Cone ‘tumbles’ as B-Meg falls

Monday morning at a small press conference in Mandaluyong, the scribes were asking each other if they watched the PBA game the night before.

It seemed that those who did wanted to talk about it. I was one of those eager to hear what they had to say because I missed Game 4 of the ongoing best-of-7 championship series between Talk ‘N Text and B-Meg.

They said I missed a most hilarious scenario that eclipsed Mick Pennisi’s famous flop.

“Tim Cone fell flat on his back, his two feet up in the air, after referee Art Herrera bumped into him while covering a fastbreak (play),” a popular columnist related.

“And you know what happened after that? While we all waited for him to stand up, the B-Meg coach just sat on the floor and just watched the rest of the game from there.”

Before the lopsided match ended, Tim stood up without talking to anybody or shaking anybody’s hand and hurriedly walked out of the court.

* * *

That Sunday, Talk ‘N Text cager Pamboy Raymundo became an overnight sensation even if he “played” for only about a quarter of a minute.

Pamboy is a rookie who played for  NLEX in the D-League and for San Sebastian in the NCAA.

“As soon as he got into the court, he stuck an elbow into B-Meg’s Joshua Urbiztondo. Urbiztondo’s teammate Joe Devance saw this and retaliated by flipping the ball to Raymundo’s face.”

“Pamboy couldn’t let this pass,” the scribe said.

“As soon as he turned his back, Devance felt a strong, hard blow on the nape of his neck. It was a funny sight because the 5-foot-8 guard had to jump to reach the nape of the 6-7 Devance.”

For the two flagrant fouls—the elbow on Urbiztondo and the blow on Devance,  PBA commissioner Chito Salud fined Raymundo a total of P40,000 and suspended him for one game.

* * *

Pamboy was in his Eastwood home yesterday afternoon when I called him. He will have to watch Game 5 on television because he was not allowed to go to the venue.

I asked him if he has ever heard of the word “enforcer,” which everyone is now calling him.

He said the two incidents last Sunday has served as a challenge to him.

“I don’t want to achieve infamy by being known as an enforcer. I want to be known as a good player, a leader inside the court. I don’t want people to say na napapasok lang ako because the team needs an enforcer.”

* * *

So how did he explain his actions to the commissioner when he was summoned to his office last Monday?

“I told him the elbow on Joshua was not intentional. I was just implementing a drill taught to me by my Sinag coach Norman Black and which I regularly practice. The elbow was supposed to land on Josh’s shoulder to neutralize a hard pick—what happened was, dumulas ang elbow ko and landed on his chin. It wasn’t deliberate.”

In the case of Devance, Pamboy admitted that he lost his cool.

“I was stunned when the ball hit my face. Nagulat po talaga ako,” He said. I forgot to ask how he would have reacted had the taller Devance gone after him.

I told Pamboy his teammates at NLEX must be missing him especially now that the games in the D-League are getting very rough and there is no one in the team to ward off the bullies.

Pamboy played one conference for NLEX in the D-League and was invited to the PBA commissioner’s office four or five times. Chito Salud is certainly no stranger to Pamboy now.