Rain or Shine head coach Caloy Garcia aired his disappointment with Blackwater interim chief mentor Aris Dimaunahan for not shaking his hand after the Elasto Painters’ Commissioner’s Cup game on Sunday, which the Elite won, 103-98.
Handshakes between coaches and their teams usually take place right after the final buzzer. But there was no politeness between Garcia and Dimaunahan, since the latter was congratulating his own players instead for the hard-fought victory.
“Matagal ko siyang kaibigan. I think he has to learn that after the game, you have to shake the hands of the opposing head coach. I was approaching him, then he turned his back. So doon ako nagulat, parang bakit naman ganun?” he said.
“I know he’s been winning. Sana he just keeps his foot on the ground. Maliit naman ang mundo ng basketball eh. It’s not proper. Kasi whether you win or lose, for me, you have to always shake the hands of the opposing team.”
Meanwhile, Dimaunahan had already explained his side and then expressed his sincerest apologies; the early part of his post-game press conference was mainly apologizing and expressing regret on what he did.
“I wanna apologize also to Coach Caloy for not shaking his hand right away. I’m sorry, I just have this thing na after every game, I go to my players before shaking the hand of the opponent. Coach Caloy, if I offended you I’m so sorry,” he said.
“Basta I’m just saying this apology to Coach Caloy. Isa pa, rookie ako eh. Na-ano ako na masaya ako for my players. Sorry kung sa kanya muna ako dapat pumunta kanina. Basta nothing bad in my intention to do that.”
Garcia has heard Dimaunahan’s explanation, but it seems that it isn’t enough.
“For me, hindi magandang explanation yan kasi pwede mo namang gawin yun, panalo ka naman eh. Eh ‘di doon ka magsimula sa dulo, kamayan mo lahat ng player mo, papunta ka sa coach sa kabila,” Garcia said.
“Hindi yung nandiyan ka na, tatalikuran mo tapos pupuntahan mo doon sa dulo. It’s not a good excuse. For me, it’s like a… nagsasama naman kayo sa dugout eh. Hindi ba pwedeng i-congratulate sila pagpasok sa dugout?” the basketball purist continued.
“This is the PBA. If I did that to him or did that to any other coach, I think any other coach would react the same way,” Garcia added. “Sa akin tapos na yun. I just feel bad that he had to do it kasi matagal ko na siyang kaibigan.
“I just feel bad that he had to do it that way.”
