Wildcats Big Three Too Much for Wayward 36ers

The Perth Wildcats went wire-to-wire with a dominant 92-73 victory over an Adelaide 36ers team shorthanded but who didn’t quite have their radar set at Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Sunday.

It’s unlikely that many in the crowd came expecting a fireworks display from 335-game veteran Todd Blanchfield, but that is exactly what they got early as he shot his way out of a shooting slump with four three-pointers in the first quarter.

The Wildcats finally got home during the week following a 64-day odyssey on the road, and certainly looked refreshed racing to a 15-2 start with Blanchfield, Vic Law and Bryce Cotton all getting going early.

None more so than Blanchfield (22 points, eight rebounds), who is now in his 13th season in the NBL. He made four three-pointers in the first quarter, becoming the first player this season to do so.

It set an electrifying tone for the Wildcats, and Blanchfield had 17 of the team’s first 26 points. Which, it goes without saying, was well up on his 9.5 points per game average. In fact, it was Blanchfield's best quarter in his entire NBL career.

By comparison, the 36ers were ice-cold, particularly from three-point range, hitting just one of their first 15 shots from beyond the arc. Stand-in coach Jamie Pearlman could only watch on as his team went 3/22 from deep in the first half. 

While Matt Hodgson was missing for Perth, Majok Majok stood tall in his 150th NBL game and the 36ers came in minus Cam Bairstow and then lost Kai Sotto to a corked thigh in the second quarter after making his first career start.

The 36ers’ work on the offensive boards, taking 22 to the Wildcats’ five, gave them plenty of second-chance opportunities. Unfortunately, of those 85 shots the 36ers took, they made just 26 including 7/37 from beyond the arc.

The Wildcats had no such problems. When Blanchfield’s hot shooting cooled off, Cotton stepped up with the three-time MVP and two-time NBL champion making up for a couple of quietish games against Adelaide this season.

Cotton brought his A-game to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, with 27 points and seven assists. He was calm with the ball in his hands and a constant thorn in the 36ers' side. 

Showing Cotton’s impact, his brief spells on the bench in the third and fourth overlapped with when the 36ers looked most promising. On his return, the Wildcats instantly got rolling again. 

Wildcats coach Scott Morrison was obviously happy with the offensive performance but not to give the 36ers so many second looks.

"Offensively we clicked pretty well. We were pretty efficient. It helped that we got out hot and saw the ball go in a few times. At the same time, Any time you give up 22 offensive rebounds you have to feel fortunate you got away with the win," Morrison said.

"When we are really locked in and communicating we are a better defensive team that we give ourselves credit for... our rebounding makes the defence look worse than it is, but if rebounding is a part of defence we have some work to do."

Daniel Johnson provided the flickers of hope for the 36ers. Coming off a 31-point performance against the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Friday, he was a force of resistance with 19 points and 12 rebounds. 

Pearlman couldn’t fault the effort from the 36ers, but ultimately they just didn’t shoot the ball well enough.

"As disappointed as we are, it is hard to fault our effort. That statistic does show that. It wasn't long rebounds bouncing in our hands, we were chasing," Pearlman said.

"There were a lot of great things in the effort areas, but at the end of the day we couldn't put the ball in the hole often enough.

"I thought we did have some possessions there driving through elbows, but they were quite compact in there. I don't feel as though we made enough shots there."

There were no signs of Perth's struggles to starting games on the back of spending a few days back home. 

They led by a season-high 16 points (50-34) at the main break, and faced only a couple of mini speed bumps – the 36ers briefly wrestled the game to a single-figure margin in the third quarter and fourth quarters – before cruising to the 19-point victory. 

The Wildcats have a blockbuster Grand Final rematch next on their slate, traveling to John Cain Arena to play Melbourne United on Thursday. 

The 36ers head back to their old venue, the 36ers Arena, to play the New Zealand Breakers on Saturday night with head coach CJ Bruton likely back at the helm should he overcome his dose of COVID.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 14

ADELAIDE 36ERS 73 (Johnson 19, Dufelmeier 12, Dech 10, Hannahs 10)

PERTH WILDCATS 92 (Cotton 27, Law 22, Blanchfield 22) 

BOX SCORE