Perth Wildcats hoodoo intact as Sydney Kings come up short again Bad blood: The Wildcats' Earnest Ross and Tom Garlepp of the Sydney Kings size each other up. A week before Christmas, the Perth Wildcats can pretty much pencil in the delivery of the gift that keeps on giving. It won't be air-mailed by the big jolly one in the red and white suit, but the purple and yellow tall timber from the Sydney Kings, who can turn all Violet Crumble whenever faced with the force from the west. This time it was sweet 16 for the defending champions over the Kings. Players come and go, but the one constant is the Kings just cannot seem to trouble the Wildcats. At least since their readmission into the league in 2010. Mark down December 18 in your diary. It is when the two sides next meet with record books at the ready. The irony of it all is that Sydney actually holds the longest winning streak against another franchise in NBL history, which stands at said 17 against the Cairns Taipans between 2000-06. Granted, the Kings at least gave their fans hope Sunday afternoon might be a little different to clashes between the cross-continent rivals over the past four years. But after edging to within four early in the third quarter, the relentless Wildcats defence squeezed every last breath out of a wilting Sydney. And then did what good teams do, careering away to a 85-66 win at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. "You've got give respect to Perth and they did a good job and it's why they're the benchmark," Kings coach Damian Cotter said. For us we're disappointed, but we've got to learn from that. There were no flying elbows this time, just a little bit of elbow room on the scoreboard. Sydney's star American import Josh Childress, rubbed out for a game after an unsavoury hit on Jesse Wagstaff in the corresponding fixture three weeks ago, let his hot hand do the talking this time. He had a team-high 23 points, almost flying solo at the offensive end at times, as the much-hyped clash between the NBA star of the past and possibly one of the future lived up to its billing. The Wildcats' DeAndre Daniels, a second-round NBA draft pick for the Toronto Raptors this year, poured in 19 points, 10 of which came in an electric first quarter, to complement eight rebounds. But it was a game-high 27 points from Jermaine Beal, including five buckets from beyond the arc, which paced the visitors, who kept the Kings to just 22 points in the second half. Add in the unrelenting pressure of floor marshal Damian Martin, redefining the art of having a major contribution without actually scoring, and it is not hard to see why Perth have been such a bogey side for the modern-day Kings. Quizzed on how much improvement was left in the ladder-leading Wildcats (6-2), Gleeson said: "Hopefully a lot. The league has obviously stepped up with the quality of players coming back into the league. The last three games have been a step ahead and hopefully we can keep improving and playing that four quarters of Wildcats basketball. The bad blood from the clash between two sides less than a month ago never looked like bubbling over until only seconds before the break when Perth bench player Earnest Ross was incensed with some off-the-ball attention from Kings big man Tommy Garlepp. Ross had to be restrained by his own players as Garlepp gestured for the Guam-born Ross to air his grievances up close and personal. "With what was going on before half-time we knew the emotions would be pretty high ... let's put our emotions into our defence and work really hard," Gleeson said. I thought we played some outstanding defence in the second half. The task doesn't get much easier for the Kings. Perth's fellow lodgers at the top of the NBL standings, the rejuvenated Cairns, roll into town on Thursday night. Sydney are 3-4 after missing a chance to vault into the top four.