Brian Goorjian downplayed the spat he had with counterpart Pido Jarencio during Bay Area’s heated PBA Commissioner’s Cp encounter with NorthPort.
The decorated mentor is simply charging to experience the highly-emotional match — which his Dragons managed to win thanks to Myles Powell — as the guest team is learning and adapting to the league’s style of play.
“It’s us that has to learn. It’s a different game here,” he said moments after their 105-104 escape at the Mall of Asia Arena, Saturday night.
“It’s called different, and we’re learning. And sometimes on both sides of this, there’s frustration, there’s a lot of emotion there to kick our ass, and there’s a lot of emotion on our side to not back off,” he furthered.
“I thought tonight — and it was there in the preseason games there was some emotion — and tonight it’s lessons that we’re learning and we’re trying to grow.”
Goorjian got into an argument with Jarencio with 32.1 seconds left in the second quarter, shortly after Arvin Tolentino got called for an offensive foul when his elbow landed on Bay Area’s Zhuo Songwei as he collected a rebound.
No untoward incident took place afterward, and both coaches even shook hands during the customary postgame handshake at center court.
For the Olympic bronze medalist, emotions in games are inevitable especially after the Dragons made an impression right off the bat when they handed Blackwater a vicious 46-point beating in the conference opener.
“The concern is, we win by [46] points and everybody thinks you’re something. You’re not. And tonight, I think, shows everybody in this that this is going to be good basketball,” said the current Australia Boomers head coach.
“I mean, there’s a lot of emotion in it, the teams playing us are fired up and want this bad. The crowd’s involved. Imagine if there are 10,000 people here.
“So, I feel good we’re bringing something to this. But we’re learning how to play Filipino basketball,” added Goorjian. “Pleased to get out of here alive, but lessons learned for the Dragons. Lessons learned.”
The 69-year-old has no qualms whatsoever about how fiery their games can be as there will still be respect among competitors once the smoke clears.
“There is respect. There’s war, and sometimes it gets emotional. But, I think both ways, in all of this, there’s respect.”
—
The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
