THE San Miguel Beermen felt frustrated by their 96-99 loss to the TNT Tropang 5G in Game 1 of their 49th Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup finals’ clash with the Tropang 5G last Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum.
But the Beermen will just have to move on from there and forget about the controversial start of their showdown with the Tropang 5G.
“Everybody was so frustrated about the incident. But I told the team that I’m in control. Let us focus and move forward,” said Beermen coach Leo Austria after the team reflected on what happened.
The incident took place after Mo Tautuaa got the lead back for SMB, 98-97 in the last 56.1 seconds following a 19-0 run. But a late call with five ticks left, ruled Tautuaa’s dunk shot as nullified following a review, with game officials calling it a goal-tending violation.
As a result, the lead was restored to the Tropang Giga side, 97-96, and paved the way for Calvin Oftana’s winning freebies.
The Beermen, with CJ Perez emerging as the league’s leading scorer in the finals with his average of 20.74, will now seek to pick up the pieces from that setback in Game 2 on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Big Dome.
“(I told them) let us be motivated by this incident. We realize that we can compete with TNT,” said Austria.
SMB team officials were in discussions with assistant commissioner Eric Castro and the PBA technical officials of the incident and will decide if a protest will be filed.
Castro cited a provision on the league’s rulebook, explaining that an interference took place during Tautuaa’s attempt.
An “interference occurs during a shot for a field goal when an offensive player causes the backboard to vibrate or grasp the basket in such a way that, in the judgment of the official, the ball has been caused to enter the basket,” said Castro.
