Wildcat apologises for 'heated moment'

It was a moment where tempers and emotions boiled over for the Perth Wildcats at RAC Arena. But the club have insisted that they’ve moved past the post-game altercation between stars Kristian Doolittle and Jo Lual-Acuil Jr following Sunday’s one-point loss to Melbourne.

Following the Round 18 fixture, Wildcats coach John Rillie addressed the verbal, on-court confrontation in the post-game press conference.

“I'm aware of what happened after the game but haven't seen the vision and I think it just demonstrates what was on the line and how much the players care, and those things can happen in high energy situations,” Rillie said in Sunday’s post-game press conference.

“I will appropriately address the situation when I understand it to its full magnitude.

“In those moments, with a game on the line, you need someone to step up and we'll go back to see if we had other options, but I want guys to want that responsibility and if emotions spilled over after that, in general that's a good thing.

“I'm not concerned about any problems in our group and we are all connected, and even in this game there was a lot of positive things and it just ended up with a one-point loss against one of our rival teams.”

Since then, the team has dealt with it, with forward Doolittle saying he took ownership and apologised for the moment.

“I apologised. I understood I instigated. In a perfect world, it would have been handled off the court, and we wouldn’t be talking about it today,” Doolittle said during the club’s media availability on Tuesday.

“I said something first. In the moment, I didn’t really care. I was just frustrated that we lost.

“We are grown-ups. What’s said was said. There was no animosity that lingered over from that moment. We are friends on and off the court. We are both competitors. We were both mad we lost the game in the fashion we lost it. We addressed the situation and moved on.”

Doolittle also explained that Rillie addressed the pair, reminding them of their importance to the team and club’s success.

“If you take it personal, you are not going to be able to last long in this profession,” Doolittle said.

“[You need to] understand basketball is a competitive sport filled with competitive people. As long as that line isn’t crossed of calling someone out, I feel like all is fair game.”

Perth return to the court on Wednesday in an intriguing Ignite Cup against South East Melbourne, with both sides still a chance to make the inaugural Final.

The fixture tips off at 9.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.