'Cats lick wounds after star's injury

An elbow injury to David Duke Jr could not have come at a worse time for Perth Wildcats coach John Rillie. In one blow, the Wildcats lost their best defender on Bryce Cotton, along with a crucial playmaker and ball-handler.

The Wildcats arrived in Adelaide on Sunday set to face Cotton again, having not played for a week since a strong win in Tasmania. They were also buoyed by the return of Jaron Rillie, Ben Henshall and Jesse Wagstaff, while Dylan Windler avoided missing any time after rolling his ankle.

Perth made a fast start, jumping out to a 14-point lead against the league-leading 36ers. But the momentum shifted early when Duke Jr suffered a nasty-looking injury just three minutes in, hyperextending his elbow.

As the game wore on, his absence became increasingly damaging. Cotton went on to torch the Wildcats for 36 points and seven assists without Duke Jr applying pressure, while Perth also sorely missed his ball-handling, playmaking and scoring at the other end in an eventual 11-point loss.

While Duke Jr’s injury didn’t necessarily force Rillie into wholesale tactical changes, its impact was significant. His son Jaron was limited to just 12 minutes in his return from a hamstring injury, further thinning Perth’s rotations.

"We didn’t change anything because we've got a number of guys that are accustomed to that assignment," Rillie said.

"But then all of a sudden our rotations and so forth, we're just a little thin right now in that position and obviously with Duke it would be good to have him with defending Bryce, but then also right now with our roster, he has a lot of responsibility offensively as well.

"It's like a double-whammy when he went out tonight."

Straight after the game, Rillie had no update on Duke Jr’s elbow, but its impact was clear. The Wildcats were unable to halt the momentum swing in the third quarter, where the 36ers blew the game open by outscoring Perth 29-9.

"My solution or answer to that is that when your two primary ball-handlers are limited through injury and returning to play, that's a challenge," Rillie said.

"We lean on (Kristian) Doolittle to do a lot of things for us and defend someone in the front court who's a good player, initiate offence, score and then when those primary ball-handlers are out of the game, it really puts a lot of heat on him to be able to do that."

"In a way that's unfair because we ask and demand a lot of Doo."