Talk N Text walked out on their Game 4 matchup against Ginebra, and forfeiting the game in the process. Now, I'm not a fan of walk-outs. In fact, I will almost always side with the team that stayed on court. But I have to say, I can't blame Chot Reyes and company for taking a stand on this one.
This wasn't a game TNT could win on the basketball court. And if they had played on and put the game under protest instead, people would ask why they stayed on if they thought they being cheated. Look, Ginebra draws a lot of fouls. I understand that. But even with that in mind, you can't help watch Game 3 and think, man, Ginebra's drawing A LOT of fouls. And a 14-5 advantage in free throw attempts in Game 4? It wasn't the bogus Ranidel de Ocampo Flagrant-2 that caused the walkout. No, that was just the tipping point. It's these fouls, the sheer volume of them.
It's kind of like that 2nd round meeting between San Beda and Letran in the 2009 NCAA tournament. Everybody knew Letran was a team that thrives on physicality. Knowing that, the referees still decided to call the game extremely tight which obviously put the Knights at an extreme disadvantage. Predictably, Letran lost a lot of guys to foul trouble early in the game, AND were forced to play a meek brand of defense the rest of the way.
Why call a game in a manner that so obviously skews it in favor of one team over the other? Ginebra gets a lot of calls with their aggressive play, yes. But why make it even easier for them to get to the line by being so quick with the whistle? Why rob the PBA fans of a well-played basketball game that Ginebra could very well win even without the rules playing in their favor? I know refs get the freedom to choose how they call a game, but sometimes you just need to let the players decide the outcome.
I won't comment on the referee's agenda. Those things are impossible to prove, anyway. But the Commissioner's Office will have plenty to think about before Sunday. My opinion is that Sonny Barrios got it wrong when he awarded the San Miguel-TNT-wrong-uniform game to the Tropang Texters when they should have forfeited there.
Now, it's either a replay of the game or a forfeit win for Ginebra. That's all up to Barrios now. Either way, these two teams are playing again on Sunday. Here's to hoping the referees let them, this time around.
4 comments:
If TNT has a problem with the PBA, they should quit the league and sell their franchise. Perhaps even start their own league.
But walking out of a game is not the decent thing to do. It was obviously planned. Chot got an approval for the walkout from MVP by just nodding heads, they had obviously planned this even before the game.
Sore losers.
@anonymous
quit the league and sell the franchise? that's a little extreme. yes, maybe they had planned this beforehand, likely because they disagreed with the way things were being called.
jong uichico thinks its all mind games. to kind of sway the refs into calling it differently. usually, all a coach has to do is complain in the postgame presscon. guess chot reyes that wasn't going to be enough.
like i said, i dont agree with the walkout, but TNT wasn't going to win a game called like that. maybe reyes was just keeping his team from being demoralized?
based on the 18-game statistics released by the PBA prior to the playoffs, Talk ’N Text is No.3 as the most fouling team with 27.17 per game while Barangay Ginebra is the least fouling team at 25.67 per game. TNT is the least fouled team at No. 9 with 24.61 per game.
yeah, but dude. don't mind where they're ranked in that stat - there's a difference of 1.5 fouls per game between TNT's average and ginebra's average. not doubting that ginebra should get to the line more. but THAT MUCH more?
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