THE Philippine Basketball Association’s Commissioner’s Office handed out hefty fines against the players, who almost caused a free-for-all last Wednesday night in the heated Game 4 of the championship series between Rain or Shine and Talk ‘N Text.
Rain or Shine enforcer JR Quiñahan drew the biggest penalty after he was ordered to pay a fine of P50,000 for throwing the ball to the face of Matt Ganuelas-Rosser and for putting a fighting stance, and was also slapped a one-game suspension for Game 5 today for his actions.
Ganuelas-Rosser of the Tropang Texters and Jireh Ibanes of the Elasto Painters, the two instigators of the fracas in the game, were each fined P40,000 for their misconduct, but were both lucky to escape without a suspension.
The heated altercation happened with 9:47 remaining in Game 4 when Ganuelas-Rosser and Ibanes got tangled up and eventually found themselves grappling each other after a physical battle for the rebound.
Ibanes pulled Ganuelas-Rosser’s jersey and the latter retaliated by shoving the former into the stands. Right after the two were separated, Quiñahan threw the game ball to the face of Ganuelas-Rosser, causing players from both teams to rush to the scene.
Luckily, cooler heads prevailed to prevent things from escalating into a free-for-all.
“These non-basketball moves and actuations will be called. As we remind both teams that the responsibility of playing the game on its merits ultimately rests on them, the game officials have been directed to take the appropriate measures to prevent the recurrence of these incidents,” Commissioner Chito Salud said. Jeric Lopez