Seething Wildcats to take Taipan revenge

How will the Perth Wildcats respond to their heartbreaking overtime loss to Melbourne earlier in Round 12? Their road trip continues with a Boxing Day game in Cairns, and Damon Lowery says this is the type of game the Taipans tend to just find a way to win.

Perth had the opportunity to take a second consecutive win against ladder leaders Melbourne earlier in the round, but a frantic second half and overtime period pulled United to victory.

“Watching John Rillie and Bryce Cotton in that press conference, those dudes were seething,” Lowery said on NBL Now.

“They could be out to exact some revenge on Cairns, but this is the kind of game where if you were going to tip Cairns, it’s this one.

“Cairns, what do you expect? Are there any coins around here to flip? I don’t know.

“[It’s] the type of game they’re not really supposed to win, they can’t really afford to come out slipping. I’m expecting a close kind of a game, but I’m going to lean towards Perth.”

Perth’s open-air defeat to United has been heralded as the game of the season so far, in a performance that only surpassed the teams' previous overtime clash in Round 6.

Lowery lauded the quality of the contest between the Wildcats and United in what was one of the biggest games on the NBL calendar.

“Open-air game, nobody else can play. It’s got to be Melbourne United and Perth until that standard drops off – it’s too good,” he said.

“It had absolutely everything. It was Apollo Creed and Rocky, it was George Foreman and Muhammad Ali, it was a Superbowl mixed in with the USA/Canada ice hockey gold medal match.

“[It’s] the most scintillating game I’ve seen Bryce Cotton play since his 45-point grand final. He is outrageously good and it’s outrageous what he’s doing.

“To call that game epic would be doing a disservice to the word.”

Perth and Cairns clash on Boxing Day at 7:30pm AEDT.