Akeem Wright had been nothing but impressive in his PBA debut on Friday evening, as his Columbian Dyip took on reigning, two-time Best Import Allen Durham in the 2018 Governors’ Cup opener in Antipolo City.
The 33-year-old from Philadelphia had been the driving force of the Dyip, as he led his side with an impressive statline of 30 points on 41.4 percent shooting; 14 rebounds, and four assists in over 45 minutes of playing time.
But Wright could not be elated even with such a debut. All of his efforts went down the drain, as he and Columbian’s last-ditch attempt to save themselves from blowing a 14-point lead early did not turn out to be successful, 106-109.
Adding up to Wright’s frustration had been his failure to give his side a big ray of hope. He had the chance to tie the game at 108-all, but his jumper from the perimeter with about 54 seconds left to play did not go through the hoop.
“I could have been better,” said Wright. “I missed a lot of shots that I normally make, especially late in the fourth quarter to tie. I thought I had a good look under the free throw line. Normally, that’s a shot I would make all day in practice.
“So, I’m a little frustrated with myself.”
To make it a totally sour debut had been his bad fall with 1.4 seconds left in the bout. He tried his best to outrebound Durham underneath the rim, only to land awkwardly and hurt his right knee. He then struggled to get up.
“I kind of hurt my knee in the end but you know I’m fine,” he allayed.
But even if it had been a bad Friday evening, the 11-year global journeyman still saw lots of positives in the loss.
“I think we battled well throughout the game, giving up the lead in the third quarter. We were able to fight back and tie the game. We had multiple chances in taking the lead and you know, we gotta hang our hat, that’s a tough team.
“Obviously, they’ve been to the Finals the last two times in this cup, so, hats off to them and they fought back and won the game. We got a lot to be happy about, so we have to go back, watch film, and learn from our mistakes,” said Wright.
