Luigi Trillo comes to The Beast’s rescue; Abueva, Dillinger, David avoid suspensions
Alaska head coach Luigi Trillo wanted to schedule a meeting with PBA Commissioner Chito Salud to clarify certain issues about the officiating. The meeting was scheduled for Wednesday but the coach requested it to be moved on a Tuesday so he can go to the PBA office with sophomore forward Calvin Abueva who has been in hot water in the past few days.
“I was here to support Calvs. He’s been getting hit left and right and I just wanted to show my support,” Trillo said after their meeting with Salud. Abueva rushed out of the PBA office after the meeting, refusing to talk to members of the media
“It’s nice to meet with Comm because he’s open to hearing us out. My thing is, obviously there’s a lot being said about Calvin’s antics, but this year, and this is my personal opinion, we haven’t allowed Calvin Abueva to be Calvin Abueva."
ALSO READ: Abueva benched against GlobalPort
The Beast has been getting the sour end of public opinion in the past few days. Against Meralco, Abueva got into physical tussles with Gary David and Jared Dillinger which all boiled over in the fourth quarter.
“You know, I just said, 'Call the calls that need to be called and don’t look at the player. This year, guys are throwing him and it’s not a foul,” Trillo lamented.
“Comm is always for the best of the league. As a commissioner, you need to go through this. It’s two teams that are very competitive and want to win so when these things happen, sanctions should happen,” added Trillo. “But I’m sure he knows what he’s doing. At this point, I came here because the guy (Abueva) is down and you don’t want to kick him when he’s down as he meets with the commissioner.”
Abueva was benched in Alaska’s last game against GlobalPort. Although an ankle injury was cited as the culprit, multiple reports have pointed that Abueva was out until Saturday morning, which caused him to miss practice leading to the benching.
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“I’m sure Calvin is frustrated. We’re all frustrated because we feel we’re playing better than our record suggests,” Trillo said. “If we won three of those six close games, we would have been at 7 [wins] and 6 [losses]. But if we win our last game against Barako Bull, the worst thing that could happen is a playoff for the eighth spot so we still have a chance.”
“The PBA is heading to the playoffs so all the games are important,” he continued. “I will be highly surprised if suspensions are given out. If you remember last year, Rob Reyes hit Calvin on the face and he was just fined 10,000 pesos.”
The PBA later released their official ruling on the matter. Dillinger and Abueva were both fined 10,000 pesos for their altercation with the latter getting an additional 3,000-peso fine for flopping. David on the other hand was slapped a 5,000-pesos fine. All three players avoided suspension. They will all get to play for their teams in the crucial stretch of the 2013 PLDT MyDSL Philippine Cup.
Here is the PBA's stament in its entirety.
Upon review of the incident and hearing the testimonies of Calvin Abueva, Jared Dillinger and Gary David, hereunder is this Office’s ruling:
During the fourth quarter of the game Jared Dillinger was going strong to the basket. As he was going for a layup, Calvin Abueva cleanly blocked his shot. After the block, Abueva’s right hand landed on the face of Dillinger. While unintentional, the impact of that contact caused a bruise on the left eye of Dillinger. Dillinger then pulled the jersey of Abueva to prevent a hard fall, at which time Abueva’s forearm landed diagonally on Dillinger’s neck and face with such force causing Dillinger’s nose to bleed. Dillinger thereafter regained his balance and grabbed Abueva. Dillinger testified that he grabbed Abueva initially by the jersey. While Dillinger denied that he choked Abueva, it was clear in the video that he had his hands around the neck area of Abueva for the purpose of physically restraining him. While Abueva categorically confirmed that he was not choked by Dillinger, he stated that pressure was exerted on his collar bone. It can be gleaned from the video that Dillinger grabbed Abueva by the neck and while on a strangle/chokehold-like gesture was yelling and screaming at Abueva. Dillinger asserted that he was telling Abueva “to respect me and respect the game,” repeatedly. At this point the referees were able to separate the two players. Gary David, who was not involved in the play at all, was seen raising his right arm with a closed fist toward the direction of the fallen Abueva.
David testified that he was merely reminding Abueva that the latter’s antics were already hurtful to other players. He admitted that he did raise his arm with a closed fist at Abueva out of frustration.
Considering the foregoing factual and testimonial evidence, this Office is hereby upgrading the Technical Foul for taunting called on Jared Dillinger to Flagrant/Unsportsmanlike conduct, as his act of physically restraining Calvin Abueva by grappling him by the neck, along with the taunting and trash-talking, is clearly unnecessary. A fine of ten thousand pesos (Php 10,000.00) is hereby meted out to Dillinger.
This Office is likewise upgrading Calvin Abueva’s Technical Foul for 2nd motion to Flagrant/Unsportsmanlike conduct for the hard blows, inadvertent as they may seem, he landed on Jared Dillinger causing the latter’s face to bleed and bruise. A fine of ten thousand pesos (Php 10,000.00) is hereby meted out to Calvin Abueva. Additionally, this office has reviewed Abueva’s proclivity to exaggerate fouls against him and other forms of physical contact in which he is involved. In accordance with this office’s memo on flopping dated July 26, 2013, Abueva is being fined an additional three thousand pesos (Php 3,000.00).
As for Gary David, he had no reason to intervene in the incident in question. He was clearly seen, not in the act of pacifying the parties involved, but instead was shown to have taken a fighting stance that could have exacerbated the incident. For this unsportsmanlike conduct, David is being fined the amount of five thousand pesos (Php 5,000.00).
Reviews of incidents such as these are conducted by my Office as a matter of course, motu proprio. I again remind our players and teams that the highest tenets of sportsmanship should never be secondary to their passion for the game.
