Playmaker Jaron Rillie appears to have reaggravated his troublesome right hamstring and veteran Jesse Wagstaff injured his left hand, souring Perth's otherwise impressive 107-97 NBL win over South East Melbourne.
Dylan Windler paired 27 points with eight rebounds at Melbourne's State Basketball Centre on Saturday night, while fellow American Kristian Doolittle posted 24 points - including 14-of-18 free throws - and 12 boards.
Elijah Pepper caught alight from the perimeter, bombing 4-of-6 threes in his 18-point haul.
"Playing a good team, there's ebbs and flows, emotion, good energy in the building," Wildcats John Rillie said.
"It was good for us to stick with it and find a way to get it done down the stretch."
But the road-warrior Wildcats' victory - their 10th from 14 away games, contrasting a 4-6 home record - was dimmed when Jaron Rillie and Wagstaff exited the contest within 26 seconds of each other in the fourth quarter.
Rillie's injury - on top of import David Duke Jr's long-term elbow injury - is a significant blow, leaving Perth without a recognised point guard.
Wes Iwundu scored 27 points for the second-ranked but off-colour Phoenix, while Nathan Sobey had 24 points and eight assists.
SEM opened up a 26-22 lead before the visitors finished the quarter with a 10-0 rush over the last 2:04 to lead 32-26 at the first break.
The Phoenix knocked down 6-of-11 from three-point range in the first term and out-rebounded the Wildcats 12-7.
But the home side came wildly undone through turnovers, coughing up eight of them for the period.
Ben Henshall's lightning hands played a huge part in SEM's ball-handling woes, Perth's swingman on world record pace with four first-quarter steals.
Pepper and Doolittle took advantage of some uncharacteristically vapid Phoenix defence to stretch the Wildcats' cushion to 54-42, before Iwundu paced a strong SEM rally to slice the gap to 58-50 at halftime.
Sobey enjoyed a strong third term, while Perth's turnovers began to mount, as the Phoenix briefly drew level at 75-75.
The Wildcats gave themselves breathing space with a 9-0 run either side of three-quarter-time, enough of a break to keep SEM at arm's length as Windler and Doolittle continued to prosper.
"Very uncharacteristic from us on the offensive end turning the ball over, (giving them) easy opportunities," Phoenix coach Josh King said.
"Then defensively we just weren't very good."
