Matthew Wright couldn’t catch a break on defense in Phoenix’s 79-73 victory against Ginebra on Sunday.
Tasked to guard the relentless Scottie Thompson, the Fil-Canadian rookie admitted having a hard time keeping up.
“Trying to stop Scottie took a toll on me. He doesn’t stop moving, he’s like an energy bunny, his motor is ridiculous.”
Fortunately, Wright’s efforts didn’t go to waste as he limited the usually high-rebounding Thompson to just eight boards in the game that went along with 10 points.
“(Thompson is) a unique player. I’m not used to 6-foot guys averaging 10 rebounds per game, crashing all the time. He’s a pest but we limited him – if you wanna even say that – to eight rebounds, which is really good for a guard. But it’s better than his usual 10 boards. I felt we accomplished the goal we set,” he said.
“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.”
Limiting of Thompson’s output said a lot about the effectivity of the Fuel Masters’ gameplan, which limited Ginebra to just 35-percent from the field.
Wright’s offense picked up in the second half, scoring all of 18 points in the final two quarters including clutch trey to extend the Phoenix lead back to 10, 79-69, with 1:49 left on the clock. He also had five rebounds and five assists.
“I’m happy that in the second half, I had a couple of threes to go down and after that when the confidence go up, you won’t think of getting tired,” he said.
Wright’s superb showing couldn’t have come at a better time as Phoenix momentarily claimed second spot with its 6-4 card.
“It’s huge, probably one of the season,” he said. “I think everybody on the team is starting to click. It’s not only because we’re playing Ginebra, but we’re trying to game some steam towards the playoffs.”
The Fuel Masters will wrap up their eliminations schedule against Alaska on Friday.