Games today (Cuneta Astrodome)
5:15 p.m. – Rain or Shine vs Barako Bull
7:30 p.m. – San Mig Coffee vs Air21
MANILA, Philippines - Globalport owner Mikee Romero ordered yesterday the dismissal of their import Walter Sharpe for his embarrassing stunt that went viral, showing him sleeping in a parking lot in Pasig early Monday morning, apparently dead drunk.
“Walter Sharpe should have been more responsible for his actions. Based on what I saw, I recommended to the management and coaching staff the termination of Sharpe’s services effective immediately for conduct unbecoming of a professional basketball player,†said Romero.
Insisting that any player, be a local or an import, should be a good role model for Filipino basketball fans especially the youth, Romero said they’re sacking Sharpe even as the Batang Pier are fighting for survival at 2-7.
A replacement, however, could come in time for their game against Air21 Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Sylvester Morgan, a 6-foot-10 Georgia State product, is flying in from France. He’s a veteran international player with tours of duty in Ukraine, Mexico, Lithuania and Japan.
On the Walter Sharpe incident, the Globalport management promised sanctions would be meted if there were other Globalport players involved.
“We are saddened by the reports of the incident. Rest assured that our organization will sanction the people involved because we believe that we have a responsibility to the PBA and the fans of the league,†said team manager BJ Manalo.
At 2-7, the Batang Pier must get going quickly to avoid another early elimination. The new ball club finished dead last in the last Philippine Cup with a 1-13 slate.
Meanwhile, third-running Rain or Shine hopes to check its two-game skid and stay close with the leaders in tangling with Barako Bull while San Mig Coffee looks to stop the Air21 surge in an attempt to gain solo fourth place at the resumption of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome tonight.
It’s the Elasto Painters versus the Energy Cola at 5:15 p.m. then the Mixers against the Express at 7:30 p.m. in a pair of matches among teams out to improve their slates in the middle of the chart.
The E-Painters (5-3) try to hold on at third spot behind the Alaska Milk Aces (7-2) and the Petron Blaze Boosters (6-2), hoping to recover from their shocking 79-87 loss to an all-Filipino Petron side in their out-of-town tussle in Panabo, Davao del Norte Saturday.
They should learn their lesson or face the danger of an upset by a Barako Bull team aching to snap a longer losing skein past the halfway mark of the elimination round.
In a welcome news for the San Mig Coffee Mixers, ace forward Joe Devance was spared of serious injury from his fall in their last game against Meralco.