Bay Area head coach Brian Goorjian was left puzzled with the calls in their PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals opener versus Ginebra on Christmas Day.
The Dragons fell by way of a 96-81 decision and the veteran mentor admitted that key cog Zhu Songwei getting into foul trouble very early played a ‘huge factor’ in the loss, which was already their second at the Kings’ hands.
His forward was assessed with three fouls just a little over three minutes into the match, abruptly halting what was actually turning out to be a good game for him. Zhu had already scored five points before finding himself on the bench.
Goorjian, though, has no problems with it whatsoever, even admitting that those were ‘good calls’ due to the Chinese cager being ‘undisciplined.’
(C) PBA Images
“It was a huge factor in the game. And, I might say, they were good calls,” he told reporters moments after the game at the Mall of Asia Arena. “He fouled. It was undisciplined on his part. He didn’t make any adjustments.
“He had hand fouls, and he grabbed, and he held. They were fouls that put us in trouble so that’s gonna be videoed and looked at,” he added.
What Goorjian did not like, really, was the apparent double standards on defense, especially against import Andrew Nicholson.
“But I say this again: They guarded Nicholson like that, and there was no penalty for it,” the 69-year-old bench tactician pointed out.
Nicholson was doubled — and even triple-teamed at times — but only had nine free throws in the 39 minutes and 42 seconds he spent on the floor.
The ex-NBA cager was held to just a conference-low 27 points — his previous was 28, which he had in his PBA debut against, coincidentally, the Barangay in a 111-93 loss during the elimination round last October 9.
(C) PBA Images
“Again, It’s hard to score when you’re being bumped and held. They called it and those were fouls. I thought they got away with murder on the other end [while] guarding him,” said Goorjian.
Goorjian, however, isn’t pinning the blame on the calls solely. He lamented his wards’ subpar shooting — both from the field (30-of-78) and from the foul line (8-of-16) — as a major issue behind their 15-point defeat.
“I thought we shot the ball poorly. Hayden [Blankley]’s 2-of-13 and Rayray [Zhu] was 4-of-13… Those guys who have been shooting the ball well when we’ve been making our free throws. We shot 50-percent from the foul line,” he continued.
“We had open looks, I thought, but we didn’t make many. That would help. Shooting the ball is an aspect to it,” said the American shot-caller. “You’re right, the ball is on our court. We got to get better for the second game.
“Again, these are young guys, a first to experience. We got pretty well manhandled tonight so the ball’s on our court to make some adjustments.”
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