Screen grab courtesy of TV5/One Sports.
MANILA — Game 1 of the PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup Finals ended in controversy, as it saw Mo Tautuaa’s crucial basket get nullified due to what was deemed as a “basket interference.”
As the San Miguel Beermen were down 97-96 with only 56 seconds left in the game, Tautuaa went up for a dunk as they looked to take the lead.
The ball missed the bottom of the net upon Tautuaa’s slam, but it eventually went in as the San Miguel Beermen went down the floor.
However, while the scoreboard reflected that it was a deuce for SMB, the technical committee later on deemed it as nullified due to a basket interference.
“The reason why we had to correct the supposed basket interference is: ‘When an offensive player causes the backboard to vibrate or grasp the basket in such a way that, in the judgement of the official, the ball has been caused to enter the basket,’” explained PBA Deputy Commissioner Eric Castro after the game.
“As you’ve seen in the replay, when Mo dunked in the last 56 seconds, nahila niya yung ring pababa. The contention of San Miguel was that the ball was straight, and it entered the ring. But regardless, the fact na nahila niya yung ring pababa, it’s a violation already,” he added.
It was only decided by the Technical Committee when there were 13 seconds left on the game clock, and Castro explained that this happened because it was the first dead ball since the 56-second mark.
“It so happened na tuloy-tuloy yung game at walang deadball,” he pointed out. “That was the only time that we could announce it through our barker.”
“In the event that there was no deadball, we can still correct it. The possibility of TNT winning the game, mangyayari yun. Just like any goaltending violation, we can do it,” Castro added.
When asked when it can be deemed as a clean dunk or an interference, this is what Castro explained: "Clearly, in the replay, there was a good angle na there was pulling ng ring after ng missed dunk. Yung dunk natin should be direct dunking, that’s the difference."
“You can pull the ring once the ball goes through the net. We can give examples, it just so happened that this was Game 1 of the Finals,” Castro added of this PBA rule that he said is also in line with FIBA rules.