Coach Brian Goorjian clarified that Bay Area is still learning the ropes of officiating in the PBA. Dennis Acosta |
QUEZON CITY—Bay Area coach Brian Goorjian raised eyebrows when he said last Christmas that Ginebra "got away with murder," that is, he thought the Gin Kings played too tough defense on Andrew Nicholson that there were what looked like fouls uncalled in certain sequences, in Game 1 of their PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals series.
However, he clarified three nights later that he was not questioning how the fouls are being called in Asia's premier play-for-pay cagefest.
"I think there was confusion about what was said after the game. First of all, no one was sick. No one on our team was hurt. There were no excuses. They kicked our ass," Goorjian said.
It was the Dragons' turn to pull off a post-Christmas "murder" on the Gin Kings on Wednesday night with a 99-82 Game 2 win in front of 16,044 fans at the Smart Araneta Coliseum here.
Goorjian later said that he respects the rules the PBA has placed.
"We're in a series. It's your country," he further said. "That was our first game in a finals series. We did not complain about the referees. All we tried to do was figure out how the game is going to be called and make the adjustments. That was my job in between games."
Bay Area successfully made the adjustments in defending per PBA standards, only committing 13 fouls in total against 18 called on the team in Game 1.
It was Ginebra who fouled more often, committing 21 fouls against only 17 on Sunday night.
"Tonight, we defended without fouling. We made the adjustments according to the PBA rules of playing D without fouling," Goorjian further said.
As an added example, Ray-Ray Zhu, who committed three quick fouls in the first four minutes of Game 1, only had the same number of fouls all game long in Game 2 and ended up with Man of the Match honors with 25 points, five rebounds, six assists, and one steal.
"Everything just started from the defensive end. As a player, I want to make sure I play good defense, then everything will go just from the defensive end," Zhu said.
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