Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao slammed the officiating over what he deemed ‘puzzling’ and ‘unjust’ calls that led to his import Deon Thompson fouling out early in the Elasto Painters’ 130-118 Game 1 quarterfinals loss to Converge on Wednesday, Feb. 5.
The fiery coach even called for a probe against the referees who he believed had decided the game when they called three consecutive fouls on Thompson in the span of the first three minutes of the game.
“The referees decided the results of the game in that situation,” said Guiao after the game.
“Halos kakaumpisa lang ng third quarter, a little less than nine minutes, tinawagan sya ng tatlong sunud sunod na maninipis na mga tawag. Di man lang inabutan na mapalitan siya ng replacement nya so I’m not sure (but) I think the PBA should investigate those referees,” he stressed
From three fouls at the break, Thompson found himself hitting the showers early after committing all of his three remaining fouls against Converge import Cheick Diallo – calls that Guiao felt to be too soft and should have been a let go especially now that it’s already the playoffs
The Elasto Painters did manage to keep in step even after the exit of Thompson but the absence of an inside presence which the ROS import obviously provides was glaring in the final frame when Converge frontcourt led by Diallo, Justin Arana and Justine Baltazar pounded the ball on the paint.
“Ngayon lang ako nakakita sa buong buhay ko na nasa PBA ako na ganun kaninipis, itatawag ng sunud sunod. Ni hindi man lang nakapasok yung replacement nya. May replacement na siya eh,” added the fiery mentor.
“Kataka-taka at di makatarungan,” he added.
Even the implementation of the landing spot foul, which was called against Thompson when ROS felt it was Diallo who initiated the contact, is getting ridiculous according to Guiao.
“It’s becoming ridiculous yung landing spot foul natin. Yung dumidepensa, walang kalaban-laban kung ung tatalon ako at ang intention ko is magland doon sa paa mo… kasalanan mo,” Guiao lamented.
“It’s getting ridiculous. Di nila alam i-apply eh kung paano eh. Di nila alam basta ang ano doon, basta natapakan yung paa mo,” he added
Guiao said ROS has not decided whether the team will be writing a formal complaint or not but the team intends to focus on the task at hand especially heading into Game 2 on Friday, Feb. 7.
