Why Round 20 is business as usual for Wagstaff, Wildcats

The Perth Wildcats may have locked up a top two finish and a path straight into the NBL24 Playoffs, but club captain Jesse Wagstaff says his side will not be taking the foot off the proverbial pedal in Round 20 of the regular season.

The Wildcats face a two-game road trip to round out the regular season. First they’ll travel to Wollongong to take on an Illawarra side hoping to lock up a Finals spot, before they head to Tasmania to face a JackJumpers team that is tightening its grip on third position.

The Hawks have defeated the Wildcats in both games they’ve played this season, and Wagstaff says he’s not expecting much to change within the side during Round 20.

“We want to win. I’m not sure what JR is thinking in terms of trying some new schemes, but at the end of the day we’ve already played 26 games in the regular season, so we have our identity and we’re not going to be changing much, and I would assume it’ll be the same as Illawarra and Tassie,” Wagstaff said on SEN WA.

“You kind of know what you’re about at this stage of the season – or at least you should – so I can’t imagine we’re going to change too much, we’ve got two games to win, we haven’t won against Illawarra, and Tassie’s always a great place to play. You don’t want to go into Finals dropping two, you want to go in with a bit of momentum which is what we’re trying to do.

“When [the Hawks] played at our place last time, which is the most recent one, they just kept us at bay. They were great in some really key moments, they got an o-board or they’d hit a big shot or they’d get a stop, and we just never found ourselves in the game.

“They did a great job on Bryce, they rebounded the ball well, and they’re a desperate team who is playing for a Playoff spot. They’re hungry and they’re trying to prove that, so they’re desperate and they’re going to be doing similar things.”

That hunger Wagstaff is expecting from the Hawks will be front and centre in most of the NBL’s Round 20 fixtures this weekend.

Along with the Hawks, the Bullets, Breakers and Kings are competing for the final three likely Finals positions, while the Taipans and 36ers – while unlikely to finish in the top six – are still mathematically in the equation.

Last season it was the fast-finishing Wildcats who were in the thick of the Finals chase, and only a final-day 12-point win over eventual champions Sydney secured their position in the post-season.

“It's always such a close league and people think it’s such a cliché, but people forget we made sixth spot by two total points over the course of 28 games, it’s just insane,” Wagstaff said.

“One through 10 it’s a phenomenally talented league and the fact of the matter is, if you don’t show up on any given night you’re going to get beat, so that’s why these two games are so important.”

The Wildcats’ clash with Illawarra will be shown live on ESPN via Kayo on Thursday night at 7:30pm AEDT.