After posting back-to-back wins, Phoenix Super LPG aims to stay healthy in the early stretch of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup.

Fuel Masters coach Charles Tiu said they are monitoring the health status of Kai Ballungay, Tyler Tio and Jason Perkins, who are all nursing various injuries.

The Fuel Masters made a lot of heads turn with their impressive start under Tiu. They opened their campaign with a 101-98 win over Magnolia followed by a 109-76 triumph over Titan Ultra.

But Tiu rang the alarm bells as they will enter their next couple of games with Balunggay and Tio nursing ankle injuries and Perkins having some discomfort in his Achilles.

“They both have ankle sprains. You saw how Kai landed on the foot of a Titan player. Hopefully it won’t be too bad,” said the 37-year-old Tiu, the youngest mentor in the league today.

“We’ll probably have a couple of days off and then assess. Tyler, I don’t know if it will be a week or two weeks out, depending on how he feels, but he’s doing everything he can to rehab and be back on the court as quickly as possible.”

Tiu said against Titan Ultra, he opted not to start Perkins to make sure he will be fully fit to play.

“He was ready to go but his foot, his Achilles, is hurting so we wanted to manage him,” Tiu added.

“He could have played if he wanted to, but we wanted to be conservative and give him a few extra days to rest because we don’t want him to get worse.”

Despite walking wounded, the Fuel Masters still have a lot of weapons with Ricci Rivero, James Dickey, Ken Tuffin, Evan Nelle and Bryan Santos delivering solid numbers.

Tiu, who was appointed last January after a successful stint with College of Saint Benilde in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, believe that they have what it takes to stand their ground against league heavyweights like reigning champion TNT Tropang 5G, Barangay Ginebra and San Miguel Beer.

“As a coach we try to envision ourselves winning every game. Of course, it’s still somewhat unexpected because we were able to upset Magnolia,” said Tiu, whose wards will face Meralco on Saturday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.

“But I believe in this team and the players that we have. I think we can compete with every team and at least give ourselves a chance to win every game.”