Grand Final Tale of the Tape: Hawks vs United

• Hawks Trey Kell III and United's Chris Goulding are the keys to their club's chances
• Illawarra is chasing its second NBL championship since 1979
• Melbourne United is challenging for its third since 2018

The NBL’s 47th champion will be crowned in the next fortnight after 154 games in 22 rounds of high-quality hoops with two of the most explosive teams we have seen in  years facing up in a classic match-up of the two best units.

Illawarra has been the team to catch all season, leading the standings since mid-December after a quality win against United in Melbourne.

The Hawks have set multiple scoring records this season, averaging more points than any other team for 15 years while United set a franchise high in scoring in their 11th season since changing from the Tigers.

If you like high scoring ball games, this series is a must-see. Both clubs head into this challenge in great shape offensively, averaging more than 100 points each in their semi-finals,. That hasn't happened in an NBL Grand Final for 20 years.

Last season, these teams met in an incredible semi-final series. The first two games required overtime to determine a winner. Melbourne, on that occasion, had the home court advantage in the decider, but the Hawks have earned that honour this time.

Illawarra is the only original franchise to compete in every season since the NBL launched in 1979, but success has been rare. It took 23 seasons before they claimed the trophy in 2001 with a breakthrough Game 3 victory in Townsville, but since then, another 23 seasons have rolled by, with three more trips to the Big Dance and only one win from nine games on the big stage, the last in 2017.

Since the Hawks last made the Grand Final, Melbourne have featured four times with championship success in 2018 against Adelaide and 2021 vs Perth. Last season, United fought a five-game thriller to the end against Tasmania with the last three games all decided by 2 points each time, mostly remembered now by Houston Rocket Jack McVeigh connecting on what many regard as the greatest shot in NBL history.

Both teams waited the best part of three weeks to start their finals campaign but now have the best part of three days to prepare for this series. Both teams won their semi-finals in three games, with the home side winning all six matches.

The Hawks are led by this season’s coach of the year Justin Tatum who took over from the Hawks at two wins and seven losses last season and since have won 64.3% of their games (36-from-56) while Dean Vickerman has a career clip of 63.1% from 360 games in 11 seasons with three championship wins (2015 at New Zealand and 2018, 2021 with United). Seven Grand Finals from 11 seasons as head coach is among the all-time best resumes in the NBL and he sits just behind Brian Goorjian as the second most experienced Grand Final coach of all.

Head to Head in NBL25

• ‍Round 6: Melbourne 92 def Illawarra 87 at Wollongong
• Round 12: Illawarra 106 def Melbourne 93 at Melbourne
• Round 17: Illawarra 117 def Melbourne 95 at Wollongong

The Hawks were the only team to beat Melbourne twice by double figures this season. The Hawks outscored United by 30 points in the regular season, which was the most by any team against Melbourne.

Round six in Wollongong was a controversial finish with a Will “Davo” Hickey foul on Chris Goulding being cancelled with the game clock not starting correctly. Jack White secured the win from the free-throw line with key players Matthew Dellavedova and Shae Ili not playing and Trey Kell injured for the home side in the second half.
Chris Goulding and Marcus Lee missed the round 12 rematch in Melbourne.

The Hawks averaged a league-high 101.4 points per game in the regular season but raised that to 103.3 against United.

Players to watch

Tyler Harvey scored a season-high 31 points against United in Melbourne during Round 12 but fouled out in his last two semi-final games, with scores of 12 and 10 against the Phoenix.

Trey Kell III is leading the Hawks in scoring (18.0) and assists (4.3) over the season. Kell III was incredible in Game 3 of the semi-finals with 26 points in the first half (16 in the first quarter alone)

Sam Froling, the longest current Hawks player, is in his sixth season and averaged a season-high nine rebounds per game against Melbourne, along with 16.7 points.

Todd Blanchfield, with 434 games played over 16 seasons, is chasing his first championship. He is the most experienced player in NBL history never to have appeared in a Grand Final winning match, having been swept 0-3 in his only previous series against United as a Wildcat in 2021. Blanchfield is coming off the best game of his career at the Wollongong Entertainment Centre on Wednesday night, scoring 28 points, including a career-equaling eight made three-pointers.

William Hickey has led the Hawks in assists at 5.9 per game and 10.8 points off the bench in the last five weeks. Across the season, the 26-year-old leads the NBL in the plus/minus stat with a positive 292 points, a staggering 80 points better than teammate Trey Kell, who is second best in the NBL.

Mason Peatling won an NBL Championship with United in 2021. The Hawks’ season really clicked into gear when Peatling came into the starting five 10 games into the season.  

Chris Goulding set the three-point record for a final series with 22 makes against the Wildcats at a staggering 53% (22-from-43). Goulding has only scored 20 points once in his last six matches against the Hawks.

Matthew Dellavedova had 32 assists in the semi-final series against the Wildcats (average 10.7) alongside 9.7 points. In the first game of last year’s semis, Delly had 30 points and 10 assists against the Hawks with six threes. In his last two finals against Perth, he dished out 12 and 11 assists for the first time in his NBL career, posting double figure assists in consecutive games.
Delly’s NBL career high of 33 points was scored in Wollongong in January 2022 with 7-from-11 triples.

Ian Clark posted a career best 38 points on Tuesday night with six three-pointers to snuff out the Wildcats. Clark has played eight NBL Grand Final games – all against the JackJumpers. He won a championship with Sydney in 2022 and was runner up last year. 
He celebrates his 34th birthday today (March 7, 2025).‍

Jack White had a career-best 19 rebounds in their first clash in round six with three blocks. He shot just 4-from-13 free-throws in the semi-finals (31%) but 9-from-15 threes (60%) He’s playing in his first NBL Grand Final, averaging 13.3 points and 10.3 rebounds vs the Hawks this season.

Grand Final Schedule

Game 1: Saturday, March 8, 2025 (Game Centre)
Illawarra v Melbourne, WIN Entertainment Centre, 8:00pm AEDT

Game 2: Wednesday, March 12, 2025 (Game Centre)
Melbourne v Illawarra, John Cain Arena, 7:30pm AEDT

Game 3: Sunday, 16 March, 2025 (Game Centre)
Illawarra v Melbourne, WIN Entertainment Centre, 5:30pm AEDT

Game 4 (if required): Wednesday, March 19, 2025 (Game Centre)
Melbourne v Illawarra, John Cain Arena, 7:30pm AEDT

Game 5 (if required): Sunday, March 23, 2025 (Game Centre)
Illawarra v Melbourne, WIN Entertainment Centre, 2:30pm AEDT