MANILA, Philippines—Comeback bids go either way and what happened to Meralco’s attempt against NLEX in the 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup was just sad.
The Bolts trailed by as much as 19, 96-77, midway through the fourth quarter and managed to get within four, 100-96, with 1:14 left after Raymond Almazan’s layup.
Almazan, however, was called with a controversial goaltending violation on Kiefer Raven’s missed layup with around 35 seconds remaining giving the Road Warriors a 104-96 buffer.
NLEX eventually took the 105-99 victory, and Almazan was adamant that his supposed rebound should’ve been legal and that Ravena straight up missed his layup.
“For me, that was legal because I’ve seen that being done in the World Cup. I haven’t even touched the rim and when I saw the ball bounce I immediately grabbed it,” said Almazan in Filipino Friday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“I thought [Kenneth Ighalo] was called with a foul and I was about to go shoot free throws and I was surprised when they called a goaltend violation.”
NLEX held a 102-96 lead with 53 seconds left in the game before Almazan’s goaltending violation and that margin was still within striking distance for any team especially one carrying momentum off a 19-4 run.
Almazan, who had 17 points, 17 rebounds, and two blocks, said the goaltending violation played a big part in their loss.
“We were down by just four and then it became six, maybe if we got a basket and a stop we could’ve brought the game to overtime,” said Almazan.