Juami Tiongson is injured and will miss the rest of the conference

MANILA, Philippines — Terrafirma's winless and troubled start to the 49th season of the PBA Governors' Cup only got worse when veteran shooting guard Juami Tiongson suffered a partial tear of the adductor muscles in his left leg.

The 33-year-old 2021 PBA Most Improved Player sustained the injury during the first half of Dyip's Sunday game against the Magnolia Hotshots.

“According to our physiotherapist, I will be out for two to four weeks,” Tiongson told the Manila Times a few hours after the results of his magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were announced on Monday.

The former Ateneo shooter played just nine minutes in the 124-103 loss to the Hotshots, scoring no points and only one assist before leaving the game for good.

Terrafirma coach John Cardel is taking the latest challenge in stride, pointing out that the focus now is on how everyone can work together, starting with offseason additions Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle.

“We are not giving up on this team even though we lose a key player, Juami, due to injury, who will be out for the entire conference,” Cardel said in Filipino as his team remains winless in four games.

Cardel added that the two PBA stars are doing everything in their power to work within the system and adapt to the new playing environment.

“Surely both of them are getting used to the new system since they came from Ginebra, so it is a new system for them,” he added.

Cardel also mentioned that they will evaluate import Antonio Hester's performance by Tuesday, pointing to his season-low performance of just two points and five rebounds. Hester, the hulking import making his second appearance for the Dyip, played just 12 minutes against the Hotshots.

“I don't know why,” Cardel said, perplexed by Hester's lackluster performance, which forced him to take the former Miami Dade and Mobile star player out of the game early and have Dyip play all-Filipino for much of the game against the Hotshots.

“The coaches will talk tomorrow (Tuesday) and I will also talk to Antonio and try to clear things up with him,” said Cardel, who led Terrafirma back to the Philippine Cup playoffs just last season, the first time the franchise has done so since the 2016 Governors' Cup.