Phoenix intends to maximize the few days off for its banged-up key players to heal from their aches and pains before returning to action on Saturday versus Meralco.
Sophomore Kai Ballungay hurt his ankle that limited him to just 18 minutes in a 109-76 victory by Phoenix over Titan Ultra last Sunday.
The vastly-improved Ballungay joins guard Tyler Tio and veteran Jason Perkins on injured bay at the moment.
Still, new Phoenix coach Charles Tiu remains optimistic of seeing them swing back to action soon.
“Unfortunately, some guys are hurt. So we’re just trying to manage that,” said Tiu, whose team is off to a flying start with a 2-0 record in the PBA Commissioner Cup.
Tio, like Ballungay is down with a sprained ankle.
“Hopefully it won’t be too bad. We have a couple of days off so we’ll assess. I hope it’s not too long,” said Tiu of Ballungay’s case.
“With Tyler, it will be a week or two weeks out, depends on how he feels,” he added.
Tio sustained the injury in Phoenix’s conference-opening 101-98 win against Magnolia.
“But he’s doing everything to rehab and be back on the court as quickly as possible.”
The left-handed Perkins is also down with a hamstring injury, and became a late-game scratch against Titan Ultra.
“He (Perkins) was ready to go but his foot, his Achilles is hurting so we wanted to manage him,” said the Phoenix coach.
“I didn’t want to force him. He could have played if he wanted to, but I said sige let’s try to be conservative to give him a few days of rest kasi ayaw naman namin na mabigla siya.”
Phoenix hopes to keep its winning stretch going on Saturday against Meralco, which tore apart Converge, 109-98, last Wednesday.