United's Ili no certainty to return in NBL title battle

Yahoo

12-03-2025

Melbourne United are sweating on the fitness of defensive stalwart Shea Ili as they seek to re-establish an advantage in the NBL championship series.
Ili received a head knock before halftime and played no further part in United's tense 102-100 home defeat to Illawarra on Wednesday night.
The 32-year-old, who has a long history with concussion, took an accidental elbow from Hawks guard Will Hickey as the pair fought for possession.
Squad update: After sustaining a knock to the head in the 2nd quarter, Shea Ili will not return to tonight's game. pic.twitter.com/HT3MqW3D8V
— Melbourne United (@MelbUnited) March 12, 2025
He passed an initial concussion test but sat out the second half as a precaution.
The Hawks' win levelled the best-of-five title series at 1-1 and Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman is unsure whether Ili will be available for game three in Wollongong on Sunday.
The two-time NBL defensive player of the year is a critical part United's title plans.
"He passed his concussion test but obviously with the history we didn't feel like it was the right thing to put him back out there," Vickerman said post-game.
"Moving forward, we'll assess him again tomorrow and see how he's doing. Hopefully he's okay.
Asked whether Ili would be fit for game three, Vickerman added: "I can't tell you yes or no right now, but it was a positive step for him to pass that test."
Melbourne coughed up 16 turnovers in their game-two loss as Vickerman conceded sub-par ball control and rebounding cost his team.
United gave up 22 offensive boards, lost the overall rebound count 42-35 and sent the Hawks to the free-throw line 30 times.
The foul count was 25-17 in favour of the visitors at John Cain Arena.
Vickerman was left fuming about some calls, including a pair of unsportsmanlike fouls against Ili and Flynn Cameron.
"I didn't get an explanation but I didn't like either of them," Vickerman said.
"It (the refereeing) felt a little bit different to what we'd seen in the other game.
"For a team that showed unbelievable foul discipline and had four fouls in the whole second half up in Wollongong, to see what we got on our home floor, I just felt that was certainly different.
"We'll put our own questions to the referees about why that was so different tonight."
Despite being outplayed, Melbourne kept themselves in game two with impressive shooting, scoring at 57 per cent from the field and 46 per cent from long range.
They wiped out an 11-point deficit during the final period and hit the front with 14 seconds remaining when Ian Clark (31 points) nailed three straight free-throws.
But Tyler Harvey (24 points) scored the Hawks' go-ahead triple on the next play and an attempted game-winner by United captain Chris Goulding on the final play rattled out on the buzzer.
BIG SHOT TAKER, BIG SHOT MAKER ‼️The Sniper - Tyler Harvey #WeRiseTogether pic.twitter.com/eilQJ0gOdv
— Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) March 12, 2025
Illawarra's gutsy road win was the perfect response after they lost at home in the series opener, putting them back in the drivers' seat with home-court advantage.
"There's ebbs and flows," US import Harvey said.
"They're a great team and we're a good team and there's going to be so many runs from both sides. It's just how you manage those runs."