Where there's a Will, there's a way

The Illawarra Hawks provided the best possible example of the next man up mentality, with Will Hickey and Lachlan Olbrich coming up huge to force NBL Championship Series to Game 5.

Hickey delivered a career-best 22 points to go with eight assists, six rebounds and three steals while Olbrich came up huge with 13 points, six rebounds and three assists as the Hawks beat United 80-71 in Game 4.

The Hawks were already down 1-2 in the Championship Series heading to Melbourne for Wednesday's Game 4 knowing they were without All-First Team guard Trey Kell III with a knee injury.

Co-captain Sam Froling then injured an achilles in the second quarter, but it's the next man up mentality that coach Justin Tatum has trumpeted all season.

That's why he had trust especially that Hickey could step up in Kell's absence, and then that Olbrich could do the same once Froling got hurt in the second quarter.

"We've never really been in that situation all year so it was a first for us, but all year it's been about our bench and our depth," Tatum said.

"It's an unfortunate situations with Trey and Sam right now, but it's about our depth and the next guy up.

"The way the guys fought today was pretty good. We don't lose two games back-to-back often or at all this season, so we felt that at the end of the day we trusted in our work and wanted to force a Game 5. And that's what we did."

Ever since Tatum took over seven games into NBL24, Hickey has continued to breakout with his increased responsibility which is why the coach had no doubts he would deliver again in Kell's absence.

He ultimately was the difference between the two teams on a career-best night and Tatum was especially proud with how locked in he was.

"Davo played exceptionally well. He's an energy guy and when he gets going on both ends he can produce. We needed somebody to score today and I'm glad he was part of it," Tatum said.

"I just liked his energy and determination. He understood that he was potentially going to start a day ago and he was locked in from the scout on what he needed to do and how we can be more effective.

"When Melbourne had played a four or a five on him it kinda disrupted us for the first couple of games, so he was just unbelievably locked in."

Given Froling hasn’t missed a game since New Year's Eve 2019, nobody at the Hawks has had to figure out playing without him.

Tatum, though, had full faith in Olbrich, and the United bigs had little answers for him.

"Once he got his motor going and could see where he could hit shots at, and he got after himself for some of the chippies that he missed ... but we believed in him because, there was nobody to sub in for him," Tatum said.

"He's a matchup problem when he's out there. We felt Lachie causes attention when he's out there, so when he does that we can get other guys to crash the boards if he misses. He was just an asset when he was out there."