FILE – Bay Area Dragons in the PBA Finals. PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines–PBA commissioner Willie Marcial on Thursday summoned Hayden Blankley and reserve import Myles Powell after taking shots at the officiating following the Bay Area Dragons’ loss to Barangay Ginebra in Game 3 of the Commissioner’s Cup Finals.
Marcial confirmed the meeting with the two players, who voice their displeasure on social media shortly after Bay Area squandered a seven-point lead in the final four minutes and went down 89-82 at Mall of Asia Arena.
Blankley had a since-deleted Instagram story calling for fairness before concluding it with a parting shot.
“Got nothing but love for the [Philippines] and its people, but at this point, it’s obvious, just let it be a fair game, please,” Blankley said. “As the locals would say—it’s ‘cooked.’”
Powell, meanwhile, pointed out the free throw discrepancy, which showed that Ginebra taking 38 free throw attempts as compared to just 10 for the guest team from Hong Kong.
“Y’all saying we shot 21 free throws in game 2 & y’all only shot 5 proves exactly my point,” Powell tweeted.
“Something ain’t right clearly the refs making the difference between who wins or not when it should just be a fair called game,” he added.
Coach Brian Goorjian, who was animated for most of the contest, was in no mood to share his frustrations.
Goorjian declined to talk to reporters as he emerged from the locker room, but he was visibly upset with how the game turned out.
“I really don’t think you wanna hear what I have to say. You guys saw the game. Completely…. that’s for everyone to see,” said Goorjian, who got a technical foul before the start of the fourth quarter.