Wildcats lick wounds without key pair

Missing their starting point guard, who supplies much of their energy and pace, and a rebounding monster, was a driving factor John Rillie saw in the Perth Wildcats loss on Friday, with little time to lick their wounds.

The Wildcats had started NBL25 well enough at RAC Arena firstly beating the South East Melbourne Phoenix by eight points as part of HoopsFest and then losing a thriller last Friday night to the Sydney Kings by just a solitary point.

There really was no sign of what was to come this Friday night with Melbourne arriving, although perhaps the writing was somewhat on the wall with the combination of United coming off a loss, and the 'Cats without Tai Webster and Dylan Windler.

The only time Melbourne lost consecutive games all of last season was Games 2 and 3 of the Championship Series with the Tasmania JackJumpers, and outside of that they won by an average of 11.3 points coming off defeats in NBL24.

United had also won eight of their last nine games in the venue against Perth so there were some warning signs there for Rillie and the Wildcats.

That was only added to with the absence of point guard Webster with a calf injury and import forward Windler with a sore Achilles, and the result was a shellacking, with Melbourne winning by 29 points.

It's the biggest ever win inside RAC Arena for a visiting team and there was precious little for Rillie to like from a Wildcats point of view, with four-time MVP Bryce Cotton held to 5 points on 2/10 shooting.

The Wildcats shot just 33 per cent from the floor for the game, had only 4 fast break points, gave up 50 points in the paint to Melbourne, 16 points off turnovers and surrendered a lead as big as 33 points.

While Rillie is making no excuses for the performances of the players who were available for the 'Cats, he did see a clear example of what his team looks like without two key pieces.

As was the case last season, without the energy and playmaking of Webster, the Wildcats look an inferior team and now without the energy and rebounding of Windler, who had 16 boards against Sydney, his absence was sorely felt too.

"It's a team game and we're disappointed with the way the team performed, but I think it just really does show the importance of certain guys on a team out on the floor," Rillie said.

"It's not just statistically, it's the juice that those individuals bring. Tai is picking up the ball, he can get a steal or deflections, and the team rallies around that and gets energy.

"Last week Windler's all over the glass and all of a sudden other guys are joining in. That's why they are key components of our group and that's why they are on this roster to bring those attributes.

"Then all of a sudden when you're asking other guys to do some of those things and it's not their elite attribute, that's tough. That's why when you put a team together you're wanting all the pieces out there all the time."

The Wildcats have little time to stew over Friday night's 29-point loss as they now head on the road for the first time in NBL25, after playing the opening three matches of the new season at RAC Arena.

They leave with a 1-2 record ahead of taking on the Tasmania JackJumpers on Sunday afternoon at MyState Bank Arena, in their first meeting since the playoffs of NBL24.

Both teams come into the Sunday matchup with 1-2 records and both having suffered double-figure losses on either side of the country on Friday night.

Rillie knows that the JackJumpers are always hard to overcome, but he's more concerned about getting his team closer to playing to their potential, with the chance of Windler returning, although Webster won't be making the trip on Saturday.

"You would think you can't play that bad two in-a-row. You go into Tassie and you understand what that environment is and the mental preparation as well as the physical preparation becomes key," Rillie said.

"They are in the same boat as us travelling in to play on Sunday, so it's probably the team that applies and gets themselves ready to bounce back the quickest who will have the best chance of winning that game."