Rillie: “They Kicked Our Butt”

The Perth Wildcats have taken some massive strides over the past two months to get themselves back into finals contention, but coach John Rillie admits his team still has a long way to go if they’re going to be in the championship mix.

Three days after falling to the second-placed New Zealand Breakers in enemy territory, the Wildcats suffered a comprehensive 21-point defeat against the ladder-leaders, Sydney.

For Rillie, it showed there’s still significant room for improvement. 

“We didn’t have the required urgency, but we looked like a team that had been on the road as long as we’ve been on the road for tonight (five games),” he admitted.  

“We’ve played the best two teams the last two games and we’re just not quite on their level.

“We have patches where we’re very good against the elite teams, but consistently they’re just a little more consistent over the 40 minutes right now.”

Sydney ran away with an early 13-point lead after a dominant first quarter, and the ‘Cats were always chasing their tails. 

Rillie admitted trying to keep up with the pace of the Kings’ transition immediately put his team on the backfoot.

“They play fast and it’s just not one guy creating that … they have multiple guys that can create that,” he said. 

“Our urgency to get back and have some type of resistance is very important in the first three to five seconds in transitioning from offence to defence. The difference at half-time was 16 and they had like 19 transition points, so we did not do a good job of that.

“The Kings are the champions. Until someone beats them, they’re the best team in the NBL.

“We played the best team. They kicked our butt. Plain and simple.”

Now sitting in seventh place and in a log-jam for the last spots in the finals’ race, the importance of a three-game home stretch can’t be underestimated.

Perth faces New Zealand, Adelaide and Sydney in a potential season-defining 10-day period. 

The Wildcats are likely to welcome back Luke Travers from illness, while another game under the belt of Tai Webster will only help. 

“You can see once he gets comfortable with our group he brings a real different dynamic for us, some playmaking ability,” Rillie said of Webster’s inclusion. 

“It was good for him and for us to get him out there … we head home for a nice little stretch now. He’s a pro.”