Daniel Eade is a freelance basketball writer.

The Melbourne Tigers saddle up for a Friday night clash in the wild west against the Perth Wildcats, in a game that can seriously improve the Tigers slim chances of embarking on a memorable drive towards the playoffs.

The Tigers have put together their first winning streak of the season, albeit against the lowly silhouettes of the Sydney Kings and Adelaide 36ers, but in both games the Tigers have looked very impressive, showing signs of considerable improvement.

Throughout the opening months of the season the Tigers have been chastised for their performances, and rightly so, but since the arrival of Corey Williams an aura has swept over the team, and no longer are the Tigers laying down to be smacked.

With a 4-9 clip, the Tigers are still miles out of the top-four but they have promised that they are going to give it a crack, and with this game taking the Tigers half-way through their 28-game schedule, there still is enough time to turn things around.

The Wildcats have already defeated the Tigers three times this season, Friday night's clash set to be their fourth and final of the regular season, and it is imperative that the Tigers do not get swept, not only for their win-loss ratio, but for the overall confidence in the team and to develop a swagger.

On the back of a superb performance last week that earned him the Player-of-The-Week, Williams, who accumulated a triple-double (12pts, 10rebs, 11ass) against Adelaide, will have to work extremely hard against the yapping Wildcats full-court pressure of Damian Martin and Brad Robbins.

It is crucial to the Tigers fortunes that Williams delivers this Friday night, and not only does he have to continue to distribute the ball, but he must keep an emphasis on lowering his turnovers against the most vicious defence in the league.

Williams has continually looked to take advantage of the height the Tigers possess, there is a reason Luke Nevill is getting so many more touches close to the basket, but he will need to me mindful of the swarming Wildcats defence that is constantly rotating and helping out.

The Wildcats who are under-manned, Matthew Knight and Jesse Wagstaff out with injuries, have added Ater Majok to the team, and in his two games last week Majok showed just how disruptive he can be on the defensive end with his height and his astronomical wing-span altering many shots.

The Tigers will need to be wary of this, as I'm sure they are, but it will determine their success how they attack Majok and aim to keep him helpless, be it through posting Nevill or through shot-fakes to get Majok out of position.

While Majok rests through the game, the Wildcats have only Shawn Redhage and Jeremiah Trueman to tackle Nevill, so how the Tigers utilise their biggest unit is going to be a huge factor in the result.

I cannot stipulate the importance on this game for Melbourne, a victory will push the Tigers into the rear view mirror of the top-four, but a crushing defeat will go close to knocking them off the edge.

In last week's dominance of the 36ers each and every player delivered and the proof came in the result, but the Wildcats are a much greater team than the 36ers, and especially at home, and the Tigers will be required to lift their game to another level to accommodate the Wildcats skill level.

Anything but a win will be unacceptable, for if the Tigers are as serious as they claim to be about making the playoffs, then they must knock off the defending champions on the road. Because that's what great teams to do.