On a night of starring performances out west, Perth Wildcats superstar Bryce Cotton has delivered the message he's still the NBL's king.
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Cotton had been in the first slump of his NBL career and things were threatening to spiral out of control after a home loss to the Brisbane Bullets on October 27.
The 'Cats had lost four straight, were 2-5 and Cotton's frustration was obvious with how hard he was having to work for little reward.
Over those first seven games, the American was shooting 29 per cent from the field, 25 from three-point range and averaging a career-low 14.4 points.
But to say things have turned quickly would be the greatest understatement.
On Friday, the Wildcats won their sixth game in a row with a 114-105 win over the reigning champion Sydney Kings at Perth's RAC Arena.
Cotton produced 41 points with 14-of-16 free-throw shooting along with seven assists to make it clear that he is favourite for a fourth MVP title as the best player in the NBL.
Over the past six games, he is now averaging 30.2 points on 44 per cent field goal shooting and 34 from three-point range. After the win against the Kings, he offered an insight that it was a missed foul call early in the game that lit his fuse.
"When I felt I got fouled on a certain play and there was no call, I just focused a little bit more and the hoop started to get a little bit bigger," Cotton said.
"It's just the competitiveness and always looking for something to get mad at even if you don't have a reason. But I definitely had a reason this time and I carried that throughout the game."
Even though the Kings lost the game with the defending champs now having lost two straight to be 7-5 on the season, their own ace Jonah Bolden at least sent out a reminder of what he's capable of.
Considering he hasn't played basketball professionally in three years after stepping away from the sport having previously played in the NBA at the Philadelphia 76ers and Phoenix Suns, it's been a slow build for Bolden's first NBL foray.
He had been doing well backing up Jordan Hunter in the centre spot rebounding, defending and doing a lot of handy things.
But on Friday night, he found his shooting touch in stunning fashion hitting all five three-point attempts in the first half, and going 7-of-8 for the game for 28 points.
His teammate, Denzel Valentine, was happy to see what he delivered.
"Jonah's a big time player and took three years off basketball, and now he's starting to get back to the player he's supposed to be," Valentine said.
"We expect big things from Jonah and he's going to keep getting better each game."
Australian Associated Press
