United's honesty session amidst championship push

Melbourne United's defence has come under the microscope in an honesty session coach Dean Vickerman hopes can push his side to the NBL Championship Series.

United, who finished the regular season on top of the ladder, host the Illawarra Hawks for the decisive third game of the sides' Playoffs series on Wednesday.

After game two in Wollongong on Sunday, Vickerman rued his side's 62 per cent accuracy from the free-throw line, which helped consign United to overtime and eventually a five-point loss.

But the coach told AAP he wanted to see more accountability from his players on the defensive end as well.

United conceded an average of 88 points per game in the regular season, the second-fewest of any team, but have bled more than 100 in each of their finals clashes with the Hawks.

Illawarra's Will Hickey was a constant menace with the ball on Sunday, while Gary Clark (31 points, 16 rebounds) got the better of Luke Travers in a match-up of elite power forwards.

United's coaching staff stayed on court at the WIN Entertainment Centre well after the final siren on Sunday to talk through what had gone wrong for their side.

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The frank discussion extended to the players on Monday.

"We attacked our defence in the team meeting," Vickerman told AAP.

"I love the ownership that our players have when we present how we get better, to say, 'Yep, I can be better in that situation'. 

"We get clarity and we move on.

"We haven't been good enough to hold this team under 90 points right now. But that's still where we want to be. 

"If we can hold them into the mid-80s, we give ourselves a great chance."

Vickerman believed honesty between players and staff had contributed to his side's tendency to bounce back from losses.

From eight defeats, United have won every game directly after a defeat this season.

History shows Vickerman-coached teams have the same habit at the pointy-end of the season, with the coach only losing back-to-back finals games twice in 36 appearances.

"The culture that we've created is that everybody's input is valued and we require everybody to speak up at different times," he said.

"There's a relationship with the players and the coaching staff that whatever we say is just trying to make us better. 

"That makes that conversation easy. We're not attacking them in any way, we're just trying to win basketball games. 

"My job is to allow a lot of good, healthy debate to happen and then make sure we walk out with a conclusion and everyone's satisfied with where we end up."

Game 3 of the Playoff Series between Melbourne and Illawarra tips off at 7:30pm AEDT on Wednesday, live on ESPN via Kayo.