Nick Kay’s Wildcats will attempt to reverse a poor run when they meet the Taipans in Cairns on New Year’s Eve, with Perth coach Trevor Gleeson saying his side needs to rediscover their “killer instinct”.
Perth, the one-time competition leaders, have slumped to four straight losses, and have ceded top spot on the table to Sydney.
Despite the lean patch – consisting of losses to the Kings, United, the Bullets and the Hawks – Kay, a Tamworth product, has generally continued his good form since joining Perth from Illawarra this season.
However in the 81-77 away loss to the Hawks on December 23, he had nine points, five rebounds and three assists in 29 minutes of court time – compared to season averages of 15.5, 8.8 and three.
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Gleeson said: “We’ve got to get back to where we were pre-FIBA break. Our record hasn’t been that good since then.
“We’ve been in great positions to win games, and we haven’t had that killer instinct – and hopefully we’ll develop that soon.”
For now, Gleeson is sticking by his roster. But he said Perth needed to return to playing “40 minutes of full court, hard stuff – Wildcats basketball”.
The side had “got away from that a little bit”, he said.
