TNT appeared to have lost focus in Game 3 of its PBA Philippine Cup semifinals series against Rain or Shine as a number of technical fouls including a pair of flagrant foul 1s were committed by the Tropang 5G.
Ts were earlier whistled against coach Chot Reyes and then on Mike Nieto, Glen Khobuntin, and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser as TNT went down to its first loss in the best-of-seven series, 107-86, on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
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Both Khobuntin and Ganuelas-Rosser were slapped with F1 infractions.
Khobuntin was sent to the bench for a three-minute stretch after an extra hit on the head of a driving Gian Mamuyac with 3:53 to go in the third period and the Elasto Painters ahead by a mile, 74-50.
Ganuelas-Rosser followed suit with 8:24 in the final quarter following a hard push on the driving Adrian Nocum, who fell to the floor with his back first.
In between, Nieto was also called for a technical foul with less than two minutes left before the end of the third quarter.
The Elasto Painters converted all technical free throws as they ended up with a high 16-of-18 from the foul line for 89 percent – in stark contrast to their 58 percent shooting from the same area in a 113-105 overtime loss in Game 2.
Asked about the physicality of the game, Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao admitted those are part and parcel of playing as long as it is not intentional.
“Accidents happen. We can accept that. We play physical minsan, meron kaming ganun, pero without any malice naman,” said Guiao, who was also assessed a T after confronting Khobuntin following his hard foul on Mamuyac.
“I felt there’s room for physical and rugged play, but it’s really yung puwedeng maka-injure or maka-damage sa career ng player. Or kung hindi man, ang laking bagay yung mawala siya sa iyo ng dalawa or tatlong laro. Baka mamaya tapos na yung series nun.”
Late in the first half, Reyes was also the recipient of a technical foul after getting annoyed with Kim Aurin, who lost Adrian Nocum on defense before pushing his own teammate Ganuelas-Rosser in order to stop the Rain or Shine sophomore guard from scoring.
Andre Caracut hit the bonus free throw to make it a 14-point game for the Elasto Painters at the half.
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