The Illawarra Hawks may have qualified for a fairytale finals berth but Justin Tatum insists his side are still not given the same respect as their NBL peers.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The interim coach is intent on continuing to weaponise the Hawks' underdog status as the franchise eyes its first title since 2001.
The Hawks travel to Hobart to meet the third-placed Tasmania JackJumpers for their seeding qualifier on Wednesday night.
It has been quite the turnaround under Tatum, who had previously never held a professional head coaching job and inherited a Hawks side that had won only two of their first nine games this season.
But even since catapulting into finals calculations, Tatum said those outside the Illawarra region still did not believe the Hawks were legitimate title contenders.
"People just don't give us the respect that we worked for - I'm not going to say (the respect) we deserve, we worked for this," he told AAP.
"We were at the bottom and we figured out a way for the guys who were all on different pages, to find a way to fix it and be one of the top four teams.
"We still feel slighted.
"But at the end of the day we're OK with that because we have our self-respect."
Hawks big man Lachlan Olbrich agreed with his coach's estimations.
"I still think they're all writing us off," he told AAP.
"I don't think many people believe that we'll go to the grand final and win it all.
"We know we're not underdogs, but we're more than happy for everyone to treat us like underdogs because it gives us the upper hand."
The path to the franchise's second title heads through Hobart, and depending on that result, will go either to a play-offs series with Perth or snake back home for a sudden-death game.
The Hawks won a nailbiter on their last trip to MyState Bank Arena; January's 108-107 victory over the JackJumpers remains the only double overtime match of the season.
Tatum is chasing more consistency from his side this time around.
"(I learned) to find a way to finish the game early," Tatum said.
"We had a lot of bright points out of that game and we've felt that if we have that leverage again we won't see a double overtime.
"We have a lot of spots in the game where we have self-inflicted wounds, playing-wise.
"We can control that and manage that, and not allow teams to get back in."
Australian Associated Press
