Wildcats do enough in Adelaide minus Cotton

Perth continues to tune up well for the NBL finals after easing past the Adelaide 36ers 76-68 on the road without superstar Bryce Cotton on Sunday.

It completed a run of six games in 11 days for the second-placed Wildcats that included four road matches against Cairns, Brisbane and Adelaide.

They came into this match without talisman Cotton and with an intention to reach deep down the bench to manage weary legs. The Wildcats did it with class, never really threatened by a 36ers outfit missing Josh Giddey and Isaac Humphries.

All 11 players that travelled to Adelaide played minutes for Perth and the only real concern was the fact that new recruit Will Magnay was the only one of those players who failed to score.

Still, the Wildcats were tested by the NBL schedule and finished the tough stretch with four wins and two losses, as well as valuable opportunities to put miles in the legs of their lessor lights.

Without Cotton, Mitch Norton was the main man at point guard and he finished with 19 points, four rebounds and four steals while John Mooney had his way in the paint with 15 points and 12 boards. It was his 21st double-double of #NBL21.

Todd Blanchfield had 15 and five rebounds while bench weapon Clint Steindl chipped in 11 points albeit off uncharacteristically wayward shooting.

Perth coach Trevor Gleeson admitted it had been a tough stretch and praised his team for playing unselfish basketball to get the win.

"It was a grind, without a question, that wasn't a highlight film that one," he said.

"We just had to find a way. I was really happy with our defence, to hold a team like Adelaide to under 20 points (in all four quarters). I don't know many other teams that have played that many games in that many days in the NBL, it is uncharted waters for us.

"To play that many games, throw in travel in there, it was a really big ask for the guys. The bench was excellent today ... I was happy a couple of guys really stepped up when we needed them to."

Adelaide put in a better showing than Friday against Illawarra and they did want to reward their fans in the last home game of the season with another good attendance of 6422, but they just couldn’t get going offensively.

No one really made a statement for Adelaide although five players including DJ Johnson, Daniel Dillon, Tony Crocker, Brandon Paul and Jack McVeigh did reach double figures. 

The depleted Adelaide side was guilty of trying to blast its way out of trouble with 33 shots from outside, but coach Conner Henry said it was their effort on the boards that cost them.

"The way the roster is right now, we're pretty much a jump shooting team," he said.

"We took a lot of threes and made a few, not a high number of course. We need to make some shots from the outside and try to get on the rim.

"It comes down to a possession game, it's been that way all year long. We had 59 field goal attempts, they had 70. They had 18 offensive rebounds and we had 14 turnovers.

"Some of it was decision making, some of it was just putting it all together. Tonight I thought was better than our last game and we did some nice things, we just couldn't get over the hump."

It was a bright start for the 36ers who put the first three points on the board, staying with the Wildcats for much of the quarter as Henry experimented with his rotations.

The two sides were locked together for much of the quarter until Clint Steindl came off the bench and continued his blistering form with a swished triple on his first touch. 

Perth was also going deep down their bench ahead of the finals and it was Wani Swaka Lo Buluk that had the last say, his bucket giving Perth a 22-18 quarter-time advantage.

It was beginning to look bleak in the second quarter as Perth streaked out to a 34-25 advantage but Daniel Dillon launched a triple and Keanu Pinder earned a strip to the free-throw line to keep things honest. 

While he may not have been favoured heavily in Henry's rotations this year, cult fan favourite and captain Brendan Teys earned a round of applause as he was injected into the action late in the quarter.

It was a war of attrition as both sides struggled to get consistent baskets, a symptom of weakened and changed rotations. Adelaide did grind their way back, though, and they only trailed 36-34 at the main break.

The intensity picked up after the break as Adelaide surged out of the blocks to push out to a three-point lead, before Perth immediately responded to push out to a six-point advantage. 

The visitors held Adelaide at arm's length with a 56-51 lead at the final break but Paul injected himself into the match to keep them honest. In the end, Perth's class shone through even without their best player as they tune up for finals.

The 36ers hit the road now the rest of the season starting Tuesday against the New Zealand Breakers in Christchurch while the Wildcats are back home against last year's Grand Final opponents the Sydney Kings.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 19

ADELAIDE 36ERS 68 (Johnson 13, Crocker 12, Dillon 11)

PERTH WILDCATS 76 (Norton 19, Mooney 15, Blanchfield 14) 

BOX SCORE