MERALCO coach Luigi Trillo called for consistency in the officiating after the Bolts were awarded 28 less free throws than TNT in Game One of their PBA 50th Season Philippine Cup semifinals on Sunday.
While he made it clear that the Bolts could have played a lot better in a game where they squandered a 21-point first-half lead, Trillo rued the 47-19 disparity in free throw attempts in the series opener.
The Bolts only took two charities in the final quarter to the Tropang 5G's 10.
READ TNT holds ground on defense late to beat Meralco in Game One
“Give credit to their physicality,” said Trillo, referring to TNT. “But again, they were awarded 17 free throws in the third quarter. End of the third, the foul calls were 24-12. At the end of the game, it was 31-17.
“I think our team is not that bad at playing defensively,” Trillo said after the 100-95 loss on Sunday when the Bolts blew a 52-31 advantage in the second quarter.
“We are at fault. We didn’t match their intensity. But when you give a team 47 free throws, and it magically goes there, the PBA has to also look at the referees and check if they are making the right calls consistently for both teams.”
Trillo also claimed some of the infractions by TNT were not being called. He also rued the technical foul that was called against Meralco active consultant Nenad Vucinic late in the third quarter for complaining.
“New (Chris Newsome) is going to the basket, he is getting bumped and they were not making a call. But when these guys (TNT) drive, there is an automatic foul. When you look at the flopping, they called us for flopping, [Rey] Nambatac flopped, [RR] Pogoy flopped.”
“A bad word was said by Oftana… there was no technical foul. Our active consultant says something, and he gets called for a T. All I’m saying is let’s be consistent with the calls. If somebody says a bad word, give a technical.
"If we are being called for those bump fouls, then we have to analyze that. I’m just saying what I saw. I have to check on the video,” said Trillo.
Trillo made it clear that the Bolts also need to look at themselves and take stock of what things they need to improve on come Game 2 of the best-of-seven series on Wednesday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
“Certainly, we need to be better. This is a champion team and they are playing better the last three conferences. Our hands are going to be full,” said Trillo.
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