Nick Kay continued his form as one of Perth’s most consistent performers as the Wildcats’ made a statement to the rest of the NBL with a 100-81 demolition of the previously in-form Adelaide 36ers at RAC Arena on Friday night.
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The Tamworth product flirted with a triple-double, scoring 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
On the back of the win, their second straight after losing seven of their past eight games, the Wildcats are adamant they are back to their defensive best.
Wildcats captain Damian Martin, a six-times NBL defensive, said the effort to keep the Adelaide 36ers to 81 points on Friday night was their best for the season.
While coach Trevor Gleeson said the effort of the past two weeks was akin to what they have won recent championships on the back of.
If they are to keep their new-found form going against the Sydney King on Sunday, they will need to do so without guard Mitch Norton, who appeared to injure his calf early in Friday's win.
Norton will have scans, but the early signs weren't good.
The Wildcats did manage ok without him for nearly three quarters against Adelaide, though.
After giving up 32 points to the 36ers in the first quarter, Perth kept them to 49 points for the remainder of the game, including restricting them to just 13 points in the second quarter and 11 in the third.
"Last week, we kept Melbourne to two quarters under 20 points; and again tonight two quarters under 20 points," he said.
"When we are playing good defence and have each-others backs, that's why we win championships, on the back of that stuff."
Martin has been critical of his team's defence over the past couple of months.
After a 10-1 start to the season, the Wildcats found themselves on the verge of dropping out of the top four when they lost eight of their next 10 games.
But those two wins against two top sides seems to have Perth's season back on track.
On Friday night, that tough defence kept Daniel Johnson to just five points, Nathan Sobey to seven and Demitrius Conger to four.
And after Jacob Wilding looked like blowing the game apart with 12 points in the opening term, he was kept to just six for the remainder of the game.
The skipper said that they were reaping the rewards of sticking to their game plan.
"In weeks gone by we spoke about how we were going to guard different opponents and then we've gone out and done things we haven't practised at all during the week," Martin said.
"So, to be able to have a game plan throughout the week and step over the line - even when they scored 32 in the first quarter, a lot of it was us sticking to our game plan, they made some shots, but then we started rebounding.
"That's as good as we have been in the defensive end."
Australian Associated Press
