The switch has been flicked at the NZ Breakers. Suddenly the word "championship" is on the agenda as the North Shore-based franchise takes stock of its commanding lead in the Australian NBL.

The Breakers on Thursday advanced their record to 15-3 with a hard-fought 80-76 home victory over the Wollongong Hawks, their 10th win from the past 11 matches.

With the nearest chasers already on seven losses, and the Kiwi club having six of their last nine matches at their North Shore Events Centre stronghold, it's going to take a dramatic slide for them to be hauled in for the top spot.

It was notable to hear Breakers linchpin and leading scorer Kirk Penney deliberately not shy away from talk of the elusive title, which has been on the club's radar ever since the Tall Blacks star was signed on in 2007.

In an interview with the Sunday Star-Times, Penney didn't mind sharing his thoughts with the Breakers now universally tipped to break the New Zealand duck in major Australian sporting leagues.

"My mindset is this is my fourth year with the team and I really want to win a championship," said Penney who scored 16 second-half points in a game-high haul of 22 in Thursday's win over the Hawks.

"C J [Bruton] really wants to win a championship, Dillon [Boucher] wants to win a championship, it's across the board. Pauli [Henare] really wants to win a championship with his imminent retirement.

"This is it for this group, and what we've been building here. We look at it like this - we deserve to be here, we've had the heartbreaks, had the horrible losses, we've missed out on the playoffs.

"We want to push forward from this and not let anything creep in - no distractions, no complacency.

"Understand, we appreciate where we are and we're humbled to be in this situation, but we're good enough and we deserve to be there."

It's interesting that Penney has vocalised the long-term ambitions of the Breakers, especially given as his coach Andrej Lemanis preaches the "one day at a time" mantra. But Penney is not one to hide from realities, and the black and white of this season is that anything but the breakthrough title will be considered a disappointing failure.

That's not to say the Breakers don't understand the importance of things like momentum, of staying on top of rivals and of making winning a habit - something they've done a good job of thus far. And that once the playoffs begin, it simply comes down to two best-of-three series.

"Different guys are leading in different ways," says Penney.

"Some are more vocal, some a little more by example.

"But also there is that lining that goes under all of this, and a lot of that is Paul Henare and what he brings to this club and knowing what this means to him and how hard he's working every night."

Penney's reference to Henare is apt. The foundation Breaker is the driving force of the club's culture and, as he plays through his farewell season, the likeable point guard is sure to become more and more of a motivational focus.

All in all, it's hard to fault the Breakers this year, even if they have rather made a habit of grinding out wins rather than cruising to them. They run a legitimate 10 deep and possess an array of weapons.

The comeback win in Cairns (from 20 down) was a classic example of that, when Penney had an off shooting night but Tom Abercrombie, Mika Vukona and Bruton all lifted their contributions to fill the void.

"I think it's a sign of a quality team when you've got a lot of guys who can step up and help you win ball games, and if we're going to win a championship, that's what we need," said Penney.

"That's been a constant development the past three or four years, just adding the pieces and putting together a team that has great players, and great chemistry."

The Breakers still have plenty of improvement. Bruton and Abercrombie have been slowed by injuries, Vukona is only just starting to unleash, Kevin Brasswell has yet to find his shooting stroke and Penney himself looks like he's only just starting to hit his stride.

But the MVP candidate shrugs off any pressure as firm title favourites.

"I don't feel a weight," he said. "This is a position we've strived to be in, we've worked for this. You want to be in this situation.

"It's important we enjoy this run, enjoy this position, but it's equally important we keep working hard and understand what got us in this position."