Perth coach Trevor Gleeson has labelled Nick Kay the Rolls Royce of the Wildcats' locker room after the Tamworth export produced a dominant performance as the reigning champions defeated the Adelaide 36ers 94-79 to finish off the 2019/2020 regular season in style.
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Kay was the Wildcats' top-scorer with 23 points - his fourth 20 or more- points haul in as many games. He also chipped in with seven rebounds and two assists.
"Nick has been outstanding the last month, with some of the best basketball he has played all season," Gleeson said.
"Other people looking for flashy new players to come in, but Nick has been our Rolls Royce. He turns up and is high quality every day, produces numbers. This is best competition the NBL has been in a long, long time and he's producing numbers of that calibre consistently."
The win sees the Wildcats, who regardless of the result couldn't move from second spot, end the season with a 19-9 record - their best since their dominant 2013/14 campaign.
Speaking post-match Kay said he is "excited to see how far this group can go and what we can produce when the big lights go on".
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They now have a week's break due to FIBA scheduling before taking on the Cairns Taipans.
It was a similar situation with the break last year and Kay believes that experience will be crucial.
"We know what we have to do this year, we have to get bodies right, we have to be ready to go and we have to be locked to scout because when you play the same team over and over scout's a crucial thing that needs to be perfectly executed.
"So (the break) will be a good chance to have a look at Cairns and be ready to go in a couple of weeks."
Last year's experience also personally has him feeling more confident coming into the finals series.
"[I've] Been there before but to have that championship now, you know the feeling and the reward you get from actually winning it and it's just a huge driving force because there's nothing better than winning the championship," he said.
"Anything short of that I think we'll be a bit disappointed as a group because we've got what we need to to win a championship."
"It's about going out and executing that now and giving all we have to make sure that's the case."
The first of the Wildcats' best-of-three semi-final series against the Taipans will be played on Friday, February 28 at RAC Arena.
Australian Associated Press