Fuel Masters catching fire

Three players have been displaying tremendous improvement, towing Phoenix to a sizzling run in the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner's Cup.

Encho Serrano, Javee Mocon and Tyler Tio have leveled up their games to turn the Fuel Masters into the league's hottest team with five wins in a row in this midseason conference.

Serrano, who couldn't score more than six points per outing in the Philippine Cup, had improved by leaps and bounds as he doubled up his offensive output.

The hardworking swingman who was taken with the 19th pick in the previous Rookie Draft improved his 5.4 points per game average to 12 points on top of 50 percent shooting from the field while providing tons of energy for the rejuvenated Fuel Masters, who are enjoying their longest winning streak in three years.

Also boosting his game is Mocon, who embraced the leadership role previously played by top gun Matthew Wright.

In the Philippine Cup, the former San Beda University star averaged only 8.7 points on 38 percent shooting clip from the field, but he jacked up that production with 16 points on 44.1 percent field goal shooting with 6.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.4 steals per match.

Tio, of course, had shown a lot of promise since getting drafted out of Ateneo de Manila University, but he raised his Philippine Cup performance of 11.7 points per game by producing 13.5 points per outing this conference, highlighted by career-highs of 21 and 26 points, respectively.

Aside from the three Fuel Masters, Stanley Pringle of Barangay Ginebra San Miguel – the Most Valuable Player of the PBA bubble two years ago – had also rediscovered his lethal form.

After suffering a minor slump in the past two conferences, Pringle worked his way back to tip-top condition to reaffirm his role as the main playmaker of the Kings.

This conference, the Filipino-American guard averaged 12.3 points per game and improved his three-point shooting by hitting a solid 51.5 percent clip, a big improvement to his 8.6 points and 32 percent shooting from the rainbow area last conference.

Roger Pogoy is also making his presence felt.

In the previous import-laced conference, the Governors' Cup, Pogoy was on a shooting slump, hitting only 17.1 percent of his long bombs while registering only 12.9 points per game.

But in the ongoing conference, the Cebuano hotshot rediscovered his shooting touch as he nailed 50 percent of his howitzers while averaging 201. Points per game for the Tropang Giga, who are being bothered by their off-court issue with star gunner Mikey Williams.