Ginebra wins Game 4, ties series after Talk `N Text walkout

Source: (Philippine Daily Inquirer) By Cedelf P. Tupas

MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE) Ginebra tied its best of 5 KFC PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinal series with Talk `N Text after the Tropang Texters walked out of game 4 at the Araneta Coliseum Friday.

Talk `N Text walked out with one minute left in the first quarter and Ginebra ahead 27-20 in protest of a flagrant foul 2 called on Ranidel de Ocampo, who committed a hard foul on Ginebra forward Ronald Tubid.

A flagrant foul 2 merits an ejection and an automatic one game suspension. The Tropang Texters lead the race-to-three affair, 2-1.

PBA Commissioner Sonny Barrios met with Talk ‘N Text team officials, led by Ricky Vargas, but failed to convince the team to go back and play. As a result, the game was forfeited in favor of Ginebra.

Talk `N Text's move marked the first time in 20 years that a PBA team walked out of a game. In the 1990 1st conference finals, Añejo also walked out in the second quarter of game 6, allowing Shell to clinch the series, 4-2.

TNT walks out of quarters match vs Gin Kings
Source: abs-cbnnews.com

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE 2) Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters walked out from their KFC PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinal match against Ginebra Gin Kings at the Araneta Coliseum on Friday.

According to ANC "Hardball" host Boyet Sison, the Tropang Texters squad walked off the court with over a minute left in the first quarter when Ranidel de Ocampo was ejected from the game for committing two flagrant fouls.
“This is a very surprising development as it is a very, very exciting quarterfinal series for both teams,” said Sison.

The entire Talk ‘N Text team including team owner and telecommunications magnate Manny Pangilinan walked out of the game to protest “unfair officiating” in the game.

League officials granted the win to Ginebra after ruling that Talk ‘N Text had already forfeited the game. The two teams are now tied at 2 games each in the best-of-five series.

A similar case happened in the PBA in May 1990 when the Añejo team walked out in Game 6 of the 1st Conference Finals against Shell. They were slapped a huge fine of half a million pesos.

'Ginebra got 50 more free throws'

Talk ‘N Text coach Chot Reyes said that game statistics in their quarterfinal series with Ginebra clearly show that there was something wrong about the officiating.

“In the Talk ‘N Text-Ginebra series, Talk ‘N Text has taken 80 free throws… Ginebra has taken 126 free throws. They have taken almost 50 more free throws that we had in three games,” he said.

Reyes said that the numbers are questionable considering that most of Ginebra’s shots were taken beyond the arc as opposed to scoring inside the paint where they could fish more fouls.

“Ginebra has taken 25 more three-point shots in the three games… which means majority of the shots come from the three point line. In the first 12 minutes of this game (Game 4), they had already taken 14 free throws and they only took 6 attempts in the two-point area. We attempted 20 times in the shaded lane and we were given 5 free throws… It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the disparity,” he said.

Reyes said the second flagrant foul call against De Ocampo was the last straw. This, he said, prompted the team to walk out from the game.

Ginebra coach Jong Uichico merely shrugged off the walk out incident.

“We’ll take any win the way it is. If they give it to us by default, we’ll take it. We’re here to win,” he said.

With a report from Tony Velasquez, ABS-CBN News
 

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