R17 Preview: Perth Wildcats vs Sydney Kings

When: 8pm (AEDT), Saturday 26 March 2022

Where: RAC Arena, Perth

Broadcast: ESPN; Kayo; Sky Sport NZ

Who won last time?
Sydney 98 (Adams 31, Martin 21, Cooks 18) d Perth 95 (Cotton 33, Law 14, Norton 14) - Round 12, Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney

The Kings had a four-point lead entering the last minute but a whole slew of errors in their back court gave the Wildcats a chance. That was not limited to fouling Vic Law, giving up a tech foul for overstepping on the in-bounds pass and turning the ball over, and the 'Cats were able to get back to within a point as a result after Kings superstar Jaylen Adams jumped over the line while guarding an in-bound pass.

Perth had the chance for the go-ahead bucket but perhaps could have got a better look than the deep three attempted by Vic Law. His shot didn’t fall, the Kings claimed the defensive rebound and then somehow avoided a Wildcats foul that would have kept the game alive. Sydney was able to get the ball up the floor for a Xavier Cooks flush to secure the three-point win.

Adams was exceptional with 18 of his 31 points in the first half for the Kings as he even eyed off a triple-double with eight assists and seven rebounds in a standout performance on 11/19 shooting. Fellow star import Jarell Martin put up another 21 points and seven rebounds with Cooks finishing with 18 points and nine rebounds. 

Despite a sore thumb, Wildcats superstar Bryce Cotton was a constant threat with 17 of his 33 points in the second half to keep his team alive. He went 8/17 from beyond the arc and also had four assists. Luke Travers delivered 16 points and five rebounds for the 'Cats, Law 14 points, Mitch Norton 14 points, six rebounds and four assists, and captain Jesse Wagstaff in the starting role 12 points.

What happened last start?

The Wildcats are fresh off a loss on their home floor to the Tasmania JackJumpers on Thursday night that leaves them vulnerable of now conceding second position to the Kings with a loss on Saturday also in The Jungle.

The 'Cats enjoyed their return home last Sunday for their first of nine home matches to close the NBL season with a win against the New Zealand Breakers, but they couldn’t back it up on Thursday in a loss that coach Scott Morrison didn’t hide his disappointment in afterwards.

The Wildcats conceded 18 offensive rebounds to the JackJumpers for 24 second chance points while their ball pressure in the absence of Mitch Norton, who will also be missing against the Kings, was lacking and as a result Tasmania turned the ball over just the four times.

Adding to Perth's woes was Vic Law hurting an ankle. While he played out the game, how he pulls up 48 hours later is going to be pivotal of the Wildcats' chances of not suffering consecutive home losses.

The Kings, meanwhile, continued their run as the league's hottest team winning an eighth consecutive win last Saturday on the road to the South East Melbourne Phoenix, even with the absence of Xavier Cooks.

They won more impressively than the final two-point margin suggests with Jarell Martin delivering 24 points and eight rebounds, Jaylen Adams 15 points and eight assists, DJ Vasiljevic 15 points and three dimes, Ian Clark 13 points and Makur Maker 11 points and three rebounds.

Sydney now has the chance to replace Perth in second position if they can make it nine wins in-a-row with a win on Saturday and they welcome back superstar Xavier Cooks for the occasion having already beaten the 'Cats twice this season.

Who’s in form?

Bryce Cotton – The better question would be to ask when is the three-time NBL champion and three-time MVP ever not in form, but over the past four games he is up on his season average of 24.0 points a game to 25.6 in wins against the Brisbane Bullets and New Zealand Breakers (twice), and loss to Tasmania JackJumpers. His shooting percentages over that four-game stretch are 46 per cent from the field and 37 from three, but when you factor in the pressure of shots he takes in terms of the moment and the defence, that's still impressive. He comes into Saturday's game in as good a form as he can be in albeit his body might be feeling the pinch a little.

Jarell Martin – The big man has stepped up big time for the Kings all season long but even more so in the absence the last couple of games in the absence of Xavier Cooks. There have been significant challenges for him as well against the Cairns Taipans and South East Melbourne Phoenix with Stephen Zimmerman, Nate Jawai, Zhou Qi and Brandon Ashley to battle, but he's come up huge. He has put up 39 points and 12 rebounds over those two games but it's his physical strength and presence that has been even more impressive. Now he gets his partner-in-crime Cooks back to try and hand the Wildcats a third loss this season.

Who needs to be?

Kevin White – The 291-game veteran doesn’t need to do a lot of anything really except make Jaylen Adams' as difficult as he possibly can on Saturday night in The Jungle. Without Mitch Norton with a sore hamstring, he got the start on Thursday against the JackJumpers and likely will again against the Kings. That means he gets the first crack at the defensive job on Adams who has been setting the NBL alight during this eight-game winning streak. He has made a career out of being a tough, tenacious and gritty defender capable of making supremely talented guards like Adams' life difficult. That's his challenge again on Saturday night and if he can rebound or score on top of that, it's a bonus.

Ian Clark – The NBA championship winner is only five games into his NBL stint at the Kings, but he's already fitting in nicely putting up 12.2 points a game and shooting at 45 per cent from the floor and 39 per cent from downtown. Really, he just needs to keep doing what he has been doing and ensuring that this Sydney team already with great weapons with Jarell Martin, Jaylen Adams, DJ Vasiljevic and the returning Xavier Cooks has another legitimate scoring threat then he's doing his job of making this Kings team even harder to get under control.

Who’s statting up?

 - The Wildcats have never lost two regular season games at RAC Arena in the same round but need to win this game to avoid doing that after losing to the JackJumpers on Thursday

 - Perth are the highest scoring team in the NBL, averaging 90.4 points per game but Sydney is the only team that has scored 90 points against Perth twice this season with the 96-81 and 98-95 wins at Qudos Bank Arena

 - Expect plenty of points from Bryce Cotton and Jaylen Adams. Across his NBL career, Cotton averages 26.5 points against the Kings while in his first two appearances against the 'Cats, Adams has put up a total of 61 points

 - Sydney has won its last two games against Perth, but the Wildcats won the previous six. These teams have played 19 times at RAC Arena with Perth winning 16 of them

Who’s matching up?

Vic Law v Xavier Cooks – That's right, Xave is back for the Sydney Kings making an earlier than expected return from an ankle injury on Saturday night and his power forward battle with Vic Law could very well go a long way to determining the winner in this one. Law is battling his own sore ankle but has been in some ominous form in recent times not only with his scoring and mid-range game on fire, but he has put extra emphasis on his rebounding and it's been working. Cooks will be raring to go on his return and given the form he was in prior to getting hurt that had people talking of him heading to the NBA, being an MVP contender and an All-First Team candidate, he's quite the addition for Sydney and he'll be charged with trying to keep Law in check. Not to mention that these two might also be vying for the one spot in the All-First Team come the end of the season as well.

Who’s talking the talk?
Scott Morrison was far from happy with numerous things following Thursday's loss to the JackJumpers, but at the top of the list was his Wildcats giving up 18 offensive rebounds for 24 second chance points.

"It starts with effort. Rebounding is part effort, part desire, part technique. We’re capable of it and we’ve showed it many times," Morrison said. 

"Whether we’re smaller or bigger, we’ve showed that we’re capable of it, and that’s the frustrating part. It's not the most fun thing to coach, I'm sure the guys don't want to hear it from me anymore either and they know. I'm upset but I still believe in the team and I can take a loss, but it's just how you lose. 

"I feel like we didn’t give ourselves a chance and beat ourselves, and I'm hesitant to say that because they deserved to win and beat us, and deserve all the credit. They did what we're saying what we didn’t do. 

"It would have been nicer if we could have been happier with our performance and still lost, but that's not the case. The fact that it was right in our grasp and we just couldn’t get that big rebound was kind of the negative cherry on top."

What Morrison can't excuse from his team is getting beaten through the opponents showing more effort. He felt that was the case against Tasmania so don't expect it to happen again against Sydney.

"They showed some good skill with some tough shots there at the end, but their effort won the game. They played harder, they cut harder, they guarded more physical and they destroyed us on the glass," he said.

"I'll take a team like Adelaide beating us on the glass like a couple of games or a team that's bigger than us like we've talked ad nauseum about, but there's no excuse for a team that's playing small beating us on the glass. 

"I'll take the blame for some lack of ball movement and not encouraging the guys to attack enough down the stretch offensively. But the rebounding is just plain frustrating. All those things mean they want it more."

It's a short turnaround for the Wildcats to face a fresh Kings team on Saturday night, but coach Morrison isn't looking for excuses.

"Physically it would be nice to get more time between games, but that’s the way it is, but mentally I’m sure everyone will be excited to get another chance, and it’s not going to get any easier," Morrison said.

"Sydney beat us up twice at their place, they’re missing a guy or two, we’re missing a couple of guys, so it’s going to come down to toughness. I think we’ll be challenging the players to show that this isn’t a true indication of what we’re all about."

Kings coach Chase Buford has his team riding high ahead of his first ever trip to Perth where he knows the same still holds, try to stop Bryce Cotton and Vic Law.

"It's the same thing as the last two times we've played them, you've got to stop Law and you have to stop Cotton," Buford said.

"If you do that, you have a chance and if you don’t do that, you better hold the other guys a little bit and we found out Cotton can still go off at any time. So can Law. We just have to limit those guys and make the other guys try to beat you, and see what happens."

The Kings could have the most offensive talent in the league and they've been firing of late in this eight-game winning streak, but it's their defensive mindset that has been most pleasing for Buford.

"We wanted to on that line with our mentality, it gets kinda funny, it just stuck a little bit and that’s the identity we’ve formed. We talked about, being dogs, to counter the cats," Buford said.

"They have some cool cats and cats don’t like being chased by dogs. We try to go out and be dogs every night on the floor and that was really the week that we started to believe in ourselves and form an identity of who we were and how we wanted to play."