Yeng Guiao, Elastopainters face P2-M fine for partial walkout

RAIN or Shine coach Yeng Guiao yells at the referee after a call he did not like during Game 6 of the finals at Smart Araneta Coliseum. AUGUST DELA CRUZ

MANILA, Philippines — For walking out in Game 6 of their championship duel with the San Mig Coffee Mixers Wednesday, coach Yeng Guiao and the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters could end up paying the biggest single fine in Philippine Basketball Association history.

League commissioner Chito Salud has summoned the firebrand coach and Rain or Shine team officials to a meeting in his office Friday, ready to slap a huge penalty of P2 million after the team walked out—for 10 minutes—in the second quarter of the game the Mixers eventually won, 93-87, to clinch the championship.

“The rules on walkouts, partial or otherwise, are clear and we will enforce them accordingly,” said Salud Thursday.

Under league rules, a team that walks out of a game for good gets a fine of P10 million. If a team returns to play, the partial walkout means a P2 million penalty for the club.

Guiao, who was fined P100,000 on top of a one-game suspension for flashing a “dirty finger” in the semifinals against Petron Blaze, is also facing an extra fine of P50,000 for the last two of the multiple technical fouls he had incurred throughout the conference.

With the calls not going their way, Guiao herded his team to the dugout with still over 11 minutes to play in the quarter, drawing jeers from the 20,337 fans at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City.

Salud and league executive Willie Marcial later had a brief talk with Rain or Shine team owner Raymund Yu and the Elasto Painters returned to the court after delaying the game for almost 10 minutes.

“The momentary walkout kind of broke our momentum,” said San Mig coach Tim Cone.

Trailing, 17-30, the Elasto Painters erased the deficit over the next two quarters and even led by two points on a pair of three-pointers from Chris Tiu and Paul Lee late in the third.

“When they came out of that walkout, they outplayed us, no doubt about that,” said Cone.

It wasn’t the first time Guiao instigated a partial walkout. Coaching for Red Bull in 2006, Guiao also left the court with his team during Game 4 of their semifinal tussle with San Miguel Beer but later returned to the floor.

The team was fined P400,000 and Guiao P100,000.

Robert Jaworski’s Anejo Rhum was fined P500,000 by the league after  abandoning  a championship game against Shell in 1990.

The fine was raised  to P1 million when Talk ‘N Text repeated the act in the fourth game of the 2010 Philippine Cup quarterfinals opposite Barangay Ginebra.