Coach Ariel Vanguardia has always tasked Matthew Wright to guard the opposing team’s best scorer
From Marcio Lassiter to Carlo Latimosa, Phoenix Fuel Master rookie Matthew Wright has guarded some of the league’s best players in his first conference in the PBA. Sunday evening though he guarded Scottie Thompson — a guard that is not a high-volume scorer but a tenacious rebounder.
Entering the game, Thompson was averaging 10.7 rebounds per game, good for second in the league.
“Trying to stop Scottie took a toll on me, he doesn’t stop moving, he’s like an energy bunny, his motor is ridiculous,” the 25-year-old Filipino-Canadian said. “That’s the point of emphasis we tried to make is we keep him off the boards because he had like 15 rebounds last game.”
With Wright, who holds a three inch height advantage over Thompson, fronting him, the second-year Gin King was limited to eight rebounds and 10 points on just 3-of-8 shooting. However, chasing Thompson for 31 minutes took its toll on the Gilas cadet.
“I know that if Scottie would grab some offensive rebounds, that will really hurt us so I took the extra initiative to chase him around which is really tiring and I feel like any legs to shoot,” shared Wright, who finished the game with 18 points on 7-of-17 shooting.
“But I’m happy in the second half I had a couple go down and after that when the confidence goes up, you won’t think of getting tired.”
The second wind Wright gained proved timely, knocking down his third triple of the game with 1:49 left that helped Phoenix establish a 10-point lead and pull away for good.
And after the 79-73 win, Phoenix clinched a quarterfinal spot with a 6-4 slate. More importantly, winning against Ginebra helped them gain confidence for the next round.
“It’s huge. Biggest one of the season. Not only playing Ginebra but trying to game some steam towards the playoffs,” said Phoenix’s leading scorer at 16.1 points per game said.
“I think everybody on the team is starting to click.”
