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Perth Wildcats superstar Bryce Cotton has produced another basketball masterclass, this time in a thumping NBL win against the Cairns Taipans.
Bryce Cotton has produced his fourth consecutive 40-point game in Perth's 128-92 demolition of Cairns, leaving Taipans coach Adam Forde to declare the guard too good for the NBL.
The red-hot American finished Saturday night's victory with 44 points and six assists, and has scored a combined total of 192 points in his past four games.
His latest effort in Cairns helped the Wildcats record their highest score of the 40-minute era, and consigned the last-placed Taipans to a 12th consecutive defeat.
To put Cotton's form into perspective, the 32-year-old was not even born the last time an NBL player scored 40 or more points in four consecutive games.
Andrew Gaze achieved the feat in May 1991 but even then, the man widely regarded the NBL's greatest player did so when quarters ran two minutes longer.
Cotton is firming as the unbackable favourite to claim a fifth NBL MVP award as the Wildcats plot to retain him beyond the final season of his contract.
"He's amazing," said Taipans boss Forde, an assistant coach at the Wildcats when Cotton arrived in 2017.
"I've seen the contracts he knocked back earlier in his career (to stay in the NBL).
"He doesn't belong in this league, he should be balling out somewhere else in a high level.
"Right now, he's in an amazing stretch, which not just us, a few other teams have faced the brunt of. I'm just glad we don't have to play him again for a while."
Cotton shook off a slow start at the Cairns Convention Centre, where the Taipans threatened to pull off an almighty upset.
The Snakes led their highly-fancied rivals for the entire first half, restricting Cotton to only four first-quarter points by double-teaming him in defence.
With 45 seconds remaining in the term, Cotton had not scored a point, and started the second quarter on the bench.
Taipans import Rob Edwards was particularly effective guarding Cotton as teammate Taran Armstrong led the charge up the other end.
Rated a future NBA prospect, Armstrong (24 points, eight assists) looked ready to outshine his superstar rival guard, at times embarrassing some pedestrian Wildcats defence in the paint.
But once the visitors began to find fluency in their ball movement, Cotton rediscovered his groove and the Taipans began to fade - a recurrent problem this season.
"(Cotton) stayed patient early on in the game, he was trusting his teammates and he was the recipient of their execution and his trust in them early on," said Wildcats coach John Rillie.
"We did a good job of sharing the ball, trusting each other and that's why Bryce had 44."
Impressively, Cotton's haul included only three triples, the American finding success taking on much bigger men inside the key.
Cotton passed 40 points running into the paint to land a mid-range jump shot with three minutes remaining in the game.
By then, the Wildcats were and truly in party mode.
"It just became shooting practice for Perth," Forde said.