Jo Lual-Acuil says he and Kristian Doolittle are like brothers after Perth Wildcats beat South East Melbourne

Perth Wildcats star Jo Lual-Acuil has revealed he wore teammate Kristian Doolittle’s t-shirt during Wednesday night’s pre-game warm up to send a clear message that there was no issue between the pair despite their on-court spat against Melbourne United. Lual-Acuil and Doolittle were the focus of plenty of attention after a post-game argument on the court following their one-point loss to United on Monday. Teammates got between the pair as they argued, and Lual-Acuil shoved Dontae Russo-Nance away in frustration. Doolittle took responsibility for starting the argument when he addressed the media on Tuesday, but Lual-Acuil went out of his way to provide a sign that he didn’t have any issues with his star teammate. He said wearing Doolittle’s t-shirt was a sign of their friendship. “I made a joke out of it because it’s become this whole thing where people are trying to say there’s a rift in the team,” Lual-Acuil said. “Me and Doo spent Christmas together. Our families are close. It’s essentially two brothers going out it. That’s it. There’s nothing more and nothing less. It got blown out of proportion. We’ve been joking about all the narratives people have been going with. “It wasn’t difficult at all. There was nothing difficult about it. Everything gets blown out of proportion. Me and Doo are competitors. We want to win. We blow it over. We were playing video games that same night while everybody was going crazy.” Both Lual-Acuil and Doolittle were influential during Wednesday night’s 101-93 win over the Phoenix at RAC Arena. Lual-Acuil scored 18 points, won six rebounds and had three blocks while Doolittle produced 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists. But Lual-Acuil paid credit to young pair Ben Henshall and Elijah Pepper for the way they’ve been helping the team. Pepper scored 22 points, including four three-pointers, while Henshall had 14 points, five rebounds and nine assists. Lual-Acuil said the Wildcats would continue to get better in the lead-up to finals. “More than anything, I’m just proud of the guys. I’m really happy for Pep and Henny to be able to get this opportunity to grow,” he said. “What people don’t talk about is what a big impact David Duke is for all of us. That’s another guy we’ve been playing without. People can talk about close games and losing, but we don’t have our full team yet. “Once Dave comes back, that’s another huge piece for us.”