After four straight blowouts, the finals series between San Miguel and Barangay Ginebra in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finally went down the wire.
The Gin Kings took the 87-83 Game 5 win in the first game of the series where it was decided by less than 25 points, but the score line didn’t mean the game itself was free from a little controversy.
There were three instances where there were questionable calls and non-calls in the final minute and all were in favor of the Gin Kings.
San Miguel head coach Leo Austria was aware of the incidents and he said that his team will send video clips to the PBA regarding those episodes.
“Usually, what we do is show the PBA office the missed calls and non-calls that should be reviewed like those out of bounds calls and travelling calls,” said Austria in Filipino Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Austria pertained to the out of bounds call that went against Arwind Santos when he battled with Ginebra guard Scottie Thompson for possession with 53.8 seconds left in the game.
Thompson was already stepping out of bounds while Santos was clearly inbounds after rebounding June Mar Fajardo’s missed free throw.
Before Santos got called with the turnover, though, there were also a couple of non-calls on Ginebra center Greg Slaughter, who appeared to have made contact with Renaldo Balkman’s arms while the SMB import attempted a shot in the paint.
Balkman, who felt that there should’ve been a foul called on Slaughter, muttered some expletives during a dead ball situation.
“That’s the judgment of the referee and we’ll try our best to let them [PBA] know what happened,” said Austria, whose team trails, 3-2, in the series.
The last, and probably the most backbreaking one for San Miguel, was Justin Brownlee’s supposed travelling violation before he made the assist to Thompson’s jumper that put Ginebra up, 84-83, with 36 seconds left in the game.
Brownlee drove down the lane and made a spin move but got caught in the triple team of Balkman, Fajardo, and Santos and appeared to have shuffled his feet that could’ve merited a travelling violation but no whistle was blown.
“The referees’ decisions will always be followed,” said Austria. “It was beyond our control.”