SAN Miguel Beer will certainly remember Game 1 of the PBA Philippine Cup finals as the one that got away—a loss that handed the Beermen a heartbreak they was caused not by the TNT Tropang 5G but the pro league’s technical officials.
“Ang ganda-ganda ng laro tapos ang magde-decide ay technical (committee), ano ba iyan? Dead ball naman iyon, counted, dapat ni-review nila kaagad, hindi ba?” a fuming SMB team governor Robert Non said. “Dapat ni-review kaagad nila kung counted o hindi, pinalipas pa nila, tapos sasabihin nila basketball interference.
“Nag-dunk si Mo, hawak niya ang bola, tapos bumitaw siya, then settled na iyong ring bago pumasok ang bola, nasaan ang interference doon?” he added.
Non went berserk before entering the team’s dugout in the aftermath of the Beermen’s 96-99 setback to the Grand Slam-seeking Tropang 5G in a dramatic duel marred by a late-game controversy last Sunday night.
SMB big man Mo Tautuaa drove past TNT counterpart Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser for a slam dunk, with the ball bouncing high off the rim before going in with 56.1 seconds left.
A few plays later, after the referees called a jump ball on Tropang 5G and Beermen playmakers Jordan Heading and Chris Ross, the table officials waived off Tautuaa’s basket that turned a 98-97 SMB lead into a 96-97 deficit, only 6.2 ticks remaining.
Chaos erupted at the Smart Araneta Coliseum after the final buzzer sounded but the PBA, led by deputy commissioner Eric Castro and technical committee head Bong Pascual, stood firm on their decision to nullify Tautuaa’s bucket.
After initially opting to lodge a formal complaint, the SMB camp decided not to push through with the protest yesterday, deeming it would be an ‘exercise in futility’ after Castro and Pascual held a press conference following the game.
“We are disappointed because we were down by 24 points and then we were able to (catch up). But the effort was put to waste,” SMB coach Leo Austria said. “It’s a nice game but the beauty of the game ay nawala so I don’t know kung anong magiging decision regarding that.
“The efforts of the player, we have to reward it. We have to do something about it at dahil nakita naman natin pure effort iyon sa last quarter until we get the lead.”
While they are moving on from the incident, Austria simply wants clearer answers to nagging questions.
“Regarding the rules, we don’t know kung ano iyong pinagbabatayan natin, but ang napansin ko, they stopped the game because of a jump ball,” he said. “But hindi na lang itinuloy iyong jump ball. That is my question.
“If it is according to the rules, so be it, but they have to review it. I keep on talking about this incident, but what if it’s in the last shot? If we were leading, then all of a sudden, we’d be down by one point.”
