Thomas' Knee Injury "A Lot Better" Than First Feared

The first emotion Perth fans would have felt after the Wildcats’ 12-point win over the Kings on Sunday must have been relief. Relief that after just one season on the outer they were back into the post-season.

Straight after that though must have come concern. Concern for the fitness of their star centre, TaShawn Thomas, ahead of the Play-In Qualifier against the Phoenix.

Thomas went down clutching his right knee in late in the first quarter of the do-or-die clash following an awkward defensive possession against Sydney star Xavier Cooks, and while the centre returned to the court to play a key role in the remainder of the game – he still looked sore.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">TaShawn Thomas has left the game after suffering an injury during the first quarter.<br><br>Watch live and free on 10 Peach and 10 play | Live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/RP4RCD2G8T">pic.twitter.com/RP4RCD2G8T</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1622107304090034179?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

He played a key role in the contest - but played under 20 minutes in the clash. A far cry from the over 25 minutes per game he's averaged across NBL23.

Thomas says despite initilly worrying about the severity of any potential injury he should be ready to play potentially uninhibited against South East Melbourne on Thursday.

“It’s a lot better than I thought – I was a little worried about it after the game,” Thomas told NBL Media.

“The last couple of days have gone well. I’ve been doing all the treatment I can do and the report from the scan looked good. Everything is working out well.

“I don’t think I’ll be under any minutes restriction or anything. Nothing’s been said to me about that so I’m trying not to think about it.

“I’m just trying to make it to a point where it’s as comfortable as possible for Thursday.”

Following the emotional final buzzer against the Kings, head coach John Rillie and young forward Luke Travers denied being aware of the necessary margin of victory for the side to make it to the Finals.

Following Melbourne’s eight-point win over Adelaide in the game prior, the Wildcats needed to register a win of at least 11 point to leapfrog United into sixth position on percentage.

Perth led the ladder-leading Kings by as many as 21 points in the final quarter, but just scraped home with the necessary margin following a Sydney fightback.

Kings guard DJ Vasiljevic missed two threes in the final minutes that would have condemned the Wildcats to their second straight campaign without post-season basketball, and the hectic final moments of the contest were more akin to a one-point margin, not 12.

Thomas says while he was aware of the margin of victory required to secure a post-season berth, it was only in the final moments of the clash.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The final six are LOCKED IN ?<br><br>After an exceptional finish to the NBL23 regular season, who&#39;s keen to see what the finals will have to offer? ? <a href="https://t.co/QWiqrUabQH">pic.twitter.com/QWiqrUabQH</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1622132866502238209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“I literally didn’t know anything until there was about a minute and 30 seconds left in the game,” he said. “I was thinking we just had to win.

“I was still seeing everybody stressing out on the court, so I asked and was told we had to win by a certain number – and somebody confirmed to me that it was 11.

“Once I found that out the antennas went back up and I was just glad to be in the situation where we were close to that 11-point margin and not behind it."

Perth has had to put that remarkable win in the rear view mirror quickly though. Their next test is a straight elimination game against an in-form and confident South East Melbourne.

Led by MVP nominee Mitch Creek, the Phoenix took the regular season series over the Wildcats 2-1- however one of South East Melbourne’s wins came by just one solitary point.

It was a man who is likely to be Thomas’ direct opponent on Thursday – Alan Williams – who did most of the damage last time they met. ‘Big Sauce’ finished the game with 27 points and 14 rebounds on 72 per cent shooting.

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Thomas says his side needs to lock into the gritty side of the game to overcome their next opponents.

“We just have to be more physical. I feel like that team is a very physical team that loves contact,” he said.

“When we play with the physicality I know we have I feel like we’re a whole different team.

“We need to bring that physicality and the knowledge we can play, and that we can play with confidence.

“A lot of fans were letting me know at the beginning of the season that we’d better make playoffs because of the history of Perth.

“It’s time to forget about the win [over Sydney] and move onto the next one.”

Perth travel to John Cain Arena to take on South East Melbourne on Thursday, February 9 at 6:30pm AEDT.