The Perth Wildcats are sweating on the fitness of star import Vic Law with the NBL playoffs looming after he landed awkwardly on his ankle in their 106-87 win over Cairns.
Law went down in the third quarter and returned to the bench on crutches as the Wildcats prevailed by 19 points to keep their push for a 36th consecutive post-season appearance on track.
With two games to play, Perth are one win ahead of fifth-placed Tasmania in the standings with one less loss.
Their final games of the regular season are at home against Illawarra and South East Melbourne, and they need to win both should the JackJumpers see off the Phoenix on Sunday and Melbourne in the final round.
Locking horns with the Taipans at home, Bryce Cotton was at his MVP-level best as the guard powered his side to just their second win from their last six games at RAC Arena.
Cotton had 22 points, including a five 3-pointers to go with 10 assists as the Wildcats leveraged a 12-0 run to start the third quarter into a dominant second half to hand Cairns their 17th loss of the season.
The Wildcats had six players finish in double figures as American Michael Frazier II had arguably his best game for the side, registering 19 points on 70 per cent shooting.
But Law's injury was a concern for coach Scott Morrison, with the American expected to have scans on Sunday.
"It's disappointing anytime anybody gets hurt," Morrison told reporters.
"We're just getting back to almost a full team and now looks like he'll be out for at least a couple days of practice, hopefully not much longer, but I really have no idea.
"You hope for the best and you move forward with what you have."
For the Taipans, Keanu Pinder led the game's scoring with 24 points and eight rebounds but coach Adam Forde said their second half defence was to their detriment.
"It really just came down to the defensive end and unfortunately, you know, Michael Frazier had a great game," Forde said.
"He did what he's very capable of doing and we were late to get out to some of his close outs and a couple of times we were right in his face and he was still hitting them."
