Scoring spree leading Wildcats’ charge

As Bryce Cotton continues to put up historic numbers, his Perth Wildcats team have been following suit.

Through their last five games, Perth is averaging 118.8 points, shooting it at 55% from the floor including an astonishing 48.5% from three. 

On the season, the Wildcats are the second-best scoring team at 97.3 points per game, trailing the Hawks who are averaging 99.2 points. However, that could soon change if Perth continues its current scoring onslaught. 

“Perth are like, to hell with your defensive stuff, try and catch us,” 1990 NBL MVP Derek Rucker said on Moments That Mattered.

“We are putting up serious numbers and we’ve got the best scoring guy in the league and perhaps in the history of the league.”

A major reason for Perth’s new style is Cotton continuing to produce at an unprecedented level. The four-time MVP is averaging 48 points in his last four games, shooting at 65 per cent from the field and 58 per cent from three. 

Cotton’s four straight 40-point games is the first the NBL has seen since Andrew Gaze accomplished it in 1991. Against Cairns, Cotton had just four points in the first quarter, before exploding for 40 in the remaining three. 

All eyes are currently on the Wildcats’ new offensive game plan as they continue to look to just outscore opponents, a task that they’re doing well currently, albeit allowing 104 points per game in the last five.

Recent history in the NBL points to the fact that in order to win a championship you must be one of the top defensive teams in the league. However, Rucker thinks that may not be the case this season.

“Maybe this year turns out to be different and maybe a juggernaut offensive team is what cracks a championship,” he said.

“It can’t just be the top four defensive teams that win championships forever, there has to be an anomaly and maybe this is the year.”

The current offensive numbers from Illawarra (99.2), Perth (97.3) and Melbourne (96.6) have them on pace to be the best scoring teams since 2009/10 when the NBL returned to the 40-minute era.  

To highlight this even further, only one team in the last five seasons has averaged more than 95 points per game and that was the South East Melbourne Phoenix in NBL20 at 95.4.

The two highest scoring teams in the league, the Hawks and Wildcats, meet on Sunday at 2:30pm AEDT live on ESPN and Channel 10.