COACH Yeng Guiao admitted getting frustrated with the officiating in Rain or Shine’s third straight loss in the PBA Governors’ Cup that eventually led to his ejection in the game against Converge on Thursday night at the Philsports Arena.
But he’s not totally about to put the blame for the Elasto Painters’ 112-98 setback to the Converge FiberXers on game officials.
As Guiao himself said, “I’m not saying that we could have won. Even with good officiating, talo kami.”
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The bone of contention of Guiao though, was the fouls called on Rain or Shine which he deemed were questionable, and broke whatever momentum gained by the Elasto Painters as they tried to narrow the gap.
“I feel na hindi kami maka-build ng momentum, hindi kami makabuwelo kasi napu-frustrate kami doon sa mga tawag,” said the veteran coach.
Already assessed with a technical in the first half, the situation reached its boiling point for Guiao late in the third period when Leonard Santillan was called for an offensive foul against Converge import Jamaal Franklin.
The Elasto Painters were just trailing, 80-69, when Guiao was given his second technical foul for an outright ejection.
The champion coach thought Franklin flopped during the play.
“We’re trying to gain our momentum, and you made a call like that,” he said.
Still that’s not an excuse, according to Guiao.
“But as I said, that is not reason for us to say that we could have won the ballgame. Hindi pa rin,” added Guiao. “Pero yun nga, our only chance of getting back into the game is we get the calls that we deserved. And I feel we deserved better officiating.”