Missed Calls Indeed: PBA Admits Referees' Mistakes in Game 1

Photo by the PBA Media Bureau

But insists that plays are not reviewable

The Magnolia Hotshots may have won Game 1 of their best-of-7 PBA Philippine Cup Finals series after shocking the defending champions, the San Miguel Beermen, 105-103 after erasing a 20-point deficit but it was a game that was filled with errors from both teams and, as the PBA and the technical committee later admitted, the referees.

One of the plays that were put into question was right after Alex Cabagnot missed a three-pointer with under a second to play in the 4th quarter. Magnolia's big man Rafi Reavis was able to grab that crucial defensive rebound and was able to call a timeout.

What Reavis, as well as the referees, presumably didn't realize was the fact that the big man was actually stepping on the line when he called the timeout. Had the refs called it out of bounds, it would have given the Beermen another possession. But the referees didn't make the call and awarded the timeout to Magnolia.

Now, the PBA led by Commissioner Willie Marcial along with the technical committee released the statement in which they admitted that the referees in Game 1 of the Finals made crucial mistakes in terms of officiating the series opener with the Reavis blunt among those calls that the refs failed to address accordingly.

In addition to this, the league officials have reviewed the no-calls on Alex Cabagnot and June Mar Fajardo in which the league eventually concluded that both San Miguel stars have committed what appeared to be a traveling violation.

However, as painful as it may sound, Commissioner Willie Marcial has said that no matter how crucial those mistakes were, such calls are not reversible even upon conducting a video replay, adding that it's under the league rules.

Conclusion

For his part, Commissioner Willie Marcial has said that he is  "resting"  the referees who officiated Game 1 which means Game 2 will have another set of referees. While the referees are only human beings like the rest of us, they should be constantly on a lookout for any possible errors that are committed by players from either team because one missed call could cost the momentum to shift towards the other side.