THE PBA upheld the flagrant foul penalty 1 called on import Kevin Murphy for his altercation with Calvin Abueva in the Governors Cup between San Miguel and Phoenix at the Mall of Asia last week.
Murphy was summoned by the Commissioner's Office on Tuesday and appeared before technical committee head and operations manager Erick Castro.
The FFP1 called on Murphy for appearing to drag Abueva to the baseline in a choke hold was sustained after a review and the import was automatically fined P5,000 for the infraction.
The PBA office also saw no basis to upgrade the FFP1 call.
“After summoning Abueva and Murphy to hear their sides, the Office of the Commissioner resolved to uphold the FFP1 call of the referees against Murphy,” said the league in a statement.
“We broke down the tapes on what transpired during the game and hearing both sides,” Castro later explained. “Kevin said he was actually just protecting himself from also falling to the baseline railing because Calvin was pressing and leaning against him backward.”
“It may appear as a headlock, but he (Murphy) cannot release his arm kasi pabagsak na rin sila.”
Phoenix was hoping the call would be upgraded to FFP2, which meant a higher fine for the San Miguel import.
“Expected naman yun,” said Castro. “But we made a thorough review of everything and went according to what is written in the rulebook, that’s why we will stick with the decision."
Murphy's fine was half of what was slapped on Abueva on Monday as the Phoenix star was penalized for a total of P10,000 for flashing a dirty finger on two different occasions, including the game against the Beermen.
San Miguel won the highly-intense match, 117-100, that saw nine other Phoenix personalities slapped with fines totalling P45,000 for entering the court at the height of the incident.
Coach Louie Alas was fined P5K along with team manager Paolo Bugia, deputy Cesar Polhen, and players Doug Kramer, JC Intal, LA Revilla, Willie Wilson, Jaypee Mendoza, and Rey Guevarra.
Import Henry Walker, meanwhile was the recipient of a total of P21,600 fine following his ejection in Blackwater’s 133-97 loss to Magnolia Pambansang Manok last week.
The former NBA player was penalized for P20K after throwing his mouthguard that made contact on game official Nino Cortez, and an additional P1,600 for incurring a technical foul.
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