MANILA, Philippines - On court, they disliked each other so much that one labelled the other as a menace and the other describing his rival’s brand of game as dirty. But off it, Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao and Alaska Milk import Henry Walker proved to be a class act, true sporting warriors, professionals and gentlemen.
They figured in a verbal spat through media in the course of their Final Four series in the PBA Governors Cup. But as the smoke of battle cleared, they sought each other and lauded each other’s work while locked in a hug at mid-court.
Animosity was over. Respect for each other prevailed.
“You have to respect his effort, what he has done,” said Guiao of Walker.
“You have to separate what’s really the psyching up, the psych battles from professionalism. It’s really just drawing the line, knowing when you have just to respect people for what they have done,” Guiao also said.
“After the game where you’re out to make a living, tapos na yon. Pagbalik sa game, ganon uli,” Guiao added.
At one point in the series, Walker called Rain or Shine’s game not “basketball but dirty.”
As Walker was tossed out of the court in Game Four after a flagrant infraction on Paul Lee, Guiao called Walker “a menace and a bully.”
In the end, both expressed their admiration for each other as a competitor.
They locked themselves in a hug at mid-court moments after the final buzzer Saturday night, this time, saying nice words to one another.
And after a shower and before leaving the venue, Walker waited for Guiao to come out of their dugout for one last greeting.