Phoenix head coach Louie Alas did not hold back in speaking up his mind following his verbal altercation with GlobalPort’s Kelly Nabong during the Fuel Masters-Batang Pier match, Friday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The two got into a spat with 2:39 left in the second frame — with Phoenix up big 52-35 — after Nabong was all over the face of one of the referees, clearly disgusted with an apparent non-call as he was trying to make a shot.
Nabong, who’s had a history of failing to control himself during heated situations, was eventually ejected from the match after incurring two technical fouls — one for disrespecting an official, another for using profane language.
“Kinausap ko yung referee kasi minura na siya ni Kelly,” explained the veteran coach after their 104-100 victory. “Sabi ko ‘Ref, you have to control him.’ May sinabi siyang bad word eh (sa’kin).
“Sabi ko you picked a fight with the wrong guy.”
What made Alas disappointed was that Nabong seemingly hasn’t learned from the incident he got involved into back in 2017, where a spat with Meralco coach Jimmy Alapag during a game led to his off-season exit from Meralco.
“‘Di naman pwedeng ganon. Napaka-disrespectful niya.
“Wala na nga siya sa kabilang team, dapat naco-control na niya emotions niya. Sabi nga natin, dapat sa pinanggalingan, dapat natututo tayo sa lessons,” he said.
But then, the amiable bench strategist simply decided to be the better man, that he just tried to understand where the hefty slotman is coming from. “But anyway, spur of the moment ‘yun eh. Iniintindi ko na lang,” he said.
“‘Di siya pwedeng ganoon. Di naman tayo tumanda ng ganito para, ‘di ba?”
