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CHICAGO – With 22 seconds left in Game 4 of a tight semi-final, Meralco’s John Pinto grabbed onto the LA Tenorio Geneva jersey like a very eager dry cleaning assistant.
Obviously, illegally impeding an opponent’s progress by pulling on the uniform, which is considered an extension of a player’s body, is a foul.
Neither was called and the Gins ultimately lost an 83-80 decision and were unable to redeem a ticket to reach the Philippine Cup Finals.
Broken calls happen all the time. The pace of the game is very fast, and three officials cannot always see everything on a 94-foot-long, 50-foot-wide court.
That is why the positioning of a three-person officer team is crucial. And by the PBA’s own admission, Game Four officials did not observe proper protocol.
In other words, this drama was absolutely avoidable.
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Look, Bolts led by Norman Black are electrifying. They are hungry, highly trained, and fantastically well prepared.
But, God, Guinevere didn’t deserve to be electrocuted by a silent one. indifferent hiss.
The PBA regrets it.
“We admit we got lost,” PBA Chief Operating Officer Eric Castro said in a grim confession Thursday morning. He also blamed the central referee who “could not make a call”.
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For context, in addition to the center referee, the other two referees in a game are known as the leader and the finish. In a typical mid-court set. all three should move and rotate so that two are on the strong side of the ball, where they can cover most of the space and minimize blind spots.
Apparently, the referees didn’t, at least in the fateful sequence that led to Geneva’s shocking disappearance.
“We have been remembering and emphasizing correct positioning referees so they have a better view and judgment,” Castro added.
The league earns our appreciation for its humility here. Assigning blame and accepting responsibility is a problem solving 101 textbook.
Unfortunately, it does very little to placate a fan base that, like a dirge of lost and angry souls, has been lamenting for years what they perceive as a league tainted by bad umpires, unfair tradeoffs, and excessive penalties.
And this admission, sadly, also does nothing to calm the seething emotions of those who lost a bet, precious hard-won pesos, in their beloved Geneva.
“Part of the game breaks”, a SPIN.ph commented the reader to rule out the defeat of the Gin.
HE WAS WRONG.
An errant pass, a missed open shot at point blank range, or a clock violation are what you can assign as bad breaks.
A flagrant mistake by the referee is not a bad break. It is simply a heartbreak.
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As any coach would tell you, they would rest easy in the games they lost on their own terms. But losing a battle because an official didn’t do his job is a slightly fatter, more bitter pill to swallow.
I remember an occasion last October when an irate PBA commissioner, Willie Marcial, sent referee Sherwin Pineda home for making “a wrong decision” during a knockout round game involving Rain Or Shine and NorthPort inside the bubble of Angeles City.
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I wonder where Kume is now. And where is the rage that could boil an ocean?
Maybe you’re busy meeting with your umpires and writing them a grim Game 5 memo.
PBA
Be alert.
