The path hardly seems as daunting for Brian Goorjian's men after "culture wins" against Melbourne United and Tasmania, which has taken them to the brink of securing a top-four spot.

With four games left, they need just one more victory to almost certainly guarantee them a shot at the title.

READ MORE:

For Sam Froling, beating Melbourne United for the second time in three weeks at John Cain Arena showed the maturity of the Hawks compared to last season.

"It's one of those culture wins," he said.

"When you're trying to build a successful program, they're the games, last year we would have pretty much written that off and thought, 'oh, we tried hard and we lost, whatever'.

"This year, to go and get that win, it's like 'we're here now and we're here to win'.''

The Hawks have won 10 of their past 12 games, a recent record bettered only by Sydney, who have been on a 10-game unbeaten hot streak.

Powerhouse clubs United and Perth have had the wobbles comparatively, but the Hawks now face more stern challenges, with Sydney (twice) and Perth to come.

The Hawks' final regular season home game is against the Kings on Thursday.

But beforehand, they take on the Bullets in Brisbane.

"Brisbane is not an easy team for us to beat," guard Isaac White said.

"Match-up wise, they have a lot of guys, (Robert) Franks at the four (spot), (Jason) Cadee can get going, guys who are not your typical five-man bruiser or you point-guard scorer.

"They're an interesting look and I think we were aware of that last time we played.

"I don't know how many wins we need, but taking care of this one is going to be super important and then I guess we've got three cracks at the top teams to solidify our spot."

Adding weight to the validity of the Hawks' late-season title challenge, is pulling off the crucial 96-90 win in Melbourne without key shooter Tyler Harvey.

Xavier Rathan-Mayes has played a key starting role in his absence, while Emmett Naar and Isaac White continue to add scoring punch off the bench.

"I think we've got such a talented roster," Froling said.

"You can tell it's so talented when a guy like Emmett Naar can't get minutes all year and then Tyler goes down, X (Rathan-Mayes) has 25 (points) and Emmett plays significant minutes for us and gets the job done.

"We're really deep this year, which is something we were lacking a little bit last year.

"Hopefully it takes us all the way."

Remaining Illawarra Hawks games

Saturday v BRISBANE at Nissan Arena (5.30pm)

April 14 v SYDNEY at WIN Entertainment Centre (7.30pm)

April 22 v PERTH at RAC Arena (9.30pm)

April 24 v SYDNEY at Qudos Bank Arena (3pm)