MERALCO coach Luigi Trillo said he can’t blame the team’s active consultant Nenad Vucinic for his aggressive manner in calling out the referees after Game Three of the PBA 49th Season Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals against Barangay Ginebra.
Speaking on the morning after Sunday’s game, Trillo also cited three calls that he felt were contentious, which included what was actually an offensive foul against Akil Mitchell following an attempt by Bong Quinto with 5:41 left, leading to Vucinic blowing his top and getting ejected for confronting the referee.
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“As calm as he is, he is not going to the court if it doesn’t merit that,” Trillo said. “I can’t blame him because in that heat of the action, it’s just one after the other.
The Bolts cited a foul wasn’t called during a rebound attempt by Troy Rosario over Cliff Hodge in the 7:41-mark of the fourth, and an offensive foul against Quinto with 6:47 remaining.
The third incident involving Mitchell was actually challenged and the call was reverse upon review. But by that time, Vucinic was already out of the game, and the technical foul against him stood.
Trillo said that in a series like a sudden death Game Three, small things matter especially in crunch time.
“Those things matter. They have to get it right. Sometimes, if you use the challenge ahead, you can’t use it anymore (challenge) when it matters. It’s one after the other because you can only have two challenges in. It’s something that is pivotal in a series like these.”
Trillo also said Vucinic’s reaction isn’t a reflection of who he is as a person, and was only after the welfare of his players.
“He is a guy of high character and obviously, he is going to fight for his players. He is fighting for all of us. I think it came to a point that it was the questionable calls by our side, three, four straight possessions.
Trillo said he is echoing Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao’s call in Game One to investigate the referees.
“Now that the series is done, what do they do with that referee? Like Coach Yeng said about the probe, what do we do with the referees?”
“My thing is moving forward, like what they (PBA) did, they suspended the guys from that series (Rain or Shine against Converge). These were corrected calls. But what are they going to do with the referees like that? I know they suspended guys, so what do they do with these guys in our series. Coaches get fired. These guys should be accountable too,” said Trillo.
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