IN less than five days, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Office has suspended two game officials for making wrong calls.
Referee Art Herrera was lapped a five-game day suspension by the league “for an error in mechanics and judgment in changing a call in Game One of the Rain or Shine-Meralco semifinal series” that was played last Tuesday.
The Elasto Painters handily won the series opener, 99-86, but Head Coach Yeng Guiao still lashed at the game officials for making a “confusing call” at one point in the fourth quarter.
Guiao and the PBA pointed to Herrera’s decision to nullify the three-point basket of Rain or Shine’s Gabe Norwood at the 5:35 mark of the final period that could have given the Elasto Painters a 90-80 lead.
Initially, Herrera, who was near Norwood during that play, counted the shot in, but the Bolts coaching staff protested, stressing Norwood’s basket came after the 24-second shot clock sounded. Herrera decided to review the play, which is not allowed by the rules.
After the review, the referee did not count the basket, to the dismay of the Rain or Shine team.
“I think it was an officiating error. I don’t know if they can make a correction like that in a ball game without blowing a whistle. There was no whistle. The buzzer is not a whistle,” Guiao said.
“We’re getting confused. I guess we just need to get hold of the officiating. Ngayon pa lang sinasabi ko na nang maaga they should just get themselves in one room and talk about what they need to do to improve the officiating,” he added.
Last Sunday the PBA suspended a referee for the rest of the conference for missing a 24-second violation call in the Ginebra-Rain or Shine quarterfinal match won by the Elasto Painters, 92-91.
The referee allowed Elasto Painters’ Jeff Chan to score the go-ahead lay-up even if the shot clock had already expired for the Kings. The loss eliminated Ginebra from the tournament.
The PBA refused to identify who the erring referee was but the three officials who handled the game were Rommel Gruta, Peter Balao and Ray Yante.
GlobalPort Team Manager Bonnie Tan, meanwhile, clarified that injured rookie guard Stanley Pringle won’t be traded to crowd-favorite Ginebra in exchange for the veteran LA Tenorio.
“We’re not trading Pringle to any team,” Tan said. “We’re happy and satisfied with the performance of Pringle.”
“There are no negotiations and we will stick with Pringle,” added Tan.
Image credits: kevin dela Cruz