"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."

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

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.

There were no greater examples than Hickey and Olbrich in the eventual 80-71 victory which forced the Game 5 back in Wollongong on Sunday afternoon.

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.

The Hawks outscored United by 17 points in the 30:25 that Hickey played and by six in the 25:48 of Olbrich out there in a game that was tight the whole way.

The great strength of the Hawks all season has been their depth with Tatum having a genuine back up he has full faith in for each position.

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 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 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."

The Hawks did have to play four games without Kell this season and also had since Sunday to prepare for being without him on Wednesday night.

However, when Froling hurt his acchiles in the second quarter, that obviously was unplanned for. Given he 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 in the end the United bigs had little answers for him.

"Once he got his motor going and could see where he could his 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 match up problem when he's out there. We felt Lachie causes attention when he's out there so when he does there we can get other guys to crash the boards if he misses. He was just an asset when he was out there."

Chris Pike

Faith in depth pays off for Hawks