The Perth Wildcats will play in a do-or-die final tomorrow night against Melbourne United after their loss to South East Melbourne on Wednesday night.
The absence of David Duke Jnr, Dylan Windler and Jaron Rillie were heavily felt in their 17-point defeat.
With the home court advantage and an extra day to prepare, the Wildcats are hoping to advance through to the next finals stage to face off with the Sydney Kings.
SportFM spoke to Wildcats’ assistant coach Ben Peterson this morning.
“I think we felt well prepared going into that game and comfortable with the game plan we had. But they just out-competed us. And we did a bad job of playing to what we had talked about throughout the week,” he said.
“It was disappointing, you know, they were ready to go and I felt like their depth and their physicality played a huge part in that game. But at the end of the day you really can’t dwell on it too long.”
The Phoenix’s preparation over the extended break was shown on the court on Wednesday, with physicality being a key difference between the two sides.
“Credit to them, they’re super physical. They’re a really deep roster and we’re obviously missing a few guys which was felt.”
“We had things in place that we talked about in terms of how we were going to counter and attack it, and we did do a good job of that. We felt like we got whatever shot we wanted, but we just couldn’t sustain it for 40 minutes.”
The Wildcats won’t be dwelling on their performance earlier in the week, with Peterson and the coaching staff firm on shifting the playing groups’ focus onto the next game.
“We’ve got a do or die game tomorrow night. The message was brief and it was just about getting ready for this and all of our attention being in Melbourne United tomorrow night.”
“With where we’re at in the season… the guys all understand what’s at stake. And I think we’ll be able to flip the page and be ready to go.”
IMAGE: Perth Wildcats