Jalen Hudson questioned the offensive fouls called on him during the final period of TNT’s eventual loss to NLEX in the PBA Governors’ Cup Wednesday.
Though he is not blaming the referees for their 110-108 defeat, the Tropang Giga import believes that the back-to-back infractions he picked up against counterpart Jonathan Simmons were ‘very questionable calls.’
“Simmons actually weighs more than me, so I’m questioning the call,” he said moments after the match at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.
“I mean, I won’t blame the refs for a loss or anything, but I definitely think those are both very questionable calls,” the 26-year-old added.
Hudson was first called at the 6:10-mark when his right arm caught Simmons in the face as he tried to go past the latter’s defense.
The next one came with 5:16 left to play, where he was whistled for a charge as he aggressively attacked Simmons for the go-ahead bucket.
Simmons, on the other hand, would cause far bigger damage on the other side of the floor. He nailed a jumper to cap off a 10-0 run by the Road Warriors to establish a 104-98 lead with 3:25 left in the game.
TNT would never be able to lead again, eventually absorbing its first defeat of the conference after starting out with a pair of wins.
Hudson thought those calls were big, but quickly added that it’s on him and the whole Tropa to close the game out better. They need to avoid being in situations as tough as what they got into against their sister team.
Coach Jojo Lastimosa’s wards were actually in control early on. They even led by as much as 15 points, 85-70, during the third quarter, only to blow it.
“I thought those were big plays,” said Hudson, who finished with 39 points – 21 of which he made in the first quarter – and 10 rebounds. “But other than that, we gotta be sharper. We gotta be better and finish stronger.”
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
