It's All About The Ring ... But Wildcats Have The Wobbles

Illawarra Mercury

Wednesday March 19, 2003

By TIM KEEBLE

IT was only a few days ago that the Perth Wildcats were so spooked they must have been tempted to call an exorcist.

Up 1-0 in their best-of-three opening round play-off series against Adelaide, the Wildcats had built a whopping 26-point lead heading into the final quarter of game two.

But just when it seemed they couldn't lose, the wheels fell off.

Producing arguably the greatest fight-back in NBL finals history, Adelaide came back from the dead with a 45-11 final quarter to force Perth into a deciding game.

But after a slow start in game three, the Ricky Grace-inspired Cats wore down the 36ers to book a place in the semifinals.

The win went a long way toward erasing any psychological scars left by the fourth-quarter collapse in game two.

Despite being pleased with his team's determined performance in game three against the 36ers, Perth coach Alan Black is curious as to how the Wildcats will respond the next time they have a huge lead after three quarters.

``It was important to come out and play very positively and play hard and I thought we did that very well to get the win, but it'll be interesting to see what happens if we find ourselves in front by that much in the finals again," Black said.

Perth won't want to second-guess themselves when they take on Wollongong in the opening game of the semifinal series on Friday night.

The Hawks don't always fight to the end in the regular season, but they are masters of unlikely comebacks in the play-offs.

They trailed by 19 at one stage of game two against Townsville before stealing victory in the closing minutes.

The Hawks are confident they won't crack under pressure if the game is neck and neck down the stretch.

``Perth blew that big lead against Adelaide, and they know we came back in the fourth quarter against Townsville, so they might be thinking about that a bit," Wollongong guard Damon Lowery said.

``Obviously other teams know if it gets tight that we won't go to water. We've been through that in the play-offs in the past and we're as good as anybody in those situations.

``We're showing that heart we showed two years ago. Guys in this team just never say die."