LAST week was a tough one for Jason Perkins.
The Phoenix Super LPG star missed their match-up against Titan Ultra two Sundays ago due to an illness and played just 10 minutes in Saturday's game against Meralco after he clashed knees with import James Dickey III.
Phoenix Super LPG coach Charles Tiu described how Perkins' week went.
READ: Meralco stays unbeaten as hot-starting Phoenix runs out of gas
“Perk, he's been sick. He didn't practice for a week, some food poisoning and his foot was hurting. And then, natuhod pa siya knee-to-knee, agad-agad namaga so he couldn't go,” Tiu said.
Perkins took his situation lightly.
“This was an unlucky week, I guess,” said Perkins. “It happens. It's out of my control.”
“Maybe I just need to go to church,” he added in jest.
Perkins' protracted appearance compounded the woes of Phoenix Super LPG in the 93-86 loss to Meralco last Saturday where Kai Ballungay and Tyler Tio were already nursing ankle injuries and didn't play.
Tiu hopes the three will be healthy come their game against Terrafirma, winners of three in a row to start the conference to surprisingly grab solo first place in the team standings.
The Fuelmasters battle the Dyip on Wednesday, 5:15 p.m. at the Ynares Center-Antipolo.
“With Terrafirma, they are No. 1 in the PBA right now, they are 3-0, they have a great import, the addition of Geo Chiu gives them a big guy na they were sort of lacking. We have to prepare," Tiu said.
"Hopefully, our guys will be able to recover by then and we can compete. We have to get better. They are really looking pretty good."
Tiu knew his team fought tooth and nail against Meralco after the Fuelmasters trailed by only two, 73-71, before the Bolts' depth proved too much to overcome.
“We ran out of gas. Their bench stepped up big time… Obviously, we are a bit undermanned pero no excuses. I felt like even if we missed some key guys, we still had enough to win. We couldn't score on stretches," he said.
"We missed a lot of open shots. We forced the issue a lot. We could have made simple passes, but that's part of being a young team."
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