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It was a game of two halves to close out the NBL regular season at the Perth Arena, as the Perth Wildcats managed to come from behind and take a big 16-point victory over the Adelaide 36ers.
The 36ers flew out of the gates, scoring 56 points in the first half, before only scoring 28 throughout the second. The Wildcats defence told the story as to why there was a huge difference in scoring between the two halves for the 36ers.
During the first half, the Wildcats struggled, and ultimately failed to lock down the paint as the 36ers ran riot. That was partially because of the awesome ability of the 36ers, led by Adam Gibson, to run transition offence.
Mitch Creek, Jerome Randle, Matt Hodgson and Anthony Petrie all lit up at some point in the first half, with the 36ers shooting percentage off the charts.
Down the other end of the court though, the Wildcats struggled to make their shots. They were playing a much slower style of game, and the likes of Jermaine Beal, Nathan Jawai and Matthew Knight struggled to put any authority over the contest.
The one player who stood up and kept the Wildcats in the contest was Casey Prather. As always, he had explosiveness matched by no-one, and put his court vision on display, scoring and setting up team-mates well.
During a physical first half, plenty of fouls were being called, including an almost fist fight at one point, although it never got past the push and shove stage.
The second half though, was an entirely different story as the Wildcats quickly caught, and then ran away from the 36ers in leaps and bounds.
Damian Martin came up with the goods shooting, and was given plenty of support by Prather, Jesse Wagstaff and Tom Jervis who had a blinder of a game inside the paint, playing extended minutes with Nathan Jawai not seen during the second half.
The 36ers didn’t change heaps about their game, but the Wildcats adjusted and the 36ers couldn’t get a shot to fall, particularly from outside where they only hit two of 18 at 11 per cent during the game.
The Wildcats also gained a significant rebounding advantage, which helped them to push away.
In the end, a big win for the Wildcats, but that first half will worry them on the defensive end as they look forward to playing the best offensive team in the Illawarra Hawks next week, during the semi-finals.
Final score
Perth Wildcats 100
Adelaide 36ers 84
It might be the NBL’s battle of the west, a normally fierce rivalry, but it will be interesting to see how the Perth Wildcats and Adelaide 36ers react to playing what is essentially dead rubber basketball. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage of the match from 7:00pm (AEDT).
With the ladder locked in, and unchangeable in what is the final match of the regular season, neither team has anything left to play for at the Perth Arena.
For the Wildcats, there will be more action to look forward to in the coming weeks, with yet another finals appearance. They will finish the season in second place, and take the home advantage moving forward.
The 36ers meanwhile, after a slow start to the season got themselves right into contention for the post-season, only to stumble at the final hurdle. They were unable to win their last match, and have been over taken outright by the New Zealand Breakers on the ladder for fourth spot. Having lost the season series against them, there is now no way for the 36ers to be in with a shot at the finals.
Interestingly from the Wildcats point of view, they rested a number of their key players during their last meeting away from home against the Sydney Kings. It was an attempt to rest them before the finals, but a fired up Kings line up came up with the goods in a big way, recording a 26 point win.
The Wildcats I would expect will bring a majority of their big guns for tonight’s game, or at the very least give them minutes off the bench as we move into the finals.
The 36ers as already mentioned fell out of finals contention in their last match, an 11 point loss to the Illawarra Hawks. Despite star Jerome Randle being back out on court, it simply wasn’t enough to give the 36ers any sort of edge over the third placed Hawks.
The Wildcats have dominated their season series so far against the 36ers, taking all three games, with two of those on the road. You would imagine they will be keen to build momentum going into the finals with a win, and complete the sweep of the 36ers in this one.
Prediction
The 36ers may well turn up on holidays for this one. Absolutely nothing to play for, they will be searching for their end of season trip. The Wildcats off a loss against the bottom of the table Kings, should have far too much for them in this one, although will aim to give starters limited minutes and minimise injury.
Wildcats by 12.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of the final regular season NBL match from 7:00pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde