JASON Perkins suffered from cramps that kept him out for Phoenix in crucial stretches of overtime in Wednesday’s game against Meralco in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals.
Perkins was one of the leading scorers of the Fuel Masters when he cramped up during the first overtime. He returned briefly in the second extra time to serve as an additional rebounder during import Johnathan Williams’ trip to the line, and was back on the bench for good at the three-minute mark of the third overtime.
READ Meralco survives three-overtime thriller vs Phoenix, forces sudden-death
Perkins, who finished with a conference-high 20 points, assured the injury is nothing serious.
“I just started cramping up,” said Perkins.
Phoenix coach Jamike Jarin said they didn’t want to take the risk of putting in Perkins for an extended period after he cramped up, for fear of a more serious injury.
“He was cramping. Even though we wanted him to play more a bit, we just decided that he needed to rest. You don’t want him to get hurt more. I personally decided that he needed to rest,” said Jarin.
Phoenix lost to Meralco, 116-107, in triple overtime, but Perkins remains in high spirits after the defeat, drawing confidence from how the team fought in the marathon face-off.
'Perk' salutes Newsome
Perkins also credited Chris Newsome for draining a buzzer-beating three-pointer to force overtime.
“Chris hit a good shot. He is a good player... It’s the breaks of the game. But we are twice-to-beat. We have one more game. We are still positive,” said Perkins.
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