Coaches challenges in the ongoing PBA On Tour were all successful until Rain or Shine chief mentor Yeng Guiao broke the trend, Friday night.
The fiery mentor challenged the offensive foul called on Jewel Ponferrada late in the second quarter of their encounter versus NLEX, but was ruled unsuccessful following a thorough review by the referees and table officials.
His Elasto Painters ultimately won and Guiao could only joke about that failed bid of overturning the call, which he tried against Frankie Lim — the very first to exercise the proposed rule and went successful.
“I wanted to be unique. Panay successful yung challenge. Para maiba naman. Para makita nila kung ano yung successful at unsuccessful,” he said with a laugh shortly after their 117-93 victory at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
Guiao admitted that he already felt iffy with his own challenge but pushed through with it as he wanted to seize the opportunity.
“It’s part of the experimentation,” the 64-year-old said. “Mafi-feel mo naman din talaga kung yung challenge mo may chance o wala.
“Kanina medyo nakita ko na parang malabo. Pero sayang yung opportunity and nakakapahinga rin yung players mo. Takes about a minute or so to review. Sinubukan lang namin, unsuccessful nga lang,” he added.
Nonetheless, Guiao is a fan of the league’s experimentation on the challenge rule, which he and other bench tacticians have been hoping for.
“I like it, both for the coaches and the referees,” the champion coach said. “Kasi pwedeng sabihin ng coach na mali yung tawag mo, icha-challenge ko yan. Pwede rin naman sabihin ng referee na chinallenge mo, edi kami tama.
“So now, medyo may accountability on both sides, which is good.”
