San-En Neophoenix’s Thirdy Ravena. –B.LEAGUE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Japan B.League import Thirdy Ravena called out those who still doubt the level of competition in Japan and Korea after PBA teams received a baptism of fire in the ongoing East Asia Super League Champions week.
After both the PBA representatives San Miguel and TNT took beatings at the hands of Japanese clubs in their EASL respective openers, Ravena took to social media to express his thoughts.
“And they thought playing here was easy,” wrote the San-En NeoPhoenix star on Twitter.
“And they thought it was so easy to play out here in Japan and Korea,” said Ravena in another version on his Instagram story.
and they thought playing here was easy… 😅
— Thirdy (@ThirdyRavenaaa) March 2, 2023
But Ravena’s musings didn’t sit well with San Miguel guard Chris Ross, who is with the Beermen in the EASL where they got a 28-point clobbering from B.League representative Ryukyu Golden Kings as star center June Mar Fajardo sat out most of the match.
“No need to bring anyone down. You have no clue what’s goin on over here bro, chill,” Ross said in reply to Ravena.
Ravena responded and cleared the air, saying his tweet was not referring to the PBA teams but instead those fans who have continuously thrown criticism at players who have chosen to take their acts overseas, including him and his brother Kiefer.
“Big bro aint talking down on nobody. My dad’s in one of those teams, why would I? I’m not even throwing shade at the PBA. That tweet is for all the Filipino basketball fans who discredit and hate on some of us for being out here, especially me and my bro,” Thirdy said.
Bong, the father of Ravena brothers, is part of the TNT squad, which absorbed a 99-66 loss to the Ustunomiya Brex last Wednesday.
Ross also replied to College of Saint Benilde coach Charles Tiu’s quote tweet on Ravena saying “Ain’t as easy to win international games.”
“It’s not but health and the right imports help as well. We finished top 4 in the last EASL and we didn’t hear anything about winning and stuff then,” the San Miguel star said. “These teams have their imports all season. We’ve played with Cam for a month and Jessie for 5 days. Come on now!”
Tiu, who recently coached Strong Group-Philippines in a tournament in Dubai where the team exited in the quarterfinal, was sympathetic to the Beermens’ plight but posed a question on the improvement of other leagues in East Asia.
I feel you bro. you played without Junmar too. But during the last EASL you guys were the best team in the PH by far, and we fell short, but it's still a good achievement while now all our PBA teams got destroyed which is worrisome.. are other leagues getting better than ours?
— Charles Tiu (@charlestiu) March 2, 2023
“But during the last EASL you guys were the best team in the PH by far, and we fell short, but it’s still a good achievement while now all our PBA teams got destroyed which is worrisome.. are other leagues getting better than ours?”
Division 2 player Greg Slaughter also posted a cryptic tweet: “Reality check”
Reality check 👀
— Greg Slaughter (@GWillSlaughter) March 2, 2023
Ex-Ateneo player turned coach Bacon Austria also had something to say about the struggles of the PBA teams.
“PBA teams [don’t] take EASL seriously we all know that,” said Austria, the son of former SMB coach Leo. “We all know it’s like vacation to them.”