MANILA – San Miguel Beermen center Moala Tautuaa did not hold back his frustration following his nullified go-ahead dunk during their 99-96 Game 1 loss to the TNT Tropang 5G in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals on Sunday night.
In a post-game interview, Tautuaa insisted that he did not commit a basketball interference after pulling down the ring following a missed dunk that later bounced in, which gave the Beermen a 97-96 lead with 56 seconds left.
“No. Absolutely not,” said Tautuaa when asked if he agreed with the call. “That was the exact opposite of what they called. Let the game go, let us decide the game. It’s simple.”
“It was just a missed shot. People touch the ring all the time, especially in a dunk. That’s what happens when you dunk the ball — you touch the ring. By the time the ball went in, I was already on the floor,” he added.
The 6-foot-9 Filipino-Tongan center pointed to inconsistencies in officiating, citing a similar play from their semifinals series against the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings that wasn’t reviewed.
“Last series there was a goaltending call and the referees did not review because there was a steal. It was subjective — that kinda decided the game for us,” Tautuaa said.
“Referees miss calls all the time, every time — not just in the PBA, but across the world. Let the game play,” he added.
SMB team governor Robert Non, for his part, said that the technical committee should have nullified the basket right after Tautuaa’s conversions since there was a dead ball from a Tropang 5G timeout.
“Ganda-ganda ng laro tapos ang magde-decide technical (committee), ano ba ‘yan. Deadball naman ‘yun, counted, dapat ni-review nila agad hindi ba?” Non said before he entered the Beermen dugout.
“Dapat ni-review agad nila kung counted o hindi, pinalipas pa nila eh, tapos sasabihin nila basketball interference, du-munk si Mo, hawak niya ‘yung bola, tapos bumitaw siya, then settled na ‘yung ring bago pumasok ‘yung bola, nasaan ang interference dun?” he added.
PBA Deputy Commissioner Eric Castro, on the other had, came out to explain the controversial call, saying that it is within the league’s rule book.
“Interference occurs due to a field goal when: An offensive player caused the backboard to vibrate or drop the basket in such a way that in the judgment of the official the ball has been caused to enter the basket,” Castro said.
“As you’ve seen in the replay Mo dunked in the last 56 seconds, nahila n’ya ‘yung ring pababa. But the contention of course of the coaching staff yung bola went straight then entered the ring,” he added.
“Regardless kung may tamaan siyang part ng ring, the fact na nahila nya yung ring pababa is a violation already,” the PBA official further said. “It so happened na tuloy-tuloy ang game. There’s no deadball, around five seconds remaining there’s a jump ball, that was the only time we were able to announce it the correction.”/PN
