Foul or No Foul?

Just a quick entry on last night's game 2 Finals win by Purefoods vs Alaska. I was not able to watch the game since I had to attend the Anvil Awards for a PR award of merit for the National Geographic Channel but was getting SMS messages left and right about the last play. There was a controversial call at the end where Kerby Raymundo was given a couple of free throws (to win the game) from a questionable shooting foul by Joe Devance.

Now if you were to follow the rules and guidelines, it seems since there was slight contact, there was a foul on JD. But again, given the context of the situation, the magnitude of what was at stake and how the calls have gone the whole game, you can argue that it should NOT have been called a foul.

Coach Tim Cone and his staff can probably go to the commissioner and show dozens of other instances during the same game where more contact was made and yet no whistle was blown. Then on the last and most crucial play, the whistle blows on a touch foul at best?

Alaska will move on and and teams have come back from 0-2 before but it will take a lot of heart to get over the disheartened feeling of not getting a fair shake. So here we go again... consistency. It's what drives coaches and players crazy. That foul would most likely been acceptable if the referees were calling it that thin the whole game.

I guess at the end of the day you can also argue that it was Alaska's fault for not putting the game away the many instances it had in the 4th quarter. But hey, nobody will remember any of those previous missed free throws and turnovers. Just that last crucial blimp of inconsistency that has been magnified made the PBA look bad again.