Dynamic Jawai leaves rival skipper in awe

PERTH Wildcats captain Greg Hire has lifted an NBL championship alongside Nate Jawai and he cannot remember seeing the big centre in better condition than what he is in right now.

It is a big call from the veteran Wildcats forward, who reeled in 13 key rebounds on Saturday night, as Jawai was a key component of their title three seasons back but Hire is sticking by his claim.

Hire revealed that reigning NBL MVP Bryce Cotton was in awe of the big man’s moves, declaring him “smooth” under the bucket, as well as noting his brute strength, in a post-match conversation.

“He is moving the best I have ever seen him …,” Hire said of Jawai.

“The last few weeks, you have seen Cairns’ identity shift and they have been feeding him the ball a lot more.

“We were lucky enough to have him for a year, and he will only get better from here.

“I admired him when he was with us in that championship season. “Nate is a quality player.” The starting Cairns centre collected 12 points, on just seven shots, as well as grabbing three rebounds and handing out two assists in another encouraging display in his return from two injury marred seasons.

He played almost 30 minutes on Saturday evening, just over seven minutes above his season average so far.

Perth Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson was pleased with the way his squad responded to Cotton’s brain fade at the end of regulation and regrouped in the extra period.

“I thought we had really toughed it out to get it to a twopossession game,” Gleeson said. “Bryce probably just got caught up in the emotion of the game.

“It was a great shot from Melo Trimble – let’s not forget about that – on the run, floating in, It was a great shot.”

The Wildcats go to Auckland on Friday to take on the New Zealand Breakers, while Cairns travels to Adelaide for a clash against the 36ers.