Perth Wildcats v Melbourne United
Thursday, December 4, 9.30pm AEDT
RAC Arena
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Talking points
Perth’s revenge?
Melbourne has won the past two blockbusters between these two fierce rivals, including a nail-biter in Round 10 and game three of last year’s Playoffs Series.
But John Rillie’s side are now back in front of their home fans, which will no doubt play a factor.
To do so, Perth knows it needs to do a better job on the glass and limit the impact Jesse Edwards has on the game.
Battle of the bigs
Dutch big man Jesse Edwards won the first matchup with Perth star Jo Lual-Acuil Jr, pulling down a massive 16 rebounds, including 8 offensive boards.
Now it’s on the South Sudanese international to return serve.
While Lual-Acuil admits he doesn’t take much notice on the matchups, the winner of this showdown in the paint, between two of the NBL’s premier big men, will likely decide the Round 11 contest.
These two were ranked at number four and five respectively in Derek Rucker’s Top 15, and with good reason.
What they’re saying
Perth coach John Rillie on facing the competition front-runners again:
“I look forward to the opportunity. We played them at their place. Now, we are at RAC (Arena) so let’s see what we’ve done over the last couple of weeks to see if we’re inching towards being one of the upper echelon teams.
“They’re the flagship programme right now. They are the deserving number one team right now. Any time you get a chance to play them, you really get to see where you’re at.
“In our last performance over there, you could see we were just not at that level. We flirted and teased a little bit with it but we’re just not there consistently enough.”
United guard on Tyson Walker on the keys to winning on Thursday night:
“Just being able to guard their players one-on-one.
“They’ve got really talented guys, so just doing that. Making sure we’re rebounding the ball and taking care of the ball.”
Missing in action
Perth
Jaron Rillie – Hamstring -January
Melbourne
Shea Ili – Hamstring – Round 12
>> View full injury list
