Claws out as Wildcats hit their stride

Perth Wildcats coach John Rillie has long preached the importance of peaking at the business end of the season, and Dylan Windler believes his team is now doing exactly that as they close in on fourth place in NBL26.

From early in the campaign, Rillie made it clear he didn’t want Perth playing their best basketball too soon, instead targeting a rise as Finals approached. With the post-season now looming, that plan is coming together, even without point guard Jaron Rillie and import guard David Duke Jr.

The Wildcats have won seven of their past eight games, with the lone loss coming at home by just one point against Melbourne United. That surge has them sitting at 18-11, only percentage behind United.

Perth continued that form on Saturday night in Wollongong, shaking off a slow start to defeat the Illawarra Hawks 106-99. Windler led the way with 22 points, five rebounds and five assists, shooting 9-of-13 from the field without a turnover.

With four games remaining, Windler has no doubt the Wildcats are now playing their best basketball of the season.

"I definitely think we're playing our best basketball of the season right now so that's all you can ask for at this point of the season," Windler said.

"You want to be peaking at the tail end of the season going into the playoffs, so I think we've just rallied around the group we've got and a lot of us guys have played a lot of minutes together over the course of a season or two now."

"I think we've got a good chemistry about us and everybody's bought in and knows their role, and I think it's starting to all come together for us."

Rillie has also been pleased with how his team has learned from tough late-game moments, particularly a series of narrow one-point losses at RAC Arena earlier in the season.

"We've just been, you know, chipping away at it all year and we're doing a better job at closing games right now, but I think our group is comfortable with those moments," Rillie said.

"Every good team has some patches throughout the season where they can be growing and learning moments, and I think that's what we've done a good job with instead of getting frustrated with the moment.

"It's about how do we get better in those moments and we're getting rewarded right now for that."

Windler agrees with his coach that the Wildcats’ tough lessons earlier in the season are now paying off, with the team executing better in key moments as Elijah Pepper and Ben Henshall continue to adapt to their increased responsibilities with the ball in hand.

"I think we're doing a better job staying composed in these tight games here, especially when we get down, we're staying composed and getting into our offence," Windler said.

"But most importantly late in games when they're able to make a run, we feel like we're doing a good job of staying under control and getting into our sets and getting good looks in those moments.

"I think that's something we were struggling to get early on in the season in those close games and we were unable to pull them out down the stretch so I think that's been a big difference for us."