Harvey's ultimate redemption

When Tyler Harvey fouled Ian Clark to send him to the line with just 10.4 seconds remaining, the Illawarra Hawks' Championship hopes looked under real threat. 

Already down 1-0 in the Series and with Clark a lights-out free-throw shooter, Harvey admitted it was a "bonehead play", as the United star knocked down all three shots and gave his team a one-point lead.

He knew he had to make up for it. 

"To be completely honest with you, I was really pissed about the play before when I fouled Clark," Harvey said.

"During the timeout I just prayed for God to give me the chance to redeem myself, because it was just such a bonehead play, and almost cost us the game."

And redeem himself he did. With seven seconds left, Harvey hit a game-winner that will go down in history. 

"I'm just thankful that my teammates trusted me to get me the ball and sometimes they go in, and sometimes they don’t. Tonight it just went in," he said. 

Harvey said winning was the only option, after the Hawks dropped Game 1 on their home court. 

"This game just shows how hard it is to win any game in this series," Harvey said.

"Going down 0-2 in this series against a team like this would be very difficult and we knew that coming in.

"It was basically a must-win game for us and man, this is just a hard fought series and it's going to come down to the last minutes every game."

The Hawks turned around what cost them on Saturday night, by having 22 offensive rebounds for 15 second-chance points, scoring 26 points from Melbourne's 16 turnovers and getting to the foul line for 30 free throws to 18 from United.

"We just needed to get on the board. We needed to come to the party and we weren’t at the party and were down, but now we're at the party," coach Justin Tatum said.

"That's all the message was, we've got to get on the board and now we've got invited and that's it. We're heading back to the 'Gong."

Illawarra's stars returned to form, led by Harvey (24 points) and Trey Kell III (18) in promising signs of what's to come upon their return home. 

"Melbourne's a tough team, but our guys had an edge about themselves not wanting to go back home down 0-2," Tatum added.

"We had a bit better pep in our step and guys were attentive on the screens and our guards had ball pressure better on Shea (Ili) and Delly (Matthew Dellavedova) which we didn’t do in the first game. It was our effort and communication that was much better today."

Illawarra hosts Melbourne on Sunday afternoon at 5.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN and 10 Bold.