Phoenix hero Matthew Wright leads the statistical race

Phoenix Super LPG star Matthew Wright has made a solid case for becoming the top player in the PBA bubble after leading the race for statistical points to the end of the Philippines Cup eliminations.

Wright, after a heroic performance in the Fuel Masters’ 89-88 win over the Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok in Saturday’s quarter-finals, racked up 39.5 stat points in 11 playoff games to emerge as the derby favorite .

The fourth-year standout averaged 22.8 points on 44.5 percent shooting with 5.4 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.4 steals while playing the 11 games in which Phoenix posted an 8-3 record.

His chances of receiving whatever award the PBA decides later increased after hitting a 3-pointer 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 semi-final pair facing Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and Sunday’s knockout quarterfinal winner between defending champion San Miguel Beer and Meralco will also start on the same day.

The semifinals are expected to be the last chance for the candidates to prove themselves before the results are determined.

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

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

That makes Perkins and Parks the closest pursuers 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.

They complete the top 10 RR Pogoy from TNT (34.3) and Jayson Castro (33.6), Stanley Pringle from Geneva (33.3) and Scottie Thompson (33.2) and Mo Tautuaa from San Miguel (33.0) .

The league has yet to determine the prizes to be awarded to its best players, as only one conference was played in season 45 that was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It may be practical for the league to award the coveted MVP to the best player in the Philippines Cup given the pandemic that forced the PBA to shorten the season from the traditional three-conference schedule.