NBL semi-final series: Perth Wildcats beat Brisbane Bullets 89-59
The Bullets have it all to do at Boondall on Saturday after the Wildcats handed them a thumping in their NBL semi-final series opener on Thursday night.
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Do or die.
That is the equation for the Brisbane Bullets at Boondall on Saturday after being on the end of an 89-59 thumping from the Perth Wildcats in the opening game of their NBL semi-final series on Thursday night.
A 30-15 third quarter for the home side at RAC Arena set-up the win for the Wildcats who need just one more victory in the best-of-three series to qualify for yet another grand final.
An 18-4 romp in the last quarter underlined their dominance.
Brisbane have a few things to fix in a hurry – missed free throws (10/21), silly fouls (28 fouls), sloppy turnovers (17) and stopping Perth from getting offensive boards (16) for second-chance points.
Pretty much everything Bullets coach Andrej Lemanis wanted his side to do, they were not able to execute.
And while Brisbane were convincingly outplayed by perennial powerhouse Perth, they could do with getting a much fairer shake from the referees which is much more likely away from the west.
Bullets import Lamar Patterson also needs to find some form and his range after a nine-point outing after hitting just three of 14 attempts from the field in an uncharacteristically quiet night for the former NBA swingman.
Cam Gliddon exploded with a red-hot second quarter and finished with a team-high 18 points for Brisbane while Matt Hodgson battled hard for 10 points and seven rebounds. No other Bullet got into double figures in the points column.
For the Wildcats, Bryce Cotton (22 points, six rebounds, six assists) was the star with Nick Kay adding 18 points and 10 rebounds in a valuable support role.
“Defensively we just couldn’t get stops…we couldn’t score the ball. They just ran us out of the gym. It’s only one game, no matter how bad it is,’’ Gliddon said.
In their 33rd-consecutive play-off series, the Wildcats showed all their finals experience and lifted in the third term – the championship quarter – quickly jumping out to an 11-point cushion as Brisbane’s offence almost ground to a halt.
They went into the last change with an imposing 16-point buffer after a buzzer-beater from Wildcats import Terrico White.
Perth led 41-40 at halftime after a see-sawing opening two quarters.
The Wildcats were on target early and led by as much as nine points in the first term on the way to a 23-16 advantage at quarter-time after shooting at 45 percent from the field to Brisbane’s clunky 35 percent.
It could have worse if not for two slicing drives to the bucket from veteran Adam Gibson late in the quarter.
Sparked by a spectacular double-handed slam alley oop from Gliddon, the Bullets went on an 8-0 burst at the start of the second quarter to grab the lead.
Coming off a back injury, Gliddon knocked down two three-pointers in the blistering run that silenced the rabid RAC Arena crowd.
However, the Wildcats seized back the momentum as they crashed the offensive boards (10 to halftime) and forced a number of turnovers (eight) from Brisbane.
SCORECARD
PERTH WILDCATS 89 (B Cotton 22 T White 19 N Kay 18) bt BRISBANE BULLETS 59 (C Gliddon 18 M Hodgson 10 L Patterson 9) at RAC Arena
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