Delly ignites United Game 3 triumph

Matthew Dellavedova inspired Melbourne United to a 20-4 run after being down double-figures in the fourth quarter to beat the Illawarra Hawks 83-77 in Game 3 to lead the NBL Championship Series 2-1.

The series was tied at 1-1 coming into Game 3 on Sunday evening at the WIN Entertainment Centre with the road teams having won the first two match ups, and it turned out a second half of great runs for both sides.

It was a grind in the first half with Illawarra clinging to the 42-41 lead before United opened up a seven-point lead in the third quarter but then the home team took charge with their bench unit.

Darius Days inspired a 16-0 run that saw them up 10 early in the final term, but it was a remarkable turnaround from there by United with Dellavedova leading the charge without Shea Ili.

Melbourne scored 20 of the game's next 24 points to have their own six-point lead with Dellavedova at the forefront of it all including nine of those points. United prevailed to be within one win of a championship with Game 4 back on their home floor.

Dellavedova had 12 of his 16 points in the second half while also dishing out 11 assists while his defence at times on both Trey Kell III and Tyler Harvey without Ili was crucial in the final result.

The Hawks' All-First Team back court managed just 17 points combined on 7/20 shooting and 2/12 from deep.

Jack White was scoreless without a shot attempt in Game 2, but came up huge for Melbourne with 20 points and five rebounds on 8/9 shooting from the field and 3/4 from downtown.

Ian Clark had another 16 points and seven rebounds, Chris Goulding 14 points and three steals, and Marcus Lee eight points and eight boards.

"With Shea out he put a lot on his shoulders straight away. Any time that he has that extra load he's always excelled," said coach Dean Vickerman who is attempting to take United to a third championship in his tenure.

"It was unbelievable some of the things he did tonight."

The Hawks will be kicking themselves losing from a 10-point lead early in the fourth on their home floor while shooting just 43 per cent from the field and 8/36 from deep while only attempting eight foul shots.

Davo Hickey ended up with 12 points while Wani Swaka Lo Buluk had 10 and Days 11 to be +14 in his 18 and-a-half minutes.

"The season's not over," said Hawks coach Justin Tatum.

"We got them at their place, just like they got us at our place twice. The first person who wins at home wins the series, so see you in Melbourne."

It was the perfect start for Melbourne not only with them scoring the game's first eight points, but because the first three of those were with a three-pointer from Jack White who didn't attempt a single field goal in Game 2.

When White scored again, United were up 10-2 but the Hawks answered and soon went on a run of 12 straight points.

Illawarra ended up leading 22-17 by quarter-time but they only shot 44 per cent opposed to the 36 from United.

The Hawks then threatened to pull away to a sizeable lead early in the second quarter opening up with a 6-2 run. It took three minutes for Melbourne to make a field goal which came with a triple from Tanner Krebs.

Illawarra did lead by as much as nine but Melbourne worked back into it. Matthew Dellavedova and Ian Clark finally making their only four shots of the half despite combining for 4/16 in the half, United got back on top.

It was Kell on the buzzer who scored to give the Hawks the 42-41 lead at the half but it was quite the battle with Illawarra shooting 45 per cent to Melbourne's 42 as they combined to shoot 9/30 from deep and neither was able to get out in transition.

It was Melbourne's turn to threaten to take control to open the second half with White finishing an alley-oop and hitting another three-point bomb while Clark helped them to a 9-2 run to lead by six.

Goulding and Dellavedova then also hit three balls to push the lead out to seven but the Hawks turned to their bench and it was Darius Days, Hickey and Hyunjung Lee who sparked them.

Illawarra scored the last 14 points of the third quarter to be back in front 67-60 at three quarter-time before Days made that a 16-0 run when he scored to start the final period.

The Hawks soon had the first double-digit lead of Game 3 but Melbourne answered with the next nine points that started with a long ball from Rob Loe for his first points of the game.

Dellavedova ended up scoring with four minutes to go as part of another 9-0 run to give Melbourne the lead once more and he was the one that iced the game with another tough make in the paint with 31 seconds to go.

Game 4 will be Wednesday night at John Cain Arena with United having the chance to clinch their third championship if they can be the first team to win in this series on their home floor.

If the Hawks continue the run of wins for the road teams, Game 5 will be back in Wollongong next Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES 2025 – GAME 3

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 77 (Hickey 12, Days 11, Swaka Lo Buluk 10, Kell III 10)

MELBOURNE UNITED 83 (White 20, Dellavedova 16, Clark 16)

Melbourne United lead best-of-5 series 2-1

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