CHICAGO - After guiding TNT past Rain or Shine last Wednesday to propel the Tropang 5G above water with a 4-3 record in the PBA Philippine Cup, you'd think coach Chot Reyes would be happy and content.
Not quite.
The fiery former national coach wanted more than the hard-earned 111-103 victory. He had a weight on his chest that he wanted to unload, and he did so in a verbal burst of frustration.
"There are games when the other coaches, Tim Cone, they cross nandoon na sila sa technical committee, bakit hindi nila ma technical?" Reyes said while explaining his confusion over a 'T' he got in the second quarter.
READ PBA debunks Chot 'double standard' claim, says rules clear on technicals
Then he dropped the words "double standard," pertaining to a rule which he claimed is applied differently to different people,
Reyes has a valid point. A frequent viewer of PBA games via a subscription app, I've seen Cone stare down refs with his piercing baby blue eyes when calls don't go his way.
I can't say if Cone's dagger looks are the reason why, as Chot alleged, there seems to be an uneven dispensation of Ts. And while it vigorously denied Chot's claims, the PBA didn't do a satisfactory job explaining it.
GRAY AREA.
Officials pointed out that "coaches like Cone enter the court during timeouts to complain, and therefore are given more latitude."
The verbiage "more latitude" is a dangerous reference because it can be misinterpreted as applying to someone with 25 PBA championships and coaches for Gilas and Ginebra.
"More latitude" also suggests that the penalties as it pertains to entering the court are malleable.
So here's a piece of unsolicited advice, coach Chot.
Keep complaining to the refs. Bottled up emotions cause high blood pressure. But do so without flailing your arms, jumping like a pogo stick, and making faces as if to show up the refs. Settle for stare downs with your adorable brown eyes.
FIBERXERS GOT DISCONNECTED.
Speaking of officiating, the Converge FiberXers were on the short end of an ugly whistle in their 88-83 loss to NLEX on Friday night at the PhilSports Arena..
Late in the fourth quarter, while in the midst of a run, Schonny Winston was called for a charging foul even though his defender was in the restricted area and his feet were not set.
The appropriate call, which was missed even after a review, would have been a counted basket and a free throw for Winston to tie the game,
This sequence isn't a case of "breaks of the game." This one unfairly broke Converge,
What else is new?
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