the visitors to finish with an incredible 102-100 victory.

"Rebounding's been a massive factor in both games and it's a big turnaround for them to have 22 offensive boards," United coach Dean Vickerman said.

"We turned it over a lot more than we did the other night and they punished us pretty hard for all of those moments."

Harvey led the Hawks with 23 points while Froling had 23 and Kell finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

Clark was the standout for United with 31 points and he was supported by Goulding with 17, Dellavedova with 14 and Krebs with 12.

Game three is back at WIN Entertainment Centre in Wollongong on Sunday at 5.30pm AEDT.