Basketball On The Internet.

THERE's a great line by Cher in the movie Moonstruck when she replies to a declaration of love from Nicolas Cage's character by slapping his face twice and yelling at him: "Snap out of it!" Ahead of tomorrow's Grand Final Game 2 of the NBL's best-of-five Championship Series, it's a reaction the Illawarra Hawks could definitely utilise.

Outplayed, out-manouvred, outsmarted and outcoached 96-88 by Melbourne in Game 1 in Wollongong, a United win at John Cain Arena for a 2-0 series lead would definitely put one hand firmly on the Dr John Raschke perpetual trophy.

You know precisely what you can expect from Dean Vickerman's crew. Tough, physical, mostly legal defensive pressure - holding and grabbing off the ball notwithstanding but that's just about a staple of most team's defences now - impossible shot-making from Chris Goulding, relentless heat from Shea Ili and Matthew Dellavedova.

You know Ian Clark might singlehandedly shoot you out of the contest, that Rob Loe will pick-and-pop and stick that open triple, that Marcus Lee will throw down a couple of dunks from lobs when he picks and rolls.

You know Jack White will give you an honest effort inside both keyways, maybe slip out and stick a 3-pointer here and there, but then come apart at the seams when he goes to the free throw line.

You know there will be offences when Delly over-dribbles, drives and does his fadeaway to varying degrees of success, that Ili will push the ball at every opportunity, that Tanner Krebs will come off the bench and deliver long bombs, and that Kyle Bowen also will offer effort - and the ugliest set shot this side of Dellavedova.

You know Jacob Chance at the sideline will carry on far too over-zealously for an assistant coach, leaving Rhys Carter and David Barlow wondering how much caffeine he consumes.

And you know down the stretch, where experience, smarts and execution matters, Melbourne will be disciplined and precise.

OK. Bundle all that up and you have an eight-point road win off a 10-point halftime deficit that still suggests Illawarra has the talent to win this series and its second ever championship.

The Hawks weren't even playing that well - as Melbourne exposed after halftime - and were ahead by 10 before two things happened.

United made the adjustments necessary, as Illawarra steadily slipped into the woe-is-me mode which has been so prevalent in its losses this season.

Some of this unravelling was evident late in the Hawks' Game 3 semi final rout of South East Melbourne, where suddenly Dan Grida felt the need to stand over Joe Wieskamp after he rejected his shot. Or Will Hickey and the bench temporarily losing their minds amid the euphoria of victory.

Come Game 1 and the Hawks are getting the ball to Sam Froling who is monstering the United bigs. As the match wears on, Froling becomes an afterthought!

Starter Mason Peatling plays eight minutes. Eight. Foul trouble? Nope. Just a new love for some "small ball" because Todd Blanchfield has been hitting well and needs more minutes.

But Blanchfield is off the boil, jacking up that idiotic one-handed "watch me miss four out of five shooting it this way" after being superb from range.

We have Trey Kell coming off a blinder, but now just shooting like a blind man. After three or more misses, he hits a jumper and waves his warms at his sides as if to say "finally, I made one."

In Cher's words: "Snap out of it!" It's not about you or your shot-making bud. It's about winning a championship. Get over yourself and get on with contributing in multiple ways instead of being so emotionally-connected to your shot making.

Same too for Tyler Harvey. His playoffs have been, in a word, ordinary. Apart from a memorable third-quarter stretch in Game 1 of the semis where he went on a 3-point rampage, the rest of his finals have been forgettable.

In Game 2, he was put off his game by Owen Foxwell - yes, Owen Foxwell - and in semi Game 3 and Grand Final Game 1 he was a shadow of a silhouette of a chalk outline of himself.

Snap out of it!

Justin Tatum also needs to maintain his focus, not be lured into playing in ways that do not suit his team and not forget that his biggest asset against United is a guy named Froling. Lachy Olbrich also can be decent and Darius Days too can be trusted.

Snap out of it and they're back in it. Because you know full well what's coming from Melbourne and if United is not Illawarra's sole focus, then it goes home tomorrow down 0-2.