Trey sparks near post-game fistfight

SEVILLE, Spain – Gilas Pilipinas claimed Greece was disrespectful. The Greeks hit back, saying the Filipinos played dirty. And they nearly figured in a free-for-all.  

LA Tenorio felled Kostas Papanikolaou with a flagrant infraction with two minutes to go. In the dying seconds, with the outcome beyond doubt, Gilas Pilipinas felt disrespected when Kostas Kaimakoglou took and made an inconsequential three-pointer.

At midcourt after the buzzer, Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes and Greek coach Fotis Katsikaris didn’t keep to themselves their ill feelings over the two incidents.

In that faceoff, Greek center Giannis Bourousis got in and allegedly pushed away Gilas team manager Aboy Castro, sparking a near free-for-all.

“I was telling the coach you should have not made that shot. As part of coaching ethic, if you have a big lead you don’t call a last-second timeout or when you have a game won, you don’t score anymore (in the dying seconds),” related Reyes.

“Of course, the coach said it’s FIBA competition, there’s the quotient. Then he told me ‘the way you play is dangerous. That’s not basketball,” Reyes added. “Sabi ko ‘what?’ Tapos parang inano siya ni Aboy, pero si Bourousis tinulak si Aboy.”

Then there were more shoves, pushes, angry words and deep stares before the two teams were separated.

Handshakes were made but Reyes still wanted Bourousis penalized.

“He put his hands on Aboy. He has to be sanctioned for that. A player should not touch a coach, manager or team official. In FIBA, coaches are allowed to come in para umawat ng away but players can’t,” Reyes explained.

The Greek fans, meanwhile, didn’t want Tenorio to simply get away with his infraction.

They were throwing mouthfuls at Tenorio as the Gilas guard was heading to the dugout.

“You must understand grabeng bugbog ang inaabot namin sa game. We get shoved in the chest, we fall back and the refs say we’re flopping,” said Reyes, defending Tenorio.

“I was telling the refs our guys are 5-8, 5-10. They’re trying to stay in front of 6-5, 6-10. Of course we’ll get knocked down or fall back,” Reyes added.

“If Croatia plays Greece, guards against guards, of course, nothing is gonna give. But if LA is guarding a 6-5 guard, if he gets a pick from a 7-0 guy, of course he’s going to be thrown back. But then the refs keep saying it’s flopping,” Reyes further said.

Even if he’s not sure if it would do any good, Reyes said he’s addressing the matter to the FIBA technical officials.