Phoenix coach Ariel Vanguardia. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
For coach Ariel Vanguardia, it’s just pure coincidence that Phoenix’s struggles arose when Matthew Wright came back to the roster.
“We’re not blaming anyone. We win as a team, we lose as a team,” he said Sunday after the Fuel Masters absorbed a 95-91 loss to NLEX to suffer their second straight loss.
Wright has yet to taste a victory with Phoenix since coming back from his Gilas Pilipinas stint in the 2017 Jones Cup.
The Fil-Canadian sniper has been averaging 10.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists in the two games he has played in this 2017 PBA Governors’ Cup.
But in Vanguardia’s eyes, the Fuel Masters have a bigger problem as a whole rather than individually.
“We couldn’t finish the job,” he quipped, as Phoenix squandered a 10-point lead, 78-68 with 8:58 remaining and allowed NLEX to rampage behind Carlo Lastimosa and Alex Mallari.
Vanguardia continued: “Our defense didn’t hold up in the fourth quarter, especially on Lastimosa. It’s a wasted chance for us to move up. We know we got outworked especially in the fourth quarter.”
The Fuel Masters lost the rebounding battle to the Road Warriors, 65-46, and their bench unit failed to provide the necessary lift as they could only muster 37 points, compared to NLEX’s 53.
Wright, who poured 17 points, five rebounds, and three assists in the losing effort, agreed with his mentor, noting that immaturity got the better of the Fuel Masters in the end game.
“We had some poor executions down the stretch. That’s why we lost,” he said.
Necessitating responsibility from his lineup top-down, Vanguardia said that this defeat to NLEX should be a building block for Phoenix moving forward.
“Everybody should be accountable for it. We didn’t have the breaks today. NLEX made shots in the fourth quarter that we couldn’t stop, and their veterans were able to execute, unlike us. So we should learn how to close out games,” he said.
Phoenix springs back to action on Sunday, August 6, against Blackwater. JE