OFF-THE-COURT SHOW
For the second straight Sunday, action in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals between San Miguel Beer and Grand Slam-chasing TNT has somewhat taken a backseat to things said and done off the court.
They’re just the very things both teams don’t need—but what the league can benefit from—as the Beermen try to finally end the challenge of the Tropang 5G and deal them a world of hurt for the second time in the last 14 years with another denial of their Triple Crown dreams.
Though officiating was not the center of controversy this time, with Jericho Cruz and Chris Ross becoming the target of irate Tropang 5G team manager Jojo Lastimosa, who felt that the two were “arrogant” during the latter moments of the Beermen’s 105-91 Game 4 win at SM Mall of Asia Arena.
“It’s as if they already won the championship,” Lastimosa said in Filipino, as that Game 4 loss put the Tropang 5G on cliff’s edge and with the task of winning three straight times with a roster badly decimated by injuries.
Lastimosa first aired his frustration on Ross, who was seen consoling a hobbling Poy Erram after the game. Erram played through a swollen right ankle and even dealt with pain on his left knee during Game 4, and Ross felt the need to express his respect toward the TNT center for leaving everything down on the floor.
But Lastimosa saw it differently, and gestured that Ross should go back to the San Miguel dugout. He later said that Ross was “not a nice guy, has a knack to be a “complainer,” while also taunting the TNT bench and its supporters sitting at the back.
Ross, however, defended himself by saying that he only wanted to show his respect toward Erram.
“I’m not a nice guy??! You have no clue who I am As a person,” Ross said on his X account.
It could be that the San Miguel veteran might have caught some of the brunt of Lastimosa’s anger on Cruz, the Game 4 hero whose celebrations on the floor obviously was viewed in a different light by the TNT executive and league legend.
The final act came with about 15 seconds left, when Cruz tried what looked like a dribbling move mimicking those done in streetball mixtapes of the 2000s on Almond Vosotros, further upsetting Lastimosa.
“Dinandaan na lang sa yabang lahat (he’s just showboating),” Lastimosa told the media upon emerging from the TNT locker room. “The guy has problems. He has problems and he’s just bringing it on the court.”
Lastimosa didn’t say exactly what those problems were before delivering a parting shot.
“He’s acting like a little boy,” he added.
Netizens were quick to bash Lastimosa, even unearthing some unflattering moments during his playing days with Purefoods and Alaska.
When told of Lastimosa’s remarks, Cruz was caught by surprise, given that the two were together at NLEX for some time around 2019 when Lastimosa was part of Yeng Guiao’s coaching staff.
“I thought he was upset at Chris Ross. I really have no idea what it was,” Cruz said in Filipino.
Emotions have been boiling since San Miguel’s Game 1 loss two Sundays was marred by the technical committee’s decision to call Mo Tautuaa’s dunk as a basket interference. And it seems that it lit a fire on a Beermen side that has a chance to close things out on Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“We want to be emotional,” said Ross. “When we play like that [with emotion], the best comes out.”
