Malcolm White became the target of Rain or Shine on Sunday evening. And it all started with 6:50 left in the contest that pitted the Globalport Batang Pier against the Elasto Painters.
White tried to go for an offensive board during the sequence. However, with his back turned, the hulking 6-foot-9 reinforcement clocked Chris Tiu, which knocked the Filipino-Chinese superstar down.
Even if Tiu thinks that it was an intentional hit, the 29-year-old insisted that it was purely accidental.
“Oh man, that was — ugh, I didn’t do that purposely. You know, I was just trying, it was just the motion of my arm. I was just boxing out and somebody was there,” pleaded White after Globalport’s 90-96 loss. “I guess, he was right there by my arm. I didn’t even know I did it, until [Chris Tiu] came back and I’d seen the blood. I was going to apologize, tell him, ‘Hey man, sorry. I didn’t mean to do it.’
“But, they took it the wrong way.”
And the hit White was referring to about came after six minutes and 10 seconds.
Raymond Almazan checked in the game with 47 seconds left. And once he did, he threw a hard pick on White that saw Almazan’s shoulder clock White’s chin. Another skirmish almost ensued.
“I guess the team, they took it some type of way and they sent Raymond in, I jumped for the ball and he took his shoulder, busted my lip and hit me up in my chin,” lamented White, who finished the game with 21 points, eight rebounds, and two steals.
“That was dirty, that was, that was dirty.”
Still, even if he and Almazan had a verbal exchange after the game, White shared that he has no hard feelings.
“We were just fighting, man. That’s all it was. Playoff atmosphere game and it was just a physical game. That’s all I can say about that.”
