Perth Wildcats vs Melbourne United: Saturday Preview

Game Details
Perth Wildcats vs Melbourne United
5.00pm WST 12 February @ John Cain Arena
Watch LIVE on ESPN – available via Kayo or Foxtel

Context
This is the Perth Wildcats first time the 2021 Grand Finalists have met this season. Despite changes for both squads, the two best teams of last year have retained their positions as NBL powerhouses and, at the mid-point of the season, find themselves firmly in contention once again as the top ranked teams. The Wildcats will be looking to make it back-to-back wins after comfortably defeating South East Melbourne last week, while United will be looking to snap a two game slump after losses to Adelaide and Tasmania.

What the coach had to say
Scott Morrison on defence 
“I think the key to this game is defence, they’re going to make us work for our buckets, so it’s that much more important that we do the same to them and I think we have a good half court defence, I think we’re second or third in the half court but overall we’re fourth or fifth, so we have some little things to clean up if we want to get to the level we want to be at to contend for a championship. On paper, it’s the number one offence against the number one defence.”

Scott Morrison on Matthew Dellavedova knowledge through NBA
“I remember that he (Dellavedova) was a big factor off the bench with his defensive presence. He picked the ball up full court, he disrupted the offense and made things real difficult. He’s doing the same stuff here just in a marquee role. He’s also playing well offensively too; I don’t want to make light of his offence. He hit seven threes a couple of games ago.”

Roster Availability 
Ollie Hayes-Brown retains his spot in the side with Matt Hodgson’s unavailable due to suspension. Corey Shervill (foot) remains unavailable.

Opponents to watch out for
Melbourne centre Jo Lual-Acuil has been in devastating form and is now finding himself on NBA radars. In United’s loss to Tasmania he scored 26 points and grabbed 21 rebounds. 
Saturday will be the Wildcats first look at Matthew Dellavedova, who is in his first year in the NBL following an eight-year NBA career. He’s averaging 10.3 points and 5.6 assists per game. Veteran Chris Goulding remains United’s scoring leader with 16.3 points per game.

Last time they met
Missing MVP Bryce Cotton, and with Mitch Norton, Luke Travers and Clint Steindl under major injury clouds the Perth Wildcats put up a brave fight in Game Three of the 2021 NBL Grand Final. Development player Corey Shervill started alongside Norton, Todd Blanchfield, Will Magnay and John Mooney. Mooney and Kevin White had a game-high 14 points each. After taking the lead in the third, Perth would ultimately fall by five points.

Fun Facts and Stats
The winner of this game will take top-spot on the NBL Ladder.
Former Wildcats Jermaine Beal (42 points) and Casey Prather (39 points) own the top-two scoring efforts for Perth against Melbourne, with Bryce Cotton and Terrico White tied for third (31 points).
Bryce Cotton has recorded two career double-doubles – both against Melbourne United.

History
The Perth Wildcats and Melbourne United have split the results of their 36 clashes evenly since United’s introduction to the NBL in 2015. The two teams have won the last six NBL championships.
Their most recent results have largely been influenced by significant injuries, with United winning their last five games, including the three 2021 Grand Final games. The Wildcats defeated Melbourne twice in 2021, most recently a year ago, in February last year.
Perth have only defeated Melbourne twice in their last 10 meetings.

Milestones
Six-time champion and captain Jesse Wagstaff will become the second Wildcat to play 400 NBL games on Saturday. He's the seventh player in NBL history to play his 400th game with the team he started his career with. 48 NBL players have played 400+ games
Kevin White is currently on 49 Perth Wildcats games.