BIÑAN – Meralco’s stunning 72-66 win over Star in the opener of their PBA Governors’ Cup semifinal series overshadowed a commotion that took place at the side of the Bolts in the game at the Alonte Sports Complex here.
Bolts assistant coach Jimmy Alapag and backup center Kelly Nabong were seen exchanging words on the bench at height of the team's huge comeback, with both men having to be separated by cooler heads on opposite ends of the bench.
In the Bolts’ timeouts in the endgame, Nabong didn’t even bother to join their huddles, staying at the far end of the bench.
Good thing the incident hardly spoiled the Bolts’ comeback as they went on to complete a turnaround from being down by as many as 17 points and take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
Alapag, though, politely declined to grant an interview at the end of the game as he had to take home pregnant wife LJ Moreno, while Nabong had already left the venue earlier.
Meralco coach Norman Black, though, is confident he can patch things between the two ahead of Game Two on Tuesday night in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
“I don’t really know the whole story, but I’ll sort it out tomorrow, and I’ll take care of it, believe me,” Black said.
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