NLEX head coach Yeng Guiao lamented the officiating in the Road Warriors’ 2019 PBA Philippine Cup clash with the Alaska Aces on Wednesday, saying that there were “a lot” of missed and bad calls. One particular call happened just 17 minutes into the game.
The fiery mentor was thrown out of the game with 5:22 remaining in the second quarter. He incurred his second technical foul of the game due to use of profane language, which stemmed from his disappointment with the refs.
“Sometimes you blow your top, sometimes you think you need to send a message to the referees,” he expressed.
Guiao used the incident between his guard Juami Tiongson and Aces forward Jake Pascual in the last five seconds of the first half as an example, where he alleged that Pascual intentionally hit Tiongson in the face.
Pascual had just been assessed with an unsportsmanlike foul, which Guiao said should’ve been a flagrant foul penalty two.
“For one, I think ‘yung nangyari kay Juami should have been an F2, ‘yung sinadya siyang hatawin sa mukha. For me, that’s a clear F2,” he said. “‘Yung other missed calls or bad calls… I was still watching sa dugout, I could still see a lot of them.
“I think those things should not be taken for granted. Those things should be taken up during their deliberations. Parang naglo-loosen up tayo sa officiating, and these are the crucial stages.”
“It was the second time na ginawa niya yon. Usually, ‘pag nagrereklamo yung coach … The thing is, si Coach Yeng he doesn’t do anything that’s not calculated. So if he’s thrown out, there’s a reason,” said lead assistant Jojo Lastimosa, who took over afterwards.
Still, frustrated though he may be, Guiao is happy that his Road Warriors pulled through and snapped their two-game funk. Moreover, Guiao lauded his coaching staff for getting the job done.
“Coach Jolas did an excellent job taking over for me. Plus the guys stepped up. But really it was, I think, our defense that did it for us. I was pretty confident kahit wala ako sa loob na as long as we execute the game plan, we’ll be okay.”
