In the right place at the right time, Matthew Wright once again rose to the occasion as Phoenix Super LPG got off to a rousing start when it resumes its 2021-22 PBA Governors Cup campaign Sunday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Fuel Masters pulled off a 93-92 escape act against the TNT Tropang Giga behind Wright’s runaway game-winner to cap off a huge rally from nine points down midway in the fourth period.
And the Fil-Canadian did it right and perfect on both ends of the floor, initially swiping the ball off a driving Jayson Castro, before blitzing for a wide-open layup in the final 1.3 seconds to lift Phoenix to the thrilling come-from-behind win.
Wright’s heroics completed an all-around outing of 27 points, 10 assists, four rebounds, and three steals to earn himself the Cignal Play-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week award for the period Feb. 11-13.
It was the second straight Player of the Week honor for the Phoenix stalwart, who also earned the distinction in the final week of the season-ending meet last year before the league went on a long break following the spike in COVID-19 cases following the holiday season.
While Wright admitted he could have milked the entire clock in an all-alone fastbreak to deny TNT a chance for its own game-winner, he got a lift from bankable big man Jason Perkins, who came through with the game-preserving block on Troy Rosario’s alley-oop attempt at the buzzer.
“I have to be better on that scenario but I’m happy we got the win,” said Wright, who bested Meralco’s Chris Newsome and Rain or Shine rookie Mike Nieto for the weekly honor being handed out by the men and women covering the PBA beat.
Phoenix improved to 4-2 for a share of the fourth spot with NLEX in spite of sudden roster changes marked by the departure of Chris Banchero in the free agency, a couple of injuries to its key players, and the arrival of new import Dominique Sutton in lieu of the injured Paul Harris.
Wright vowed to lead an all-out Phoenix fight amidst the adversities, with the big win over TNT being a testament to its mantra.
“We have a couple of guys that are out with some injuries, we have a new import, but we can’t make excuses,” Wright said as Phoenix continues to miss the services of injured big man Sean Anthony.
“It’s been like two months since our last game, so I don’t care if it’s only five of us going out to play. We’re going to play as hard as we can.”
