ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Phoenix hero Matthew Wright leads statistical race

Phoenix hero Matthew Wright leads statistical race

Published Nov 15, 2020 02:06 pm
Matthew Wright is doing it all for Phoenix inside the PBA bubble. (PBA Image)

Phoenix Super LPG star Matthew Wright has made a strong case to become the best player of the PBA bubble after topping the Statistical Points race through the end of the Philippine Cup eliminations.

Wright, coming off a heroic performance in the Fuel Masters’ 89-88 win over the Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok in Saturday’s quarterfinals, compiled 39.5 Statistical Points in 11 games of the elims to emerge as the frontrunner in the derby.

The fourth-year standout averaged 22.8 points on a 44.5 percent shooting with 5.4 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.4 steals while playing all 11 games that saw Phoenix post an 8-3 record.

His chances of receiving whatever award the PBA will decide later on increased after hitting a running three with 9.8 seconds left that sent Phoenix to the best-of-five semifinals against TNT.

TNT and Phoenix begin their showdown on Wednesday while the other semis pairing pitting Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and the winner of Sunday’s knockout quarterfinal between defending champion San Miguel Beer and Meralco will also start on the same day.

The semifinals is expected to be the final chance for candidates to prove their worth before the results are determined.

Terrafirma’s CJ Perez is ranked second with 35.7 SPs, Wright’s teammate Jason Perkins is third at 35.5 SPs. TNT’s Ray Parks Jr. is fourth (35.2) while NorthPort’s Christian Standhardinger placed fifth (34.6).

But the respective teams’ struggles inside Smart Clark Giga City will likely hurt Perez and Standhardinger after Terrafirma and NorthPort shared the league’s worst record with identical 1-10 records.

That makes Perkins and Parks as the closest pursuer in Wright’s bid. Perkins averaged 19.5 points and 9.5 rebounds while Parks produced 20.1 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.2 steals in 10 games for TNT.

Rounding out the top 10 are TNT’s RR Pogoy (34.3) and Jayson Castro (33.6), Ginebra’s Stanley Pringle (33.3) and Scottie Thompson (33.2) and San Miguel’s Mo Tautuaa (33.0).

The league has yet to determine the awards that will be given to its top performers since only one conference was played in the 45th season that was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It may be practical that the league hands out the coveted Most Valuable Player to the best player of the Philippine Cup given the pandemic that forced the PBA to shorten the season from the traditional three-conference schedule.

Related Tags

Phoenix Super LPG CJ Perez PBA bubble Matthew Wright PBA Philippine Cup Jason Perkins
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.