Kell, Tatum eye first

The Illawarra Hawks took a significant step towards a first ever NBL regular season championship, beating Melbourne United and while they're not afraid to shoot for that goal, it's the big trophy that's the ultimate aim.

Both coach Justin Tatum and star guard Trey Kell III had no trouble admitting after Saturday night's 117-95 win at home to Melbourne, that the regular season championship would be a significant achievement for the Hawks.

They are now sitting clear in top spot at 16-8 to be ahead of the Perth Wildcats (15-9), Melbourne (15-10), South East Melbourne Phoenix (14-10) and Sydney Kings (14-10) with five matches remaining.

Kell was outstanding once again in the win over Melbourne for Illawarra with 23 points, four rebounds and three assists with 5/9 three-point shooting, and with the Hawks outscoring United by 17 points with him out there.

The win was a significant step towards the Hawks securing top spot for the first ever time with games to finish against Brisbane, Cairns, Tasmania, New Zealand and Sydney.

Whether they finish top or not, Kell just wants them to enter the finals in good form with momentum.

"We want to solidify ourselves as the top team in the league," Kell said.

"We've been one, two pretty much throughout the majority of the season and I feel like it would be a letdown, or we'd have to play bad basketball if we happen to let that go.

"We've got five more games left and we're trying to finish strong because you want to finish the season on a high and not limp into the playoffs. We're trying to do that."

While the Hawks have never finished a regular season in top spot, they have won a championship back in 2001 and reached Championship Series' in 2005, 2010 and 2017.

They have also reached finals in three of the past four seasons, but more than wanting to be part of a piece of history, all Kell cares about ultimately is trying to bring that second championship to Wollongong, and first since 2001.

"I don't look at it from a perspective that they've never won, I just look at it from a competitor's standpoint and you want to win a championship regardless of if I'm playing here, the US or Europe or wherever I'm at," Kell said.

"Every year it's the same goal and you want to help the team win the championship and I think we've got a really good shot at it."

Kell's coach, Tatum, is of a similar mindset and while he would be proud to be part of a piece of history to lead Illawarra to a first ever regular season championship, his focus is on the bigger picture.

The immediate focus is on ensuring there's no sort of let up from the Hawks in the final five games, starting when they host the banged-up Brisbane Bullets on Monday night.

"As long as our team knows that there's no more letdowns for the rest of the year and no more gimmes, and if we put out our best effort we have a chance to keep winning every game," Tatum said.

"I'd be ecstatic and I always want to be part of history especially in my profession. You always want to be part of something that may or may not ever happen so we're definitely pushing for that, but our bigger goal is clearly the Grand Finals.

"But just to be part of something that our city has never been part of and we would know we're a big contributor to that would be a great thing."