Point taken: Perth's playmakers stand up without Knight

With Brandon Knight arriving in Perth next week and Jaron Rillie (leg) not far behind, help is on its way for the Perth Wildcats.

Knight is likely to miss at least the next two games, starting with Saturday night's clash against New Zealand. Perth can take plenty of confidence into that stretch, though, after Thursday night's hard-fought win over Adelaide, sealed by Elijah Pepper's miracle triple with 1.9 seconds left.

Pepper, Kristian Doolittle and youngster Anthony Dell'Orso have shared the playmaking duties in the absence of a recognised point guard, and coach John Rillie was full of praise for how his group handled the load against the 36ers.

"Tonight, when we applied ourselves … trusting your teammates, sharing the ball, all of that, that's how you have to play when you don't have natural playmakers," Rillie said.

"These guys are doing a great job of making the most of their opportunities. It's tough, and it's a really hard position to play, so to ask guys to perform at a consistent and high level when it's not necessarily their natural instinct, hats off to them.

"The opportunity is the greatest thing to come out of it."

Rillie said it would be a tough ask to have Knight ready for next Friday's game against South East Melbourne. That could set the stage for the veteran's debut against New Zealand in a fortnight, in front of the Red Army.

The 451-game NBA veteran will be a welcome addition to the Wildcats' rotation, as will Rillie's son Jaron, who hasn't played since January 10.

"He's [Rillie] ]got to get a few more miles on his tyres before all the metrics allow him to play," John Rillie said.

Perth hosts the New Zealand Breakers at RAC Arena on Saturday night, live on ESPN, 9 and 9Now from 9:30pm AEST.