MANILA, Philippines – The last time Phoenix faced Magnolia in a PBA playoffs, Matthew Wright towed the Fuel Masters to the 2020 Philippine Cup semifinals off a one-legged game-winner.

Wright, though, was nowhere to be found in the endgame this time around after he fouled out in the third quarter of their lopsided 88-127 loss to the Hotshots in the 2021 Governors’ Cup quarterfinals on Friday, March 18.

The Phoenix star was in disbelief after picking up his sixth and final foul with five minutes left in the period as he finished with 8 points, his second-lowest scoring output this conference, to go with 8 assists and 3 steals.

“I’ve never fouled out in my career,” said Wright. “It was frustrating, man. Really frustrating. Especially it’s a playoff game. A big crowd. I know that the crowd wanted a good game, but we lost by 40 points.”

“I think that took us right out right there. That was all the momentum. I felt it right when I fouled out. Just the energy on our team, we’re done after that. I think we just got too discouraged.”

His abrupt exit was a disappointing end to a rollercoaster season that witnessed Phoenix lose several of its key pieces to trades and free agency.

The Fuel Masters shipped Calvin Abueva during the offseason then dealt the likes of Vic Manuel and Justin Chua in the middle of the season.

On top of that, Banchero left Phoenix midway through the Governors’ Cup to sign with Meralco as a free agent and original import Paul Harris failed to recuperate from his hamstring injury that led to his replacement.

“To sum up the season, we had a very traumatic season in terms of just losing personnel. We lost Calvin, we lost Vic, we lost CB, we lost Justin. That’s an All-Star team right there that we lost. Just vanished,” Wright said.

“Every day we came to practice, one of them was gone. The next day, CB’s gone. The next day, Justin’s gone. It’s crazy, man. It’s really frustrating because I’ve been with Phoenix for six years.”

Wright said he finds it hard to stay motivated following the series of roster changes as the Fuel Masters saw a drop in performance since the 2020 Philippine Cup, where they fell just a win short of their first-ever finals appearance.

In the all-Filipino conference this season, Phoenix missed the playoff bus after falling prey to Barangay Ginebra in the battle for the last quarterfinal berth.

“I was with Phoenix when we were nothing, we were so bad,” said Wright.

“We just kept building, building, building, building, and we got to a point where I thought that we were going to be the next team that comes up, and we just traded everybody. It’s very hard to stay focused and to be motivated.”

But Wright has not lost hope on Phoenix, even with his contract set to expire soon.

“I’m trying to be as positive as I can, that’s the only takeaway I got out of this conference. Hopefully we can fix things up.” – Rappler.com