Sorry not sorry

Simon Enciso of Alaska (left) rises to score over Ginebra’s Greg Slaughter. —PBA IMAGES

Alex Compton remembers missing the playoffs by passing up on a last-second shot out of tradition. So as much as he hates doing something like this to a coach he respects, he’d rather take the cold shoulder than the anger of the guy that signs his paycheck.

“[T]he way that we grew up, if you play college basketball in the United States, you don’t take that shot. You don’t ever take that shot,” Compton told reporters following the Aces’ 104-78 victory over Barangay Ginebra in Antipolo—the last three points came at the buzzer from guard Simon Enciso, who fired a bench-sanctioned triple.

Compton sounded apologetic over the shot, especially with Ginebra mentor Tim Cone— a staunch critic of such shots—walking off without going through the postgame handshake.

“He hates the rule and he hates [the play],” Compton said.

“I think you saw how much I respect coach Tim, when he turned his back and walked away, I ran after him,” he added. “I was like ‘Coach, I missed the playoffs because I didn’t make that play.”

And Compton doesn’t want that to happen again.

“There’s a quotient system and then we lost eight straight and we didn’t make the playoffs because we had a layup [that] I told [my players] not to take … And that was my fault. We literally lost because we didn’t make that play—and we didn’t make the playoffs,” said Compton.

So it all boiled down to who Compton wanted to offend the least: Cone, the all-time leader in championships won among coaches, who Compton respects too much? Or Alaska team owner Fred Uytengsu?

“I mean, I’d think Fred (Uytengsu, Alaska team owner) might’ve had more than strong words for me,” Compton said. “I might be covering a lot of games and looking for another job.”

The PBA employs the quotient system to break ties, making every margin of victory precious. But Cone has never been a fan of scoring on a defeated opponent at the buzzer or close to it.

Back in 2008, he took offense on a last-second slam dunk by Kelly Williams, who was then playing for Sta. Lucia. During the 2017 Philippine Cup Finals, the decorated tactician lashed out at San Miguel Beer guard Chris Ross for firing a trey in the final moments of Game 3.

“I understand coach Tim’s frustration … But if we get into a situation where we’re tied, you know, who knows? I don’t want to miss the playoffs because I honored a tradition that nobody else in the league honors,” Compton said. “When teams score on us at the buzzer when we’re getting killed … I’m not offended. I would’ve been offended probably three or four years ago. But the league has set up the quotient system in a way that if we don’t make that play, [then] we [might not] make the playoffs again by one point.”