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After getting called for a foul on Ginebra guard Sol Mercado with only 38 seconds left, Star swingman Allein Maliksi gestured as if he was stirring a pot.
In basketball, Maliksi’s motion could mean many things but when associated with the officiating, it usually implies something negative.
Maliksi, though, insisted his gesture was solely intended for his teammates.
READ: Ginebra frustrates Star to knot series
“We weren’t hustling enough when it came to rebounds so I told them that when it comes to scrambling for the ball, all of us need to help out,” he recalled after Star lost, 93-86, in Game 4 of the 2017 PBA Philippine Cup semifinals Wednesday night.
“That’s what my gesture meant. We need to rotate.”
The Hotshots were only down five, 89-84, when Maliksi was whistled for the foul.
Star committed 36 fouls while Ginebra only had 18. The Gin Kings went to the free throw line 33 times while the Hotshots only had just 10 attempts.
READ: Victolero takes blame for Game 4 loss after losing cool
Despite the glaring difference, Maliksi kept mum on the officiating.
“No comment. It’s hard to speak up about the matter. And we also didn’t connect on offense and they played good defense so it was hard to blame the officiating because we couldn’t get our shots to fall,” he said. ”
Jervy (Cruz) made shots, Chris Ellis had his contributions so we can’t really do anything about that. This game was really for them.”
Star has now lost back-to-back games after taking Games 1 and 2 of the best-of-seven series.
Maliksi said the Hotshots need to use those losses as motivation heading into the pivotal Game 5 on Friday night.
“I told my teammates to use this as motivation to be better on defense and be more aggressive.”