Reigning NBL MVP Bryce Cotton faces an uphill battle to face Cairns today as he fights to shrug off the pain in his injured shooting thumb.

Cotton will undergo a fitness test at RAC Arena this morning in an effort to end a two-game absence and bolster Perth’s offence.

But the league’s leading scorer hasn’t yet returned to shooting the basketball as he makes “baby steps” in his attempt to get back on court.

After taking part in light drills at Wildcats practice yesterday, Cotton said he was still working to overcome the pain associated with the rigours of a game scenario.

“We taped it up pretty good in the splint and I tried a bit of ball movement — catching passes and stuff,” Cotton said.

“The pain is not ideal at all, but compared to what it’s been a week ago, it’s made a lot of improvement.

“Even though it may still be very sore, I try not to focus on that. I’m trying to keep my mind filled with positive thoughts, because as much as recovery is a physical thing, you’ve got to make sure mentally you get those blocks out as well.”

Cotton said he had not yet practised shooting with the taped-up thumb, opting to test out the injury through a host of other skills before focusing on his release.

“You don’t want to rush anything. You want to take your time as much as possible,” he said.

“I’m trying to make sure I can do all the other things first — dribbling, catching the ball and being able to take a knock and not feel unbearable pain.

“Those are my focuses first. Shooting is the last thing that’s on my mind right now.

“Once the pain is at a bearable point, you can wheel and deal from there. It’s all about pain management right now.”

Cotton had originally hoped to push for a return in Thursday’s loss to Sydney after making the trip to NSW before being ruled out on game day.

The 26-year-old said it was frustrating to be sitting out the first games of his professional career, but he was relieved that he had been able to avoid surgery.

The Taipans come to WA riding a nine-game losing streak after a disappointing home-court loss to fellow strugglers Illawarra on Friday, but Cotton said Perth would be wary of a bounce-back performance.

“They’re a hungry team. Regardless of their record, there’s been so many games where they could have come out with the W,” Cotton said.

“They’ve been so close game after game, so we can’t take a night off.”

The Wildcats regained some breathing space atop the NBL ladder after second-placed Melbourne suffered a late capitulation against Brisbane yesterday.

Led by 33 points from import Lamar Patterson, the Bullets overcame an 11-point deficit at three-quarter time to storm home and capture the 97-94 win.