Former NBL star Jason Cadee has urged the Perth Wildcats to give veteran guard Sunday Dech more responsibility with import Dylan Windler ruled out of Saturday night’s must-win semifinal against the Sydney Kings.

Windler injured his plantar fascia during the last play of Wednesday night’s loss to Sydney and will not take his place for Saturday’s clash at RAC Arena.

The American watched a light training session on Friday from the sidelines while receiving treatment on his left foot before walking out of the session with the aid of crutches.

The Wildcats stuck with a core group of stars on Wednesday with Windler, Jo Lual-Acuil, Kristian Doolittle, Elijah Pepper and David Duke all spending more than 30 minutes on the court.

Ben Henshall has been a core part of the starting five all season and was the only other player to be given more than 10 minutes of playing time. But Cadee said Dech loomed as the player coach John Rillie should turn to if Windler isn’t healthy enough to compete.

“Windler is a big x-factor for them because of his size, ability to shoot and do other different things. They’ve struggled when he hasn’t been available. If he is out or struggling they have to look to a guy like Sunday Dech because he’s played in big games and has experience,” Cadee told The West Australian.

“They’ve got to give Sydney someone who they know will be good on the defensive end of the floor. The biggest difference maker for him is his ability to defend multiple people. You know he can comfortably switch defensively. That’s where they’ll get an uplift. If he had to play for 25 minutes, you know he’d still do a job for you.

“David Duke has shown an ability to score and if Windler is out, he will have to do some different things. That’s where Sunday can help.”

Windler scored 18 points and made five of his eight three-point shots in the loss to the Kings, including a pair from well beyond the arc in the final term.

The Wildcats lost by one point on Wednesday and must win on Saturday to keep their season alive. Cadee said Perth should take enormous confidence from their performance but warned the Kings would be better given they hadn’t played since February 20.

“Perth had a real chance to go one-up and give the series a shake, so that will get Sydney’s senses back up,” he said.

“Perth have a feeling amongst their group that they can match up with anyone and they showed that. now the test is can they go home when they’re down 1-0 and repeat that kind of performance.

“Sydney had a lay-off going into that game and they’ll be better in game two. It’s about how does Perth match that and improve.”

With a turnaround of just over 72 hours from the first game of the series to the second, Perth’s coach John Rillie said he had not allowed his side to dwell on a game where they could not capitalise on multiple chances to take the lead in the closing moments.

“You have to let everyone deal with that moment how they deal with it best, but then you have to move on,” he said.

“There was a lot of good. There’s just certain moments in the game we need to tighten up. If we do that, (I’m) confident the result will swing into our favour.

“We’ve done a tremendous job with our backs against the wall, being able to fight for another day. I don’t expect anything different from that tomorrow.”