Calvin Abueva admitted getting into a small spat with a fan courtside early in Magnolia’s eventual loss to Ginebra in Sunday’s PBA Philippine Cup action.
Which, unfortunately, led to the 36-year-old forward flashing the middle finger to the unidentified spectator — that got seen on national television as well.
“‘Di ko naman alam na may camera roon,” he told Tiebreaker Times when asked about the incident shortly after their 87-77 defeat at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“Nakatalikod na ako e, pero nakita pa rin.”
It happened at the 1:51-mark of the opening quarter after Abueva collided with opposing guard Nards Pinto, causing him to kneel for a while.
He was then talking to somebody sitting along the courtside VIP seats, and then flipped off the fan before walking away to join his team.
Abueva alleged that his act was just a retaliation for an insult hurled at him from the said fan.
“May sinabi sa akin, hindi ko lang maano, sobrang tinamaan ako kay Pinto,” he said when asked what was said to him. “E nangyari na ang nangyari.”
Asked if he there were expletives thrown at him, Abueva said: “Medyo may ganun pero hindi ko na inano. kaya ginawa ko na yun and then alis na.”
No untoward incident took place and Abueva went on to finish the game, wherein he missed all of his six attempts from the field. He tallied only four points, three rebounds, two assists, and a steal in nearly 20 minutes.
“Siguro nabigla lahat sa mga nangyari kasi halos kalahati sa amin nasa All-Star,” he said. “Two days preparation lang.
“Siguro ‘yung execution namin, kulang kami sa focus. Ayun ‘yung nangyari sa amin. In the end hindi na namin nakuha ‘yung panalo. Aggressive sila sa depensa na pinakita nila. Dun kami talaga natalo.”
