MANILA, Philippines – The PBA stood by its decision to overrule a last-minute bucket by San Miguel big man Mo Tautuaa in Game 1 of the Philippine Cup finals — a controversial call that proved crucial as TNT escaped with a 99-96 win on Sunday, July 13.
Down by as many as 24 points, the Beermen were on their way to an improbable victory as Tautuaa gave the team a 98-97 lead with 56 seconds remaining when his missed dunk attempt bounced in.
But the technical committee later on rescinded the basket for offensive interference, with Tautuaa grabbing the ring on his way down before the ball went in.
Speaking to the media after the game, PBA deputy commissioner Eric Castro cited a rule that defines an offensive interference when “an offensive player causes the backboard to vibrate or grasps the basket in such a way that, in the judgment of the official, the ball has been caused to enter the basket.”
“As you’ve seen in the replay, when Mo dunked the last 56 seconds, he pulled the ring down. The contention of the coaching staff was the ball was straight and entered the ring. Regardless if the ball touched the ring, the fact that he pulled the ring down is a violation. It’s considered an offensive basket interference,” said Castro in a mix of Filipino and English.
“You can pull the ring once the ball is through the net, the ball is inside and went through the net.”
The reversal came with only 6.2 ticks left after San Miguel guard Chris Ross forced a jump ball with Tropang 5G counterpart Jordan Heading.
Heading won the jump ball and tapped the ball to Calvin Oftana, who got fouled and went on to sink his two free throws that determined the final tally.
Castro said the officials could not make the call change earlier as there was no immediate dead ball situation.
“That was the only time that we could have reviewed… well, we’ve been reviewing it during live ball, but that’s the only time we were able to announce it through our barker, the correction,” said Castro.
“In the event that there was no dead ball, and the game ended with the score, under our rules, we can still correct it. The possibility of TNT winning at the end minus the correction because there was no dead ball, it would have happened.”
“Why did we initiate the review? Just like any other goaltending violation, we can, us the technical committee, can review it. It just so happened our officials were not able to make a call, so the decision ended up with the technical committee. That’s our simple explanation.”
Castro added the league will provide video examples of the same call through its social media accounts.
“We can show that we’ve been calling this as an offensive basket interference,” Castro said.
Game 2 is set on Wednesday, July 16, at the Araneta Coliseum. – Rappler.com