Jo Lual-Acuil Jr took his performance personally on Wednesday and made amends with a match-winning display for the Perth Wildcats in the Play-In Game while also leaping to the defence of coach John Rillie after some unjust criticism.
The Wildcats lost to the South East Melbourne Phoenix in the Seeding Qualifier back on Wednesday. In the fall out, Rillie was criticised for coaching the Australian Boomers in two World Cup Qualifiers while Lual-Acuil Jr had a limited impact largely through foul trouble.
In Saturday night's Play-In Game, Lual-Acuil Jr dominated in the 95-77 win with the 'Cats outscoring Melbourne United 51 points to 24 in the second half.
Lual-Acuil Jr was frustrated in himself for only playing 17 minutes with foul trouble back on Wednesday and ending up with 11 points and six rebounds on 4/6 shooting.
He was highly motivated coming into the Play-In Game against his former team at RAC Arena, and scored 13 of Perth's 44 points even though they were down nine at the half.
He then had a massive impact finishing with 28 points and 12 rebounds on 11/17 shooting. Even more importantly were not just his four blocked shots but the Melbourne shots in the paint he changed or intimidated.
Lual-Acuil Jr admitted he put a lot of pressure on himself coming into the game, but he likes it that way.
"I kinda feel like I backed myself into a corner mentally a little bit coming into this game and I know I need to be out there for the team to be able to be successful," Lual-Acuil Jr said.
"To speak as candidly as possible, I think I let the team down last game so I put a lot of pressure on myself to come here tonight and perform.
"I never get too high and never get too low with things, and my approach always stays the same, and the outcome's the outcome, but I like myself when I'm backed into a corner."
It wasn’t the first half at home on Saturday night the Wildcats were hoping for as they fell down as much as 11 to Melbourne and were still nine points down going into half-time.
Rillie and his coaching staff made some impressive adjustments. After half-time they were able to cut down the playmaking ability of Tyson Walker going on to hold Melbourne to 12 points in the first 16 minutes of the second half.
What Rillie felt was key was the players buying in to those changes and it all started on the defensive end which led to the offence getting going for the 51 second half points.
"Defensively we just made some slight adjustments on some of their actions but I felt like our guards did a better job at climbing in and minimising the force they could play downhill, and Jo did a great job protecting the rim," Rillie said.
"When you get to this time of the year it has to become a little personal and you need self pride in different moments, and that's where Doolittle, Duke, Windler, Henshall all did a great job of responding in the second half defensively, and then with Jo protecting the rim.
"When you've got five guys out there really coordinating well defensively the result shows in the scoreline then.
"Then offensively, we just approached it with a little bit more care and diligence so we got better quality shots and weren’t racing back in transitions after some of those live turnovers that led to easy transition baskets for them."
A rather strange rhetoric emerged after the Wildcats lost to the Phoenix on Wednesday night when Rillie was criticised for coaching the Australian Boomers in World Cup Asian Qualifiers in Guam and the Philippines.
As a result, Rillie didn’t want to talk too much about the coaching moves he pulled at half-time that proved match winning on Saturday night, but he would never turn down the chance to coach Australia.
"You go and ask the experts that thought me being in the Philippines representing my country was a bad idea, and see what they say about that and I'll roll with their answers because they're the experts in these moments," Rillie said.
"No at all (offended by the criticism), you get to represent your country and I have confidence in our group, and our staff, about what we can achieve so it actually gives me pride in being able to leave and feel confident that we can keep moving in the right direction, and I'll leave those comments for the experts."
Lual-Acuil Jr went a step further to not only back the coach for going away with the Boomers, but wanting Rillie to command more respect in general.
"We have full faith in JR and I feel like he doesn’t get the credit he deserves when you look at his win percentage of what he's done here to now, I think it's easy for people to talk from the outside but he's one of the best coaches in the league," Lual-Acuil Jr said.
"I think he needs to start being treated as such and being respected as one of the best coaches in the league as well, and me and JR have a great relationship but just seeing how he manages everybody individually, you can go down the roster and he has a good relationship with everybody.
"He genuinely cares about his players and his approach when our backs are against the wall and if you want to call it a foxhole, if there's one person I'd pick to be in there with me, it's JR."
The Wildcats now turn their attention to a Playoffs series with the Sydney Kings who are the lone team they weren’t able to beat during the regular season.
The Kings finished in top spot on an 11-game winning streak and now haven’t played since February 20.
Lual-Acuil Jr fully aware that anyone giving the Wildcats a chance are tough to find.
"They've already been crowned champions and we haven’t beaten them so we have no chance," Lual-Acuil Jr said.
"I will say that our group is very excited about playing Sydney and we'll see how the series goes."