Walls closing in at RAC as home form falters

The Wildcats' poor performances in Perth continued on Friday night, as the team lost to South East Melbourne by one point.

On this occasion, the hosts led by as many as 16 points, only to lose the second half 51-36.

This drops the Wildcats to 4-6 at RAC Arena, which used to be a fortress, during the Hungry Jack's NBL26 season.

"When you get up by 12, 13, 14 and [put yourself in] that offensive position, the quality of the shot you get [is important]," Perth coach John Rillie said in the post-game press conference.

"Then at the other end, there was one [moment] towards the end of the third quarter, Daniel Foster got two offensive rebounds. Those plays just add up and build up. We just had too many of those in those moments.

"We have to respect every possession on both sides of the ball a little bit more with the way that we're playing right now."

Another worrying sign for the 10-time NBL champions is their second half fades, which has happened in all three of their past home matches against Adelaide, Sydney and South East Melbourne.

"When we're up, we have to not have a relaxed mindset and not try to slow it down," Wildcats import David Duke Jr said.

"We need to continue to [push]. When the team is right there at breaking [point], we need to put our foot down and, break those teams and impose our will.

"These last few home games, we've come out great. We have all the energy, we're juiced up coming out of gate. But teams are too good [for us to not maintain the same level of play]."

Perth now travels to Tasmania for their first of five straight road games.

That fixture tips off at 2.30pm AEDT Sunday, live on ESPN and Channel 10.