MAGNOLIA coach Chito Victolero and Meralco center Raymond Almazan were slapped with technical fouls for taunting late in Game 1 on Sunday - an indication of how intense this 2021 PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series is.
Victolero and Almazan were penalized for taunting at the 1:48 mark. Magnolia went on to beat Meralco, 88-79, to open the best-of-seven series at the Don Honorio Ventura State University Gym on a winning note.
Moments after the altercation, the two appeared to have sorted things out and spoke to each other before play resumed.
The taunting didn’t end there, however, as Meralco forward Allein Maliksi was seen exchanging words with the Magnolia bench before cooler heads prevailed.
Victolero no longer elaborated on what happened except that he had ironed things out with Almazan.
“Nagkaroon lang kami konting verbal interaction ni Raymond but we are okay,” said Victolero during the postgame press conference. “It’s part of the game and hindi naman mawawala ‘yun. I will learn from that and Raymond also learned from that also.”
Victolero said the emotions that transpired in the game is proof of the competitiveness and eagerness of their respective teams to barge into the finals.
“It’s part of the series. It’s part of being emotional. Wala naman ‘yun.”
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