'Overkill' not in Matthew Wright's vocabulary

MANILA, Philippines — Even after five blowouts, Matthew Wright—the star of Gilas’ win number five—thinks there’s no “overkill.”

“We’re gonna be playing teams that are much better than these teams, and they’re not gonna feel bad for us,” Wright said shortly after Philippines beat Vietnam on Wednesday night’s SEABA action.

“They’re not gonna care who we are, especially if we play the better Asian teams, European teams” he continued. 

Gilas has won their third straight game by 55 points. On opening night, they obliterated Myanmar by 107 markers. 

“It’s eat or be eaten. Right now, we’re eating,” Wright said matter-of-factly. “You never know who you’re going to play. If we played Team USA are we going to say that that's overkill? 

“We can't really have that mentality, we just have our team, and we're just trying to get better every game,” he added.

In Gilas’ game against Vietnam, five cagers scored in double digits. The team combined for a 61 percent shooting percentage. Wright, for his part, accounted for 19 points. Raymond Almazan had a perfect night with a seven-for-seven clip.

But despite all of the commendable indicators, the PBA rookie and first-time Gilas trooper shared that the team’s lowering their guards.

“It's gonna be a dogfight. I know Jamarr Johnson is gonna be ready to play. He's gonna definitely try to beat us with his motor but I feel like we've been hitting our stride lately, everybody is confident,” he shared.

Asked about his assessment of the reinforced Indonesian side—who earlier on Wednesday made a mincemeat of Singapore—Wright simply said “they’ve improved.”

But he had a parting shot, as well: “It's not gonna be a walk in the park tomorrow that's for sure. But they gotta guard us, too.”

The Philippines and Indonesia will fight for the only ticket to the FIBA Asia skirmish in Lebanon on Thursday, 7 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.