Doolittle, Rillie praise 'Cats fight

It’s funny how quickly things can change in basketball. This time last week the claws were out for John Rillie and the Perth Wildcats. Now, after back-to-back wins over Adelaide and Melbourne in Round 7, they’ve bought themselves some breathing room.

The Wildcats defeated Melbourne in an overtime thriller in front of a packed-out John Cain Arena on Monday night in a game where injuries decimated United.

Bryce Cotton looks to be back to his best self and once again starred for Perth with 24 points, while Kristian Doolittle played his best game since arriving in the NBL with an 18-point, seven rebound, five assist holistic showing.

Captain Jesse Wagstaff played almost 24 minutes from the bench and led the team in rebounding, while Alex Sarr battled well with Jo Lual-Acuil Jr in his 24 minutes on court.

In short, it was a team effort to overcome the ladder leaders on their home floor.

Doolittle says the examples set by the likes of Cotton and Wagstaff set the team up for success on the night.

“I felt like it came from the leaders on our team and just trickled down,” Doolittle said post-game. “Wags and Bryce telling us we were going to be OK.

“We were able to punch them in the mouth at the beginning of overtime and set the tone going forward, so we never really had to play from behind. We had the momentum and that changes everything, especially playing on the road.

“It’s a cliché that you have to win in regulation otherwise the home team usually wins these types of games, but we were able to come out with the W.

“That’s what Jesse’s role on the team is, he’s a vocal leader – a coach that has a jersey on.

“Tonight, he was able to help us out when we were in foul trouble, his experience showed at the end especially in the late game, whenever they were starting to trap and pressure us full court.”

Jordan Usher added 12 points from the bench, including a clutch, heavily contested three over Melbourne’s Kyle Bowen to give the Wildcats a two-point lead with just five seconds remaining.

After Matthew Dellavedova squared proceedings, Usher was fouled with just two seconds left on the clock, but missed both free throws which sent the game into an extra period.

Usher has come off the bench in favour of Hyrum Harris in each of the Wildcats’ last two games, and head coach John Rillie has praised the import’s ability to “recalibrate” after hardship.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">JORDAN USHER HAS ICE IN HIS VEINS ?? <a href="https://t.co/jT2YSSRP9u">pic.twitter.com/jT2YSSRP9u</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1721477161390104634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“When he doesn’t start the game off the way he would like, he’s shown already in second halves [he can] bounce back.

“Usually that happens at the defensive end where he creates some energy or at the offensive end he might make a great pass or get an offensive rebound.

“He understands who he is as a player and a person and he recalibrates pretty quickly.

“Anything in sport is contagious. When you see your teammate doing a great job, all of a sudden you give a little bit more effort. That’s what we did this week, we backed ourselves, we backed our teammates and we saw the results.”

The Wildcats have now moved to sixth place on the ladder with a 4-5 record, but ahead of Friday night’s clash with New Zealand, Rillie says there’s no room for complacency.

“Everyone can have their opinion, but Stevie Wonder saw we weren’t playing well,” he said.

“I’ve been through the rollercoaster before and if you truly believe what you’re about and you believe in your team it usually works itself out.

“We need to celebrate and appreciate what we did this week, but we also go back home to play a team that will be hungry for a win themselves, so we can’t relax.”

The Wildcats’ clash with the Breakers will be broadcast live on ESPN via Kayo on Friday night at 9:30pm AEDT.