Rillie defends rotation: "I can't play 15 guys"

Over the past few weeks, the Perth Wildcats have won three of their four matches, with that lone loss being a tight defeat to competition front-runners Melbourne.

A characteristic of that stretch has been John Rillie tightening his rotation.

Starters Jo Lual Acuil Jr, Kristian Doolittle, Dylan Windler and David Duke Jr have all been close to 30 minutes a game - with the quartet contributing 63 of the team's 87 points on Sunday.

The other spot on the court generally rotating between guards Elijah Pepper and Ben Henshall, with Jaron Rillie currently on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.

Rounding out the rotation right now is a sprinkling of skipper Jesse Wagstaff, Sunday Dech, Lat Mayen and David Okwera, who all played less than 11 minutes at John Cain Arena on Sunday.

When asked about his rotations tightening in the post-game press conference, Rillie reminded the interviewers that the Wildcats aren't here to just participate, but to win the Hungry Jack's NBL26 championship.

"I coach a lot on the fly and different guys bring different things to our group," he said in Sunday's post-game press conference.

"But then you also [consider] the type of team you're playing against. Does their style create an advantage?

"And there are one million things I got going through my mind as the game's going on. '[From thinking], Sunday and Lat have been doing a good job, while I know what you're going to get from Wagstaff.

"[End of the story is though] I can't play 15 guys every night.

"We're not here to just participate [in the NBL] and be happy with the result. I'm not in it for that.

"In a game where we're not playing great and they're playing really well, we were a chance [to win] and that's all you can ask [so I just went with the guys who I thought would give us a chance to compete]."

The Wildcats, who are fourth (8-6) heading into the FIBA Break, next host Melbourne United on Thursday, December 4 at RAC Arena from 9.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.