By RD
ROOKIE Matthew Wright is playing like a veteran in his initial conference in the PBA.
Flashing his all-around game, the 6-foot-4 Wright stepped up big-time to help the Phoenix Petroleum Fuel Masters beat the NLEX Road Warriors and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, respectively last week to clinch at least a playoff berth for a quarterfinal seat in the 2017 PBA Philippine Cup.
The Fil-Canadian wingman averaged all-around numbers of 15.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists for Phoenix to earn the Accel-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week for the period of January 16-22.
The former St. Bonaventure U standout missed just one assist of registering his first triple-double as a pro, tallying 12 points, 12 rebounds and 9 assists to steer Phoenix past NLEX, 102-91 last Wednesday.
Four days later, the sweet-shooting Wright banged in eight of his team-high 18 points as Phoenix completed a 79-73 escape act against a Japeth Aguilar-less Barangay Ginebra side.
The 25-year-old Wright, who won an Asean Basketball League title with the KL Dragons last year, before joining the PBA, beat his Phoenix teammates JC Intal, Simon Enciso and Willy Wilson for the weekly citation.
Other contenders for the award were San Miguel Beer’s Arwind Santos, Meralco’s Cliff Hodge, Troy Rosario and Roger Pogoy of TNT, Alaska’s Vic Manuel and Calvin Abueva as well as Scottie Thompson of Ginebra.
Phoenix (6 wins, 5 losses) closed out its elimination round campaign bowing to Alaska. The Fuel Masters are in sixth place behind the San Miguel Beermen (9-1), Alaska (6-4), TNT Ka Tropa (6-4), the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (5-4) and the Star Hotshots (5-4).
The other teams include Barangay Ginebra San Miguel (5-5), GlobalPort Batang Pier (5-5), the Blackwater Elite (5-6), the Meralco Bolts (3-7), the Mahindra Floodbuster (3-7) and the NLEX Road Warriors (2-8).
The loss to Alaska hardly matters because the team has already qualified to the playoffs. And with the way Wright and his teammates are playing the Fuel Masters will definitely be competitive in the playoffs as well.