Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao believes that his team would’ve gotten a better chance against Converge if only there was ‘better officiating.’
The outspoken mentor didn’t hide his frustration over the way the whistles were blown during the match, which he failed to finish as he got thrown out late in the third quarter of an eventual loss that kept them winless in the Governors’ Cup.
“I got ejected because I felt frustrated with the officiating,” he told reporters moments after the 112-98 defeat, Thursday night at the Philsports Arena.
“‘I’m not saying that we could’ve won — even with good officiating, talo kami. Pero ang ano ko lang, with better officiating, we could’ve gotten ourselves in a better position,” the champion bench tactician furthered.
Guiao got booted out with 1:16 left in the third canto for incurring his second technical foul of the night as he disagreed with the offensive foul called on Leonard Santillan while trying to establish position near the shaded area.
In his point of view, Guiao thinks that FiberXers import Jamaal Franklin flopped when he fell down upon contact with the sophomore forward.
“Nung nag-seal si Santi, nag-flop ‘yung import nila, si Santi tinawagan ng foul. So again, we were trying to gain our momentum, and you make a call [like that],” he said as his wards were trying to chop an 80-69 deficit then.
Those two were also at the centerpiece of another situation that irked the fiery shot-caller — and left him puzzled even after the game.
It happened at the 8:02-mark of the second period, when Santillan was whistled after contesting the three-point attempt of Franklin.
“Ang ipinagtataka ko, ‘yung tinawagan nila na landing spot, that’s why they had to review it. That was not a landing spot. Kasi na-review na e. Nung nakita nila na hindi naman landing spot, ang hinanap nila ‘yung regular foul,” he said.
No landing spot foul, which in PBA rules is automatically an F1 infraction, was called on Santillan, but only a regular foul, leading three free throws for the former NBA cager. He went 3-of-3 and pushed their lead to 10.
“How can you turn a landing spot call into a regular foul [pero] hindi mo nakita ‘yung regular foul, ang nakita mo ‘yung landing spot, so doon pa lang mali na,” said Guiao, who got his first T with 4:35 left in the second.
“Kung hindi naman ‘yun landing spot, kung regular foul naman ‘yun, bakit mo papa-review? Technically there is a problem there, and you give them three free throws, they made all free throws,” he added.
Although he isn’t pinning the blame solely on the refs, Guiao believes that they could’ve put up a better fight had the calls were made better.
“As I’ve said, it’s not a reason for us to say that we could’ve won the ball game. Hindi pa rin. But ‘yun nga, our only chance of actually getting back into the game is we get the calls we deserve and I feel we deserve better officiating.”
—
The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
