By JEREMIAH SEVILLA
SMART CLARK GIGA CITY – Matthew Wright was certain that the famous local dish papaitan served as the fuel to his explosive bounce-back performance on Sunday night.
Wright said he savored the Ilocano soup specialty before bucking a bum ankle and firing 25 points, including the dagger fadeaway jumper, in Phoenix’s 92-89 win over TNT for a 2-1 lead in their Philippine Cup semifinal tiff.
“One of the security guards made me papaitan here. He said it was delicious. Oh man, it was so good!” said the bubble MVP frontrunner, who rebounded from a scoring average of 2.0 points in the first two games of the series due to a sprained right ankle.
“I think honestly the papaitan was the real MVP today,” added the Filipino-Canadian wingman, whose mother hails from Tarlac.
Baked sushi
Ginebra big man Prince Caperal could not contain his excitement to get his baked sushi from the weekly delivery inside the bubble.
“Yes, ‘Ayuda Monday’! Excited lang ako sa ipapadalang baked sushi sa’kin,” said Caperal, who is one of the top contenders for the Most Improved Player award.
“Na-miss ko Japanese food talaga dito sa bubble. Nagke-crave talaga ako sa mga ibang pagkain na pwede mong makuha sa labas pero limited dito.”
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Hair glooming
Players, coaches and other PBA bubble delegates enjoyed another round of hair grooming courtesy of The Folk Barbershop and Retail on Monday.
Barangay Ginebra veteran guard LA Tenorio got a haircut for the second time while his rookie teammates Kent Salado and Jerrick Balanza also lined up at the Mequeni Lounge in Quest Hotel.
The Kings’ assistant coaches Olsen Racela, Freddie Abuda and Richard Del Rosario had their looks refreshed as well.
Phoenix’s Mike Gamboa, Jorey Napoles and manager Paolo Bugia were also among the early attendants in the hair day program along with Meralco’s Baser Amer and Allein Maliksi and TNT’s Poy Erram.
At least 30 delegates enlisted for the second round of haircut done by The Folk’s professional barbers, who underwent the same swab testing and self-isolation process during their first visit last November 1.
