Preview: Perth vs Adelaide - Round 6, NBL24

Friday, November 3, 2023

The Wildcats are under the pump to turn their form around. Can the Adelaide 36ers continue to pile on the pain?

Saturday, November 4 at 8pm AEDT | RAC Arena

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The Perth Wildcats have been on the defensive this week, as club owner Craig Hutchison was forced to publicly back head coach John Rillie following a string of poor results.

The Red Army booed the Wildcats during a timeout in last week’s loss to Brisbane, something club legend Damian Martin cannot remember happening before, while Australian basketball legend Andrew Bogut believes the club’s recruits do not complement Bryce Cotton’s style of play.

ESPN’s Olgun Uluc reported a verbal altercation between Cotton and import Jordan Usher following the loss to Brisbane.

The Adelaide 36ers have rebounded from a tough start to the season to sit just outside the post-season positions.

Perth
79-84 loss to Brisbane
78-89 loss to Adelaide
86-99 loss to Sydney

Adelaide
97-85 win over New Zealand
89-78 win over Perth
85-102 loss to South East Melbourne

Jordan Usher
Until the dark, dark day when Bryce Cotton is not pulling on a Perth uniform, the Wildcats will be his team – and the reports of a verbal stoush between Cotton and fellow import Jordan Usher by ESPN’s Olgun Uluc made for grim listening for Wildcats fans.

Usher exploded out of the gates this season with 35 points in Perth’s Round 1 win over Tasmania – a mark that is still yet to be bested by anyone this season – but has since struggled, and his personal game offers something of an insight to the Wildcats’ wider struggles.

Andrew Bogut has also come out and said the contingent of offensive weapons at Perth’s disposal – including Usher – need to be more sacrificial in their game to get the most out of the team.

Usher has already shown just how good he can be, and he could hold the key to getting the Wildcats’ offence rocking.

“Usher is still a really good player ... he’s averaging 15 points per game and shooting 50 per cent from the field, he’s fine. It’s a collective decision direction this team needs to go in offensively, and it would help if they played some defence so they could get out in transition.” – Damon Lowery on NBL Now.

Jordan Usher.

DJ Vasiljevic
What a return to the NBL it’s been for DJ Vasiljevic. His game-winning performance against New Zealand saw him lead the voting in this week’s Chemist Warehouse Fans MVP, and Peter Hooley catapulted the former King into Most Improved contention in his recent Awards Watch.

The 36ers have looked a different side since Vasiljevic joined them after the early rounds of the season, and both he and Isaac Humphries are quickly forming one of the most lethal big/small partnerships in the NBL.

Vasiljevic pointed to a chase at Olympic selection as a key reason for joining the 36ers, and whoever believed the highly confident sharpshooter was placing himself at a level out of his reach might just be beginning to reconsider their stance.

“He’s a tough SOB. When it comes down to it from a junior to a senior to a pro, that’s who he is and he carries that. He’s got the respect from everyone – not only on our team but the league.” – CJ Bruton following the win over New Zealand.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">That's two wins on the bounce for the <a href="https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Adelaide36ers</a> ?<br><br>DJ Vasiljevic shot the lights out on his way to Foot Locker Player of the Game honours ? <a href="https://t.co/u9xJbtnmy6">pic.twitter.com/u9xJbtnmy6</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1717459090480529589?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

John Rillie vs CJ Bruton
Over the first few weeks of the season CJ Bruton was the most under-pressure coach in the NBL thanks to the 0-4 start of his Adelaide 36ers, now that title belongs to John Rillie.

The 36ers have won three of their past four games to move to 3-5 on the season, and Adelaide is humming along thanks to the performances of Isaac Humphries and DJ Vasiljevic.

Jason Cadee came out and said how impressed he was with Bruton’s reluctance to shift from what he wanted to implement in Adelaide during the tough opening to the season, and now the pressure is on Rillie to see if he can also stay the course and push through the rough seas he is currently trying to navigate through.

Rillie will only have to look to the other sideline to see the prime example of how quickly a narrative can turn in NBL24, he just has to lead his teams to a few much-needed victories.

Perth has won the first half in each of its last four games against Adelaide. Although that didn’t translate into a win when they faced off in Round 4, a quick start could hold the key to the Wildcats snapping their losing run.

Gettyimages 1759850435
Keanu Pinder.