SMART CLARK GIGA CITY--There's no stopping Matthew Wright from unleashing his killer instinct.
Still feeling some pain from his ankle injury, Wright played through it and fired 25 points, none bigger than his dagger turnaround jumper over Roger Pogoy that sealed Phoenix's 92-89 victory against TNT on Sunday night and moved them on the cusp of a first-ever PBA finals appearance.
The bubble MVP frontrunner sized up Pogoy, took a spin move then hit the go-ahead fadeaway with 22.6 seconds left before the Fuel Masters held on to the Game 3 victory for a 2-1 series lead in the best-of-five Philippine Cup semifinals.
"All we want is to keep the game close. I'm confident in my abilities. I know when the game is on the line, I want the ball in my hands," said Wright, who also drained the running triple that sent Phoenix past Magnolia and into the final four.
But the 29-year-old wingman was quick to commend his teammates, especially Calvin Abueva, Jason Perkins and Justin Chua for also making shots down the closing stretch.
"Everyone in our team is very confident. I can't help but think it trickles down on me being the leader and it permeates to the whole team so we're very confident," he said.
"We won a lot of close games. It molded us for moments like this," he added.
The Gilas Pilipinas standout was all praises for the medical staff of Phoenix which worked day in and day out to hasten his recovery from the right ankle sprain he suffered in Game 1 where he only scored two points.
"Honestly, all praise goes to our medical staff and our PTs (physical therapists).. They spent round the clock for the treatment--icing, hilot," said Wright, who only had two points again in Game 2 where Phoenix won 110-103 behind Abueva.
"As painful as the hilot was, the rehab, everything we did round the clock with no rest barely, it all paid off. They really worked hard for me to be able to at least run up and down the court today.”
Now that they are one win away from the finals, Wright is expecting that he'll be 100-percent come Game 4 and he is confident they can close out the series on Wednesday.
"We're one game away and all the pressure is on TNT. There's absolutely no pressure on us. We're out there just having fun."