Gleeson proud of Wildcats regular season

Perth Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson said he’s proud what his team accomplished throughout the unprecedented 2021 NBL season.

That’s despite his team falling to Melbourne United 64-78 at their final match before the NBL Finals begin.

The loss means Perth will finish the season in second position.

“We’re so proud of how we handled ourselves through the year, to finish second with 25 (wins) and 11 (losses), with 22 of those games on the road,” he said.

“The adversity we’ve gone through, and while we haven’t got the results the last couple of games but we played with our heart.

“This has been a great building phase going into the playoffs, and if you had of told me at the start of the year we’d sit second with 25 wins I would have taken it straight away.”

The Wildcats, without Bryce Cotton and Mitch Norton, went toe-to-toe with the league-leaders for the majority of the night.

They closed a 15-point Melbourne advantage to just four points in the final quarter.

However, United were able to land some big punches down the stretch to seal the win.

“I thought our intensity was there. We had a couple of lapses, we got it back to four… But our defence kind of broke down there.

“We gave it a good hard crack, but you have to make shots when that situation happens.”

Todd Blanchfield top-scored for Perth with 15, while Will Magnay added 10.

Luke Travers filled it up with 10 points and eight boards.

The Wildcats first semi-final game  is on Thursday at RAC Arena.

Perth Wildcats 64 (Blanchfield 15, Magnay 10, Travers 10)

Melbourne United 78 (Lual-Acuil 16, Hopson 14, McCarron 11)