What It Means to Go to Game 5

Pete Hooley was part of the Melbourne United team that won the Championship Series in 2018 ... but not before a gruelling five-game run that challenged the team both physically and mentally.

Here's his take on how it all went down, as the Kings and Breakers prepare to face off in Game 5 on Wednesday night. 

Very few professional sports stars get the opportunity to be one win away from winning a title. Even less get to know the feeling of being crowned a champion. After all, that’s the ultimate goal.

Whether it’s a quest to go back-to-back or one of the most remarkable team turnarounds in history, both Sydney and New Zealand are just as desperate to enjoy the incredible feeling reserved for champions. 

The superstar marquee, a role player, a training player, a coach or even office staff ... it takes an entire organisation to reach the pinnacle of success.

RELATED: Game 5 ticketing information

They say the closeout game of any series is the hardest one to win. If you’ve never been part of one of those games, you may not completely understand just why that is. When you’re one win away, it’s almost impossible not to think about that trophy, that celebration. It gets in your head. 

In fact, in the time leading up to that game there are plans put in place by the club, just in case you do win. That includes flying family, key club members and some development players to that closeout game. Furthermore, they must also make plans to accommodate everyone’s celebrations afterward and how everything would play out after the final siren sounded. All of this goes on around you as you’re focusing on just trying to win one more basketball game. It’s nearly impossible to not let a thought or two drift down that path of what it’s going to be like to be called a champion. It's tough to focus. 

In 2018 we travelled across to Adelaide for Game 4 being up 2-1 and with a chance to become champions in enemy territory. No team had lost in the series at home prior to that game, yet we felt as if all the pressure was on them and in my mind, I thought there was no way we were losing that game. Even in shootaround I was thinking about what it would be like to hear complete silence in the stadium as we were celebrating winning the championship.

Pete Hooley during the 2018 Championship Series. 

Carrick Felix, who chose to stay with the team after Casey Prather returned from injury, had stayed up all night making a hype video for us. He played it to the team right before we ran out onto the floor and boy did it work well. I can’t remember another time I was more amped up for a game. 

In fact, it probably worked too well and instead of everyone’s mind being completely locked into what we had to do, it went the other way. By half-time we were down by 24. We fought back in the second half and had a couple of moments in the fourth where we thought we could sneak out a win, but the 36ers held their composure and forced the ultimate decider. 

“That whole Game 4 was tough, because we definitely went to Adelaide thinking we had it won,” fellow 2018 NBL champion Josh Boone said.

“That video from Carrick had us so hyped up, but then we were so bad in the first half that it cost us. We were just awful.

“Closeout games are so tough, man. It’s incredibly hard to beat a team three times in a whole season, let alone in a series. It’s even harder when that third win is in a winner-takes-all Game 5.”

Josh Boone during the 2018 Championship Series. 

Going back to the locker-room was a strange moment after the game, because on one hand we had just ruined our first chance at winning it all, but on the other, we still had one more game to get it done.

“We knew we hadn’t lost to Adelaide back home in Melbourne, so it was hard to not think about that in the game as well. We could win it in Adelaide sure, but we still have the chance to win it back at home if we come up short,” Boone added. 

After Game 4, whatever time there is until the next game feels like an eternity, because that’s all there is left. Win or lose, the season is over. You either go into the off-season as a champion or you think about how agonisingly close you came.

“Heading back to Melbourne my mind had shifted from us having another chance if we lost to, 'oh crap if we lose this next one, we are done',” forward Tai Wesley said. “I never thought we would lose either Game 2 or 4, so that doubt started to creep in my mind during the time before Game 5 and I really had to try and ignore it.”

Tai Wesley during the 2018 Championship Series. 

It was a six day wait for us between the loss in Adelaide and Game 5 at home. If there's anything I remember vividly about the lead-up to that game, it was in the warm-ups. I arrived at the game a couple of hours before I usually did, purely because I couldn’t just relax at home. I was shooting out on the floor when Chris Goulding came over and asked how I was feeling. I can’t remember my exact words, but it translated to being pretty nervous for the big game. What I do remember is asking him how he felt.

“Couldn’t be better. I love these moments,” he said.

Some people are just built for those moments, and that man certainly is. He exploded in the first quarter and the rest was history. 

When you have a series that has gone back and forth for multiple games, all you want to find is that little edge more in one final game to get you over the line. Most of the time that can be the energy of the home crowd. Other times, it’s a bench player coming on and drawing a momentum swinging charge or the superstar diving into the crowd to save a loose ball. Every little thing matters on game day of a fifth and deciding game.

“Home court advantage is such a big deal in a series like ours was, where both teams were so talented and tough. When you’re looking for the edge in a five-game series, a lot of it will come down to playing at home in front of your fans,” Wesley added. 

“Often those deciding games come down to effort and big plays, too. Who is going to come out and hit a big shot? Maybe it’s some who has struggled the entire series. Or who is going to be first to come up with a 50/50 ball and set a tone? There’s no tomorrow in a Game 5,” Boone said. 

It’s all on the line. It’s what every sports fan and athlete dreams of. It’s where the lights shine brightest and where history is written. For Sydney and New Zealand, it all ends on Wednesday night.

What an incredible battle it has been over four games between the two best teams in the league. They are about to reach the defining moment. Who wants to write themselves into history?

You can tune into the game live and free from 7:30pm AEDT on Wednesday, March 15 on ESPN via Kayo Freebies, and Sky Sport and Prime in New Zealand.