BAY Area coach Brian Goorjian assured rants against officiating made by Myles Powell and Hayden Blankley on social media following Game Three of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals will never happen again.
Speaking after the Dragons evened the series at 2-2 on Friday, Goorjian apologized on behalf of the team after Powell and Blankley complained about the calls in Game Three which the Dragons lost, 89-82.
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Powell was fined P100,000 by the PBA after writing on Twitter that the referees “made a difference” in the ongoing finals. Blankley was punished to the tune of P75,000 after the Chinese-Australian described Game Three as “cooked.”
Goorjian said he knows, being once a head coach in the Chinese Basketball Association, that Asian leagues including the PBA are not allowed to make criticism on social media, unlike in other countries.
“When you are in Australia, that is common,” said the concurrent Australia Boomers national team coach. “What took place, I’ve coached in Asia, they are not allowed to do that. And you are not allowed to do it here.”
Goorjian said Powell and Blankley are unaware of such differences.
“Hayden is in Australia all the time. You deal with that on social media and you do that. It’s not done here. And I don’t do it. I’m not on social media. The players do that and the mistake was that Myles came straight from the States. He (Blankley) came straight from Australia.
"When you are in a locker room, a lot of players, I’m sure when they lose, that emotion runs through you. Referees are always talked about. But it shouldn’t have been done on social media,” Goorjian added.
“We apologize for it. It will never happen again."
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