Perth Wildcats promise to find ways to help Jo Lual-Acuil to have bigger impact against Brisbane Bullets

Perth Wildcats coach John Rillie admits he has to find ways to help star centre Jo Lual-Acuil have a bigger impact during games, but believes his presence is making life significantly easier for teammates. Lual-Acuil was a huge signing for the Wildcats, but his impact has diminished in recent games with an average of 11 points and six rebounds across the last five matches. The 31-year-old didn’t score in the second half against Adelaide on Sunday and managed only two rebounds during that time. Rillie said Lual-Acuil’s games shouldn’t only be judged on the box scores, but said it was important for him to play well. “You can be disappointed with his statistics, but the gravity he creates when he’s in a pick-and-roll and rolling to the rim, allowing other guys to have open shots, that’s what I evaluate,” Rillie said. “It’s like Bryce when he’d had a quiet statistical game. It’s the same thing with those guys. The gravity they create and the opportunities for the other guys – if you watch the third quarter, we scored nine points, but we had some really good looks on different parts of the floor. We just didn’t capitalise. “Then they go down the other end and capitalise. Those are the moments within the game and within your season. Can you make the most of those opportunities? “But do we need to get Jo aggressive and in the game and engaged for longer stretches? Absolutely. “Part of that is our playmaking. We get one playmaker back, and the other guy gets injured. We just have to find other ways to get Jo involved.” The Wildcats will be without injured import David Duke jnr for Thursday’s game against Brisbane Bullets at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, but Jaron Rillie’s return last week was timely. Perth’s inconsistency with three-point shooting has been a problem all season. They shot at 18.5 per cent from the perimeter against the 36ers despite making 42.8 per cent of their three-point shots in the previous game. Critics have questioned why the Wildcats continued to take so many three-point shots instead of utilising the power of Lual-Acuil, Kristian Doolittle and Dylan Windler closer to the basket. Rillie said the poor shooting was making it harder to create space for his big men. “It all works together,” he said. “If we were in the 37 to 40 per cent range from the three-point line, all of a sudden there’s going to be a lot more space for the interior players because of the respect and heat we put on with our shooting. “That’s where it all works together to utilise everyone’s strengths. We’d had some moments, but we seem to find a rhythm with the group and someone else gets injured.”