Gabby Espinas and Japeth Aguilar explained what had really occurred during their heated altercation in the San Miguel Beermen-Barangay Ginebra San Miguel quarterfinal match, Wednesday night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
With just 1.5 seconds left in the third canto, and with Gin Kings import Justin Brownlee shooting from the foul line, the six-foot-four Espinas was seen exchanging words with somebody from the patron area of the venue.
As it turns out, the 35-year-old was having a tussle with Japeth’s dad, Peter, who — according to Espinas — had blurted out profane language towards him for the defensive foul he had given up on Brownlee.
“Nung bumagsak si Brownlee, parang minura ako ng dad niya,” said Espinas, who played just five minutes in the quarterfinals tiff. “Yung dad niya ewan ko kung naging player ba dati yun, ba’t ganun. ‘Di ba as a player naman alam mo naman yung sinasadya sa ‘di sinasadya.
“Bat kailangan niya ‘kong murahin?”
That was when the younger Aguilar stepped in, obviously irate with the SMB bruiser. He then charged towards Espinas and said a few words, until players and referees stepped in to prevent things from worsening.
“It just came out biglaan talaga, it just came out naturally,” explained the 30-year-old Aguilar, who finished the game with 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting.
“And family eh. It was [my] family eh.”
Cooler heads still prevailed, though. Both men — and even Ginebra head coach Tim Cone, who entered the court and gave an earful to the six-foot-nine Aguilar for what he did to Espinas — were all charged with technical fouls.
After the game at the Mall of Asia Arena, which saw the Gin Kings masterfully beat the Beermen, 104-84, to be the second team to advance to the semifinals, both Espinas and Aguilar downplayed the fracas.
“May mga anak din ako. Siguro naa-apektuhan siya ‘pag nasasaktan anak niya,” apologetically said the product of Philippine Christian University.
“Kung ganun yung interpretation niya, sorry kung nasaktan ko yung anak niya.”
“It was nothing,” played down the soft-spoken Aguilar. “I’ve been playing against him for a lot of years now, [and I know] he’s just playing hard.
“Basically, [it’s just] two guys trying [their best] to compete.”
