Pinder rates Kings game as 'right up there' with his best

The imposing big man put the undermanned Wildcats, missing superstar Bryce Cotton (rib injury) and fellow starter Tai Webster (calf), on his back with an equal career-high 34 points in the 87-84 victory.

Pinder also had a game-high four steals to go with four rebounds - including three at the offensive end.

“It’s up there,” Pinder said after his dominant performance on Friday night.

“This one means a lot to me because I hadn’t been playing so well. It always means more when you haven’t been playing well. The things we worked on at practice made me more confident. Props to JR for getting me going in practice.”

Rillie praised Pinder for approaching him at the start of the week in a bid to re-capture his best form.

“He was terrific. He started that at the beginning of the week,” Rillie said.

“He hasn’t been happy with the way that he’s performed. We had a great chat about what we can do to get him going. He took great responsibility for that himself.

“Moving forward, we’ll go through the same routine next week and we’ll go again. It’s really good when a player takes responsibility and wants to sit down and talk to you about how we can get this right. That was terrific to see. Unbelievable.

“You can see when KP brings that level of energy it naturally creates plays for himself and his teammates. You can see how it energises RAC. Even the plays he didn’t complete, there were some pretty athletic plays out there.”

The 3-4 Wildcats are back at home this Friday night, taking on Illawarra Hawks at RAC Arena.

Get your tickets here