Fired-up Illawarra coach Justin Tatum has claimed the NBL's referees don't care about his players after game three of the championship series continued while an injured Trey Kell was limping from the court.

Tatum unleashed after the Hawks fell 83-77 to Melbourne United in Wollongong on Sunday, with Illawarra now needing to win game four away from home on Wednesday to keep their title hopes alive.

Illawarra's hopes of clinching game three took a heavy hit when star import Kell slipped over attempting to manoeuvre past Matthew Dellavedova on the attack as the final two minutes approached.

Kell writhed on the ground with a knee issue before regaining his footing and hobbled up the tunnel as Dellavedova shot free throws up the other end of the court from the site of the injury.

Tatum questioned why play could not have stopped for the Hawks to check on their player.

"We're the only person that cares," Tatum said.

"We wanted to make sure he was OK, off the court before other teams attempt free throws or do anything else. We just wanted to make sure our player was OK."

Tatum was particularly frustrated given play had stopped when United guard Dellavedova slipped over so match day staff could clean sweat from the court late in the third quarter.

The whistle was immediately blown after Dellavedova landed on his tailbone.

Referee Chris Reid could be heard on broadcast microphones telling a confused Tatum that the game had stopped for "player safety", with Dellavedova able to play on.

Tatum claimed it was "blatantly obvious" that the Hawks were treated differently from their opposition by the match officials.

"They stopped the whole game and almost had a holiday to make sure he was OK," Tatum said.

"But unfortunately when Trey Kell and somebody on my team gets hurt, we can't look out after them or we can't make sure they're off the court (before play resumes).

"At the end of the day, that's just the difference of respect between Melbourne and the Hawks. The NBL did a good job of making sure they put the right people on there to take care of who they need to take care of."

Tatum was fined by the NBL earlier this season for post-match comments that implied he was more likely to receive technical fouls than other coaches.

The NBL also investigated Tatum for a mid-game comment that suggested referee Vaughan Mayberry was biased against his "kind", but he was not sanctioned.

Tatum felt it was a lost cause trying to raise his concerns with the NBL.

"Who cares? Talking to them is irrelevant," he said.

"Whoever they send to officiate the game, whoever they send to commentate the game, we don't care. We just care about the Hawks."

The Hawks are unsure whether they will have to play game four without Kell, who was selected in the All-NBL First Team for a brilliant individual season.

"Hopefully everything comes back positive and he feels comfortable enough to play, but if not, it's a next-man up mentality," Tatum said.