A pass-first guard throughout his stellar career, Dellavedova dropped a staggering 33 points at a 61 per cent clip, going 7-11 from long range to go with nine dimes.

It was proof the NBA championship-winner's return to the NBL is anything but a superannuation top-up, in a game that showed why many are tipping both teams to feature deep in the post-season.

Having coach the 31-year-old to a bronze medal with the Boomers six months ago, no one's more attuned the Delly's capabilities than Hawks coach Brian Goorjian, but long-bombing was not on the scout sheet.

"I thought we did a good job with our scout," Goorjian said.

"We did a job on [Chris] Goulding, we played [Dave] Barlow at the three-point line, we did a good job on [Jo Lual] Acuil. He's been killing everything and we did a good job covering down on him.

"It was Delly from the three-point line. The scout was to go under the on-balls, give him space and keep him out of the paint. He was tremendous tonight and [his] 7-11 was the difference.

"They're the best team in the league defensively and they locked us down in that fourth quarter. We got some huge stops to give us a chance but I think their professionalism of them over a number of years knowing this situation, playing together, not any making mistakes that was the difference in the game."

The Hawks looked dead, buried and cremated at multiple stages, the climb seemingly insurmountable when trailing but double digits midway through the third term.

However, they stormed back into the contest to trail by just two at three-quarter-time and levelled up early in the fourth before questionable officiating left the visitors in the bonus with more than five minutes to play in the final term.

It helped the defending champs to an eight-point cushion before Tyler Harvey nailed a pull-up three from the carpark to cut it back to five with 1.49 left on the clock.

A steal and and-one play from Antonius Cleveland cut it back to four with 29 seconds left, while a steal and lay-up from Xavier Rathan-Mayes chopped the margin to two with just 16 seconds remaining.

It was as close as they got, with United, in the bonus, sealing the game from the line through Goulding and Caleb Agada, with the Hawks giving up consecutive offensive boards to squander any chance of a late Hail Mary.

The star United pair had struggled to a collective 7-26 from the field, with Goulding's quiet night the biggest tick on the performance of Justinian Jessup, who also led the Hawks with 18 points at five of seven from long range.

Cleveland had 12 of his 14 points in the second half, while Harry Froling also had 14 at a sharp 4-5 from beyond the arc, and Duop Reath also contributed 14 points.

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There was no doubt, however, that Delly was the man, the hard-nosed veteran also doggedly guarding Hawks star Harvey to a 3-12 scoring night.

"They're holding everyone to 70-some a game and they went after him like we went after Goulding, how we went after [Agada]. They did a great job there," Goorjian said.

"We played them really tough and we had our chances. I thought we got good shots, we just struggled to convert there late and we couldn't get to the foul-line.

"If you look at the fourth quarter, [it was] easy baskets. They got offensive rebounds and they get to the foul-line. We had some bad shots, missed block-outs, bad rotations. They just don't make those mistakes.

"We'll lick our wounds and learn but I don't think it's anything to hang our heads about. I'm trying to figure some things out, this is a new team and it's going to get better.

"Even through that [scoring] struggle in the fourth quarter, we still put 84 points on the board against a team that's holding teams in the 70s and I don't think we got many breaks tonight.

"We didn't have many things go our way and I don't think we're going to play against anyone better than them."

Agada finished with a 13-15 double-double, while Jack White also had arguably his most impressive game since returning from a series of injuries with 14 points and 11 boards.

Slow out of the blocks in most games this season, the Hawks led by seven midway through the opening term on the back of five early ones from Reath, with the hosts' entire starting unit getting on then sheet.

White had seven for the visitors in a high-paced opening term, with Dellevadova and Lual-Acuil contributing five each on a 13-6 run that saw United lead by two at quarter-time.

Lual-Acuil kept it rolling with four to start the second but threes from Harry Froling and Harvey tied things up at 26 apiece. Dellevadova kept his perfect clip from deep with three more triples and a transition basket for a 19-point tally and four-point lead that forced Goorjian into his second timeout.

Jessup had seven for the quarter to keep the Hawks within reach, though they still trailed by five at the main break. The pace quickened dramatically in a third quarter that quickly turned into a shootout, with Dellevadova and Agada getting going from deep to jump out to a double-digit lead.

The Hawks fired back with Harry Froling dropping two triples, while Jessup also chimed in from deep and Cleveland also had a three to punctuate his seven points for the term as the hosts stormed back.

Reath's second triple levelled the scores at 68 apiece on his team's last trip up the floor, the exclamation point on a 9-0 run before Agada dropped the last points of the term from the line.

It saw the hosts take a slender two-point cushion to three-quarter-time and set the scene for the thrilling final term.

The Hawks will back up at home against Perth this coming Saturday, the first game in a run of four outings in just eight days as the new NBL schedule looks to make up ground lost to COVID postponements over the last month..

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