Ginebra coach Tim Cone. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
Ginebra coach Tim Cone and GlobalPort mentor Franz Pumaren said they have no issue with LA Tenorio and Terrence Romeo showing emotions on the court late in their quarterfinals clash on Tuesday.
Tenorio and Romeo, who was guarding each other, got into a heated argument with over three minutes left in the Kings’ 96-85 victory over the Batang Pier that sent them into the semifinals.
“That’s just two tough guys going at it. LA is a feisty player and he won’t back down on anybody. I thought he was defending Romeo well especially down the stretch. We all know that Romeo wasn’t backing down with anybody either,” explained the two-time Grand Slam-winning mentor. “You get two tough personalities, they’re gonna clash and things are gonna happen sometimes. That just comes from competitive spirit, the two of them have competitive spirit. You move on.”
READ: Tenorio surprised by Romeo’s hit that led to scuffle
Romeo and Tenorio were jockeying for position on a rebound play but frustration got the better of the GlobalPort scorer as he whipped his right arm to the waist of the veteran Ginebra guard.
Romeo was slapped with a flagrant foul penalty 2 and got ejected with 3:28 left, while Tenorio was charged with a technical foul for taunting after gesturing to the Batang Pier fans to go to sleep.
However, Cone and Pumaren both took exception of the technical fouls when both entered the court to diffuse the heated situation.
READ: Brownlee waxes hot, pulls Ginebra to semis
“I got a technical for going on the court, but for 27 years, I’ve always felt that a head coach can only go on the court when a fight or a tussle breaks out because they can be peace makers,” said Cone. “No one else can go on the court but head coaches. That’s always been the rule, as far as I can remember, so I was shocked when they gave me a T for going on the floor because you want to get somebody out there with authority who will break that up. Coach goes out there and says, ‘Hey, stop it!,’ and they’ll stop.”
GlobalPort coach Franz Pumaren. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
Pumaren agreed: “As far as I know, head coaches are allowed to enter the court. We are there not to create any fight or whatever. All basketball, as far as I know, head coaches are allowed to enter to pacify the players. We’re the only one allowed to enter just to make sure we put everything in order.”
Cone couldn’t help but remember the time when he had to get in between the Marc Pingris-Kelly Nabong skirmish back in 2013, where his role of a coach immediately turned to a peace maker.
“Everybody kind of remembers the Marc Pingris-Kelly Nabong fight that I got involved in. I didn’t want to, but I needed to go out there and help out,” he said.
READ: Tim Cone gets ‘a bit scared’
Those memories came rushing back when Cone saw things getting heated between the two stars, saying that he had to interject himself to protect Tenorio from getting handed a one-game ban if things had escalated for the worst.
“I just wanted to make sure that LA didn’t do anything silly to get thrown out or get suspended for the next game,” he said.
Though Cone said that he’ll gladly accept the fine, he hopes to get some explanation from the league office in these situations.
READ: Tim Cone recalls holding back Nabong during Mixers-Batang Pier altercation
“I had to take the technical foul and the fine that goes with it, but I still believe that head coaches should be allowed, in those situations, to go on the court and protect his players from themselves basically,” he said. “If I go out there and I start screaming at somebody, or I start getting involved and going after the other guy, then fine, give me a technical. But not for going out to protect my players. Anyway, we’ll see if it clarifies.”