Delly helps bring out best in White

To take the pressure off himself heading into Game 4, Melbourne United forward Jack White wanted to get back to enjoying his basketball and having Matthew Dellavedova feeding him certainly helped him achieve that.

After not scoring nor attempting a single field goal in the Game 2 Championship Series loss to the Illawarra Hawks, White delivered 20 points, five rebounds, two steals and a block in Sunday's Game 3 win.

The other star for Melbourne was Dellavedova who took his game at both ends of the floor up another gear in the absence of his back court running mate, Shea Ili. 

Dellavedova's defence was crucial while he also scored 16 points and 11 assists while having no turnovers in 35 minutes.

He scored nine of his points in the last four minutes, but White was anything but surprised.

"It takes a lot of weight off your shoulders as a group when you have someone like that to rely on," White said.

"It's just a cool moment for me, this is someone I've looked up to my entire career as a country Victorian guy who goes on to be an NBA champ and a hell of a teammate and player.

"He's someone who can set the table and take over and own those moments, and he's done that for us.

"Especially now with the absence of Shili, him having 11 assists and no turnovers is no surprise to anyone given the career he's had and who he is. It's an unbelievable asset that we have as a group and it's no surprise how good of a good he did for us all game."

White scored a three on the very first possession before ending up shooting 8/9 from the floor including 3/4 from long-range.

He tried to ease the pressure on himself going into the game focusing on enjoying himself and it worked with Melbourne going on a 20-4 run in the fourth quarter to claim the eventual win and take a 2-1 series lead.

"Simply put, I just wanted to enjoy the moment," White said.

"This is basketball, man, and we're all very privileged to be able to play it and I've been away from the game with injuries and stuff.

"I just wanted to focus on enjoying it and having fun, and that gets the best out of me and I have that natural sort of competitiveness about me.

"When I'm having fun, I'm not overthinking and that brings out the best in me with my assertiveness and aggressiveness.

"A lot of the time, I just found myself on the end of good offence and a lot of credit goes to my teammates and I knew I had to not be in my own head about it."