Why NBL win over Hawks said plenty about Perth's pluck

Perth coach John Rillie knows his NBL side's offence won't always be pretty.

But the Wildcats have showcased their adaptability, depth and will to win after beating Sydney Kings and Illawarra Hawks in successive Friday nights without Bryce Cotton.

Last week, the Wildcats were precariously placed. They had lost four of their previous five matches, while four-time MVP winning superstar Cotton suffered a rib injury in last month's loss to the New Zealand Breakers.

They hosted the high-powered Kings and shot the ball terribly as a team, going at just 36 per cent from the field, but Keanu Pinder fired for 34 points and they willed themselves to the victory.

Perth hosted the league-leading Hawks on Friday night and, without Cotton again, it was a shooting barrage that secured a 113-105 victory at RAC Arena.

To shoot 36 per cent one night while going five-of-33 from three-point land then, a week later, 54 per cent with 17-of-31 from downtown says a lot to coach Rillie about his side.

"One of the themes of our team is that we need to live in the paint and some nights that's at the rim or like last week KP (Pinder) was the recipient of a lot of passes close to the basket," Rillie said.

"But in this game, it was more making sure we got the guys on the outside because of the way they play defence. They are going to collapse and guys did a great job of stepping up and making shots."

Hawks coach Justin Tatum, fresh from a $3000 fine for lashing NBL referees as incompetent, was short on words after the loss.

"Perth played well, we didn't play well and that was it, that's how I saw it," Tatum said.

As good as the Wildcats' shooting was against the Hawks, with Ben Henshall (26 points) and Dylan Windler (17) hitting five threes apiece, it was another 11 offensive rebounds for 17 second-chance points that made Rillie even happier.

"When you make shots it makes the game a little easier, but I was disappointed at halftime because we only had five offensive rebounds from admiring the offence instead of being persistent like I want them to be," Rillie added.

"You saw in the second half different guys, and the one that really sticks in my mind is Todd Withers with that offensive rebound put back.

"Our offence isn't going to be pretty all the time, but you just get to manufacture points if we're aggressive on the glass."

The Wildcats, who face South East Melbourne Phoenix in Melbourne on Sunday, have a short turnaround before trying to make it three straight minus Cotton.

"The thing about the schedule is that this is common for us to do this. It's not going to be a surprise to anyone when we show up to the airport," Rillie said.

"Us as coaches and high performance staff get together to figure out how to best tackle the window we're given.

"Then ... Sunday afternoon we better play with a tenacity."