After a win for the Perth Wildcats over the South East Melbourne Phoenix at HoopsFest, both teams are now looking ahead to formidable challenges against a couple of NBL powerhouses, Sydney Kings and Melbourne United.
The opening round of the NBL season in Perth on Friday featured the Wildcats lighting up a packed RAC Arena by landing 19 three-pointers -- with 12 coming from Bryce Cotton and Keanu Pinder -- in the 106-98 win.
The 'Cats took control late in the first quarter when four-time MVP Cotton landed three consecutive three-point bombs. He went on score 17 points in the first half, and 26 for the game, shooting 8-of-13 from downtown.
Pinder was the star, though, with the explosive big man hitting four triples and throwing down some powerful dunks, and being a horror match up for the Phoenix.
Wildcats coach John Rillie also liked the help they got from Dylan Windler (six points, 10 rebounds), Kristian Doolittle (nine points, 13 boards), Izan Almansa (10 points) and Ben Henshall (10 points, seven assists).
"That is progressing nicely and I think last year it took a little time for guys to figure out how to most utilise each other's strengths," Rillie said.
"But throughout pre-season the communication and connectivity has grown in those two guys, but the other additions we've made to our roster allows for that to happen with the floor spacing and so forth. It is a dynamic one-two punch though."
Following a hectic last couple of weeks with a tour to Japan followed directly by the NBL Blitz on the Gold Coast and Friday's season-opener, the Wildcats now have the luxury of a week at home, preparing to host the Kings next Friday.
Rillie is already starting to cheerfully play up the underdog tag as he prepares to joust with a team which can boast Luc Longley and Andrew Bogut as owners, Chris Pongrass as chief executive, and Brian Goorjian as coach.
"We play a team with two owners that have NBA championships, they've got a basketball general manager who keeps putting rosters together, they've got a coach they call the GOAT -- and I haven’t even talked about their roster," Rillie smiled.
"I've already told our assistant coaches, 'let's figure out how we can win the jump ball so we can say we've won something that night'."
New Phoenix centre Jordan Hunter was a shining light in the season-opener with the former Sydney championship winner producing 19 points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes.
While there was a lot to work on for South East Melbourne on a night where they fell down by 21 and gave up 19 threes and 15 offensive rebounds, Hunter already can't wait for his first Throwdown against Melbourne on Thursday.
"It will be great and I'm hearing it's sold out so it will be fun to be back in John Cain," Hunter said.
"I love playing there and it will be my first time with the boys in green so it should be a great game.
"We'll have a great few days of training after getting back from this to gear up for that, and I'm sure the boys will be excited to respond to this."
