Jordan national team head coach Joey Stiebing said that he had simply stood up for his players after Gilas Pilipinas head coach Yeng Guiao’s apparently cursed at his wards in their tune-up match, Wednesday evening.
Stiebing and Guiao had verbal spat with 6:26 remaining in the fourth quarter of their second exhibition this week, as a Jordanian player apparently threw the ball towards Scottie Thompson in a dead ball situation.
That incident was so heated that the American tactician allegedly challenged Guiao to a fight.
Both coaches were already butting heads as early as the second quarter, moments after Gilas forward Christian Standhardinger received a hard foul from opposing forward Yousef Abuwazaneh, as he hauled down a rebound.
“When an opposing coach curses at your players and calls them names, I think that’s crossing the lines, and I think that’s what got me upset. I asked the coach earlier, I said, ‘Please, don’t talk to my players.’ And then he did it again,” said Stiebing.
“I’ve had players before, if a coach curses at them, they’ll go after them and start a fight. I think that’s unprofessional. I’m a coach. I would never talk to another player. I would never curse at them,” added the former Qatar head coach.
“And I just think in our profession, we need to teach our kids the right way to act.”
The game – which took place in front of a packed Meralco Gym – was called off with Gilas ahead 82-73, as the Jordanians walked out of the court. For Stiebing, he and his team left to avoid any untoward incidents.
“I was disappointed in that and I felt like if we continue the game, something bad was going to happen and I didn’t want to see that happen,” he lamented. “If us getting in a fight, I don’t think that would have been a good thing for either team.
“That’s why we just decided to call the game.”
Like Gilas, Jordan is also preparing for the fifth window of the 2019 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers later this November. They will be facing New Zealand on November 29 on the road, and South Korea next on December 2.
