An elbow injury to David Duke Jr came at the worst possible time for the Perth Wildcats for coach John Rillie as he lost his defence on Bryce Cotton in loss in Adelaide and his playmaking and ball handling.

The Wildcats arrived in Adelaide on Sunday to face Cotton once more having not played in a week since a strong win in Tasmania and with welcoming back Jaron Rillie, Ben Henshall and Jesse Wagstaff, and Dylan Windler not missing any time after rolling his ankle.

That meant they were back to full strength and looking to start making a charge and even though they started the game well to lead the league-leading 36ers by 14 points despite a nasty looking injury to Duke Jr after three minutes when he hyperextended his elbow.

The longer the game went, the more his absence hurt the Wildcats with Cotton delivering another 36 poitns and seven assists without Duke Jr in his face, and they also missed his ball handling, playmaking and scoring abilities on the way to losing by 11.

While Duke Jr's injury didn’t necessarily mean Rillie had to change a lot, it did have a significant impact with his son Jaron limited to 12 minutes on return from a hamstring injury compounding matters.

"We didn’t change anything because we've got a number of guys that are accustomed to that assignment," Rillie said.

"But then all of a sudden our rotations and so forth, we're just a little thin right now in that position and obviously with Duke it would be good to have him with defending Bryce, but then also right now with our roster, he has a lot of responsibility offensively as well.

"It's like a double whammy when he went out tonight."

Straight after the game, coach Rillie didn’t have an update on Duke Jr's elbow, but it did have a significant impact on the game especially with Jaron Rillie limited on his return which had a flow on effect on Kristian Doolittle.

"My solution or answer to that is that when your two primary ball handlers are limited through injury and returning to play, that's a challenge," Rillie said.

"We lean on Doolittle to do a lot of things for us and defend someone in the front court who's a good player, initiate offence, score and then when those primary ball handlers are out of the game, it really puts a lot of heat on him to be able to do that.

"In a way that's unfair because we ask and demand a lot of Doo."

The Wildcats did fall 23 points behind the 36ers on the back of a nine-point third quarter, but they did show some fight late to bring the final margin to 11.

There were some good momnets late from Next Star Noa Kouakou-Heugue especially with the Wildcats +11 in his 5:32 while they were also a +11 in David Okwera's 14:32 for his eight points and three rebounds.

While that gives some encouragement, it didn’t count for much to Rillie after that third quarter.

"There were some good moments there and those young guys that came in did a good job," Rillie said.

"When you lose your primary ball handler three minutes into the game and the guy that does a great job on Bryce, and we've got other guys on minute restrictions that are coming back from injury, there's opportunity there.

"But you're playing the No. 1 team in the competition and we had to manage a lot of things tonight and give them credit, and it was very disaopointing the way that we played in the third quarter."

Speaking of those opportunities, if Duke Jr spends any time on the sidelines it will present more chances for the likes of Jaron Rillie, Henshall, Elijah Pepper, Sunday Dech and even Lat Mayen, which Rillie will eagerly await to see who embraces that.

"We've been fortunate enough to just regain some guys and we can move forward in that area, but I always preach to our guys that they can be upset that they're not playing, but at some stage you'll get your opportunity," Rillie said.

"When that comes along, you've gotta run with it and it's unfortunate for David with whatever happens with that, but someone gets their chance and everyone when they're not playing thinks that they're a really good player and can help affect and impact winning.

"So when you get your moment, there you go."

Dech is in his first season back at the Wildcats and took on his former 36ers team back in Adelaide again on Sunday having played there for the past three years, and he was disappointed that in the third quarter Perth got outworked.

"I think where they hurt us today was with their ability to be able to rebound and run," Dech said.

"They're obviously a dynamic team and they beat us on the glass by 10 and I think that's something that we've done quite a job with this year.

"Adelaide, they're the No. 1 team for a reason and it goes to show that when you miss shots and they can run and get in the transition, they're very dangerous and in the second half they capitalised on that part of the game.

"I think for us I just felt like they wanted it a bit more in that third quarter and they competed a little bit harder which breaks the game open and the league is very close, and when you give a team at home the chance to do that, they capitalise."

Chris Pike

Duke Jr injury a double whammy for Wildcats