Controversy mars PBA Finals opener: PBA exec explains crucial ruling
MANILA, Philippines — Game 1 of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals between San Miguel Beermen and TNT on Sunday, July 13, was full of action and drama.
It had a lot of twists and turns, as the Beermen climbed out of a 24 point-hole to take the lead before the Tropang 5G did just enough to grab the victory.
However, the game also had a controversial finish.
With TNT leading by just one, 97-96, with 1:04 remaining following an RR Pogoy 3-pointer, the Beermen had possession.
And with about a minute to go, the ball went to Mo Tautuaa at the right elbow. He made a couple of fakes and when his defender, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, jumped at his fake, he drove to the lane.
Tautuaa then soared for a dunk.
His jam initially hit the rim and missed. His hand grabbed the rim as the ball flew over the cylinder.
Later, however, the ball dropped straight down and hit the bottom of the net, giving the Beermen a 98-97 lead with 56.1 seconds left.
On the other end, Pogoy missed a 3-pointer that would have given them the lead. In the next possession, Chris Ross missed a shot of his own.
TNT’s Jordan Heading grabbed the rebound and rushed to the other end, but Ross was able to stop him and force a jump ball.
The review, however, took longer and a few moments later, the barker at the Smart Araneta Coliseum announced the verdict: Tautuaa’s dunk will be waved off due to basket interference.
Because of this, understandably, the whole San Miguel squad was frustrated.
However, a door was still open for the Beermen despite Calvin Oftana sinking free throws that gave TNT a 99-96 lead.
A late triple by CJ Perez, though, missed the mark as the Tropang 5G escaped.
The controversy then begged the question: what in the world happened? Was it really basket interference? Will there be an asterisk on the win?
After the game, the PBA stood by the call of the referees.
PBA deputy commissioner Eric Castro brought out the league’s rulebook to explain the call.
Citing provision J-5 of the rulebook, Castro stressed that a basket would be ruled as an offensive interference if: “an offensive player causes the backboard to vibrate or grasps the basket in such a way that, in the judgment of the official, the ball has been caused to enter the basket.”
“As you’ve seen in the replay, when Mo dunked the last 56 seconds, nahila niya yung ring pababa. The contention of the coaching staff was yung bola was straight and entered the ring. Regardless kung may tamaan siyang part ng ring, the fact na nahila niya yung ring pababa is a violation,” Castro said.
“It’s considered an offensive basket interference,” he added.
Castro reiterated that the ballgame was continuous, and they did not have any opportunity to overturn the call until the jump ball call.
It was only then that the call was announced, much to the dismay of San Miguel.
“In the event that there was no dead ball, at natapos yung game with the score, under our rules, we can still correct it. The possibility of TNT winning at the end minus the correction because of the walang dead ball, mangyayari yun,” he said.
“Bakit kami ang nag-initiate ng review? Just like any other goaltending violation, we can, us sa technical committee, can review it. It just so happened our officials were not able to make a call kaya sa amin, sa technical committee yun bumagsak. That’s our simple explanation,” he added.
Castro said that they will meet with the referees with what happened.
“Clearly, the replay, you’ll see there’s a good angle that was shown by TV5, there was a pulling ng ring after that missed dunk. So yung dunk natin should be direct. That’s the difference. You can pull the ring once the ball is through the net, the ball is inside and went through the net,” he said.
The executive added that he could give examples of points being overturned in the past.
“We can give examples ng ganitong situation that we’ve called an offensive basket interference. We’re willing to show it probably through our social media platform namin. Maipapakita namin na we’ve been calling this as an offensive basket interference.”
San Miguel’s side
For San Miguel head coach Leo Austria, he said that the call at the end of the game “wasted the beauty of the game”, especially with the way they clawed out of that 24-point hole.
“We as a team, because of the effort of the players, talagang we have to reward them, and we have to do something about it. Dahil nakita naman natin yung effort in the last quarter until we got the lead. But it will be put into waste if that is their decision,” he said.
“And regarding the rules, I don't know yet if it is according to rules. If it is according to rules, so be it. But they have to review it, because I keep on talking about this incident. If it happened in the first quarter, second quarter, what if it is in the last shot and then there's no call?
“If we're leading by one point and we tried to press, and then we will not take the shot. And all of a sudden, we're down by one point. I don't know.”
He said that for now, they are yet to decide whether they will file a protest as they will still talk about it.
Tautuaa, for his part, did not mince words.
“I don’t agree with the call,” he said.
“That’s the exact opposite of the right call. Let the game go. Let us decide the game, simple,” he added.
The big man stressed that “people touch the rim all the time especially on a dunk.”
“That’s what happens when you try to dunk the ball, you touch the rim. By the time it went in, I was already on the floor, everything was done,” he said.
“I feel like that sucks. That’s a sucky way to lose a game.”
Team governor Robert Non and team manager Gee Abanilla kept mum regarding their decision to protest.
Austria, though, emphasized that they cannot let the incident affect the team.
“Right now, everybody is so frustrated regarding the incident. I don't know, but what I told the team, it's beyond our control, so let us focus and let's move forward,” he said.
“And let's be motivated with this incident. Because in this game, we realized that we can play and compete with them.”
TNT’s perspective
TNT head coach Chot Reyes bared that when the play came, he already knew it was an offensive interference.
“So good thing that there was a break on that jump ball that they were able to review it. And we're very fortunate that that was reversed. Could have been a very different story if not,” he said.
“So that's part of our game. I know I've been on the opposite side of those breaks in the past. So it's just something that we are very fortunate, and we were able to take advantage of it.”
Will TNT be able to take a 2-0 lead, or San Miguel bounce back and tie things up at 1-apiece? Game 2 of the series will be on Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., still at the Big Dome.
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