PERHAPS the beauty of the PBA Philippine Cup being played without fans is that viewers on television and online can clearly hear almost everything that is said on the court - from the coaches shouting instructions to players cheering on their teammates from the bench.
There’s also a downside to it, as apparently, even complaints by the players to the referees can be heard by thousands of viewers.
That was exctly what happened in Game Three of the semifinal series between Barangay Ginebra and Meralco on Sunday night when an unidenfied player shouted something directed at the referees early in the fourth quarter.
The words, “Ref, lutong luto ‘to ah,” were clearly heard by a live audience, although what’s not clear was who shouted that accusation.
Complaints to referees aren’t new in basketball as players and coaches will always have something to say about their calls, whether it’s good one or bad.
As the saying goes, refereeing is quite a thankless job.
Thanks to Stanley Pringle and LA Tenorio, Ginebra dominated the match from start to finish on the way to a 91-84 win and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series, so, safe to say, the ringing complaint obviously came from a member of the Meralco side.
But who in particular?
SPIN.ph readers have identified the 'culprit' as Meralco veteran Reynel Hugnatan, based on the first wave of comments on our social media pages. But that we have to ascertain.
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