Rillie outlines importance of one-percenters

The Perth Wildcats returned from the NBL Blitz in Darwin with a 2-1 record, defeating Cairns Taipans and South East Melbourne Phoenix and falling short to Melbourne United.

Coach John Rillie was thankful for a quality pre-season tournament.

“It was good, to play three quality games against three quality opposition, and to slowly but surely get some of our guys back from injury and getting them on court before the season opener was important.” he said.

Rillie said despite the loss to Melbourne, it was good team development.

“It’s been very good, obviously you never like to lose like we did against Melbourne, but the good thing is, we get to see how each other reacts when you’re in those situations,” he said.

“We’ve gone through some experiences in the off-season so hopefully that prepares us really well for October 2^nd.”

Ahead of the NBL23 season-opener, Rillie said there’s no need to overthink the game plan.

“You can try and overcomplicate it, but it just comes back to the little things like defensive transition, rebounding, our turnovers, we don’t need to reinvent the wheel, we just need to address the little one-percenters that help you win.”

The Perth Wildcats take on Brisbane Bullets on Sunday 2 October at RAC Arena.