‘Great feeling’: Windler’s appreciation for Red Army after game-two heroics

The 12,961-strong crowd were at their passionate best as Windler and the Wildcats mounted an amazing comeback from 14 points down in the final term to prevail 96-89 and force a series decider in Melbourne on Tuesday night.

Windler finished with a game-high 27 points - including six triples - to go with 11 rebounds, four assists, four blocks and two steals.

He scored 20 points in the second half alone to have the vocal home supporters believing of a remarkable playoff win.

The first-year Wildcats import said he tried his best to keep the Red Army energised to amplify the team’s late momentum as they piled on 33 final-quarter points.

“Obviously it's a great feeling when you get the crowd involved and you're hitting big shots,” Windler said.

“But you know I did my best to keep the crowd in the game, even when we're down 12, 14, 10, whatever it was, I knew we were going to need the momentum in the crowd on our side to get some big stops down the stretch, so I just tried to keep energising them, keep the belief in the crowd, because I knew we had it on the floor.”

The Wildcats fly out to Melbourne on Monday morning ahead of game three at John Cain Arena on Tuesday night.

The blockbuster clash tips off at 4.30pm WST.