The PBA has slapped hefty fines on Myles Powell and Hayden Blankley for their comments following Bay Area’s loss to Barangay Ginebra in Game Three of the 2022-23 Commissioner’s Cup Finals Wednesday night.
Commissioner Willie Marcial told Tiebreaker Times that Powell will have to pay P100,000 and Blankley P75,000 as the two criticized the officiating shortly after the Dragons’ 89-82 defeat, airing their grievances via social media.
In a now-deleted Story on Instagram, the 22-year-old Blankley said that it was “obvious” and “cooked” as he asked for a “fair game.”
“Got nothing but love and respect for the Philippines and its people, but at this point it’s obvious, just let it be a fair game, please. As the locals would say — it’s cooked,” his post read.
The young winger actually joined the call after Powell took to Twitter and wrote about the discrepancy of free throws between the two teams.
“Y’all saying we shot 21 free throws in game 2 & y’all only shot 5 proves exactly my point,” he tweeted, “something ain’t right clearly the refs making the difference between who wins or not when it should just be a fair called game.”
Both players had already appeared before Marcial and the league chieftain said that the two were remorseful for their actions that indeed made headlines.
“Humingi ng pasensya,” Marcial said Thursday.
Game Four of the best-of-seven series is on Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
