PBA deputy commissioner Eric Castro said it was correct to call an offensive interference on the dunk of San Miguel’s Mo Tautuaa in the final seconds of Game One of the PBA 49th Season Philippine Cup Finals which TNT won on Sunday night.
Castro cited a PBA rule stating that “interference occurs during a shot when an offensive player causes the backboard to vibrate or grasp the basket in such a way that, in the judgement of the official, the ball has been caused to enter the basket.”
READ TNT escapes in Game One as controversial call dampens SMB rally
“As you’ve seen in the replay, when Mo dunked in the last 56 seconds, nahila niya ‘yung ring pababa. But the contention of the [SMB] coaching staff was ‘yung bola was straight and entered the ring. Regardless kung may tamaan siya ng ring, the fact na nahila niya ‘yung ring pababa is a violation already. Considered an offensive interference,” said Castro.
San Miguel officials were furious about the offensive interference since the basket was reversed with only 6.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter, turning a 98-97 lead into a 97-96 deficit for the Beermen.
TNT went on to win, 99-96.
Castro explained they were not able to correct the call immediately only because play continued after the Tautuaa dunk.
“Around six seconds remaining, there was a jumpball between Heading and Chris Ross, and that was the only time that we could have reviewed it. We’ve been reviewing it habang live ball but it was only time that we were able to announce it through our barker, the correction,” said Castro.
“It so happened our officials were not able to make a call kaya sa amin sa technical committee bumagsak,” said Castro.
Castro said the technical committee will discuss the next action to take including a possible sanction on the referees for missing the call.
When asked if there will be possible sanctions for the missed call by the referees, Castro said: “Mag-uusap kami. We will meet after this. But again, just like any goaltending na na-miss during the end game, we reviewed it.”
Castro admitted that had time expired, the technical committee would still review the incident, which meant that TNT would have still won the game.
“In the event that there was no deadball, at natapos ‘yung game, under our rules, we can still correct it. The possibility of TNT winning the game at the end minus the correction because walang deadball, mangyayari ‘yun.
"Bakit kami nag-initiate ng review? Just like any goaltending violation, us sa technical committee can review it,” Castro said.
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