Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao was left stunned by the actions of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson late in their eventual win over TNT on Friday night.
The two were at the center of a heated spat with 49 seconds left to play and the game all but settled after the Tropang Giga import went behind the Elasto Painters bench, furious about the technical foul called on his bro Rahlir.
“We were surprised that he was behind our bench,” said Guiao during the postgame presser of their 119-112 win at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“Nagulat kami, ba’t siya andon? I mean, that’s disrespectful,” the outspoken mentor continued.
“Totally disrespectful. Nobody does that. You go to the bench of the other team and… I don’t know what he was doing there.”
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The elder Hollis-Jefferson was assessed with a technical for disrespectfully addressing an official after contesting the foul whistled against him, when he tried to block the lay-up attempt of counterpart Tree Treadwell.
That’s when his younger brother began to approach the RoS bench from his patron seat, leaving the opposing team perplexed.
And then came the verbal exchange between him and Guiao that left not just both teams but all those inside the Big Dome shocked.
“I don’t know if I’ve seen that in my 33 years of coaching in the PBA,” Guiao said. “In the heat of the game, somebody just goes behind our bench. That’s our area. And it’s not just behind our bench, we had staff behind our bench.”
“Those were our staff there. That’s a dangerous thing to pull. Hindi ko alam kung anong nangyari sa kanya. Tinopak ang [expletive],” he added.
Guiao lamented how the incident marred what he offered was a “beautiful game,” which ultimately concluded with his team triumphant.
Eclipsed by it as well was the fact that RoS has won its fifth in a row and has formalized its entry to the quarterfinals, per PBA stats chief Fidel Mangonon III.
“Maayos naman ‘yung laro. Actually it’s a beautiful game. It’s a nice game. I think the fans would love a game like that. Maybe he just got emotional, or frustrated. But you don’t take it out that way,” said Guiao.
