Eugene Phelps has been fond of trying new things since he made his PBA debut in the Philippine Basketball Association in 2016.
In the ongoing PBA Governors' Cup, the Phoenix Pulse import is experimenting on a new approach by trying to convert his free throws using the backboard.
"I played in (South) Korea and the Koreans, they all shoot like pretty good free throws in the backboard so I was just trying something new," Phelps said after Phoenix's 86-84 win over Rain or Shine Wednesday at the Cuneta Astrodome.
Phelps played for the Seoul Samsung Thunders prior to his return stint with the Fuel Masters in the season-ending conference.
This is not the first time Phelps try to do something on his trips to the foul line. He shot with one-hand from the foul line in last season's Governors' Cup campaign.
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Phelps said he intends continue with his new approach until the end of the conference.
"I'm just gonna stick with it the rest of this season. I don't want to switch," he said. "Everytime I come here, I switch free throws probably like three or four times the whole season. So I'm gonna stick with it and hopefully they start falling."
Noticeably, Phelps' accuracy from the foul line is almost the same as in the previous conferences.
To date, he made 54 of 96 attempts from the stripe for a 56-percent clip. He shot 53 percent in the 2018 Governors' Cup, 58 percent during in the 2018 Commissioner's Cup and 54 percent in the 2017 Governors' Cup.
Phelps, however, is far from discouraged.
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"In practice I make at least 89 percent of my shots," he said. "I just got to focus more and hopefully they start to fall in." (JT)
