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| Chris Ross' moment of paying respect suddenly became too emotional. PBA Images (file photo) |
MANILA--San Miguel guard Chris Ross confirmed on Sunday night that TNT team manager Jojo Lastimosa confronted him right after Game 4 of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals.
However, Ross said he was confused as to why Lastimosa hurled some words at him when he was just there to pay some respect to Poy Erram, who played through what was initially thought to be a season-ending ankle injury.
"I just saw Poy over there by himself, and I just went over to tell him, like, even though he's not my teammate, I respect him for trying to play because everyone saw how his ankle was not in the direction where it should have been, and he shouldn't be playing it. It looked like that's like a two-month injury, and he was out there trying to play. He was limping. I told him I respect him for trying to give him this effort, and I turned into the bad guy," Ross said.
Ross then said Lastimosa, while asking him to go back to the Beermen's bench, blurted some choice words.
"There were a lot of curse words and a lot of stuff coming at me, and I was just trying to be a good sport and Poy how I felt about his effort," Ross further said.
"I don't know what their problem is."
When Dugout Philippines asked Erram about that post-game moment, he said that he lauded Ross for being such a good sport.
"Na-appreciate ko yung paglapit niya kasi sino naman kaming mga players dito sa PBA? Wala namang may gustong na player, di ba? So lahat tayo, gusto natin healthy ang mga players. Kahit na nagpapakamatay sa loob ng court, at the end of the day, livelihood kasi yan. Mako-concern ka talaga sa player kasi paano kung may mangyari talagang masama? Di naman maganda yun. Ayaw mo namang i-wish sa player na ma-injure," Erram said.
However, he added that he cannot blame Lastimosa and apparently some more people at the back of the TNT bench for getting too tense at Ross.
"Normal lang naman na magkaaway fans at players ng kabilang team," Erram said.
"Syempre Finals ito eh. Gusto mong manalo, di ba? So competitive talaga, pero at the end of the day, concern ka pa rin sa player."
Expect more emotions rising as SMB looks to close out the series on Wednesday night back at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
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