Salud cracks whip: Aces import Williams fined, suspended for a game

Alaska Milk has survived a match missing the services of its reinforcement LD Williams for a large part of the game against Meralco last Friday. This coming Friday, the Aces will need to do it one more time, with Williams not seeing action for the entire game. Philippine Basketball Association commissioner Atty. Chito Salud cracked the whip on Williams, suspending the import for a game and fining him P20,000 for hitting Mac Cardona with a swinging elbow in the Aces’ come-from-behind 104-101 overtime victory over the Bolts.

“I don’t think it’s necessary for a player to swing an elbow during a play. But he has to face the consequences once he hit somebody. Whether it’s intentional or not, he hit somebody with an elbow, so that merits a penalty," said Salud. The PBA will collect a total of P91,000 amount in fines from the Alaska-Meralco tussle, with the Aces’ multi-titled coach Tim Cone leading those who were penalized. Cone, one of only four Grand Slam coaches and the winningest mentor among active coaches, has been meted a P21,000 penalty by Salud. The longest-tenured bench tactician in the league was fined P1,000 for receiving a technical foul, then was assessed an additional P20,000 penalty for entering the court and confronting the officials. “I am shocked that an import would be suspended in such a short conference. That could totally change the course of our campaign in this conference," said Cone. The Aces are just a game behind co-leaders and sister teams Talk N Text and Smart Gilas, which carry identical 6-1 win-loss records. But Alaska will face a slumping Rain or Shine Elasto Painters seeking to snap a four-game skid. And Cone and his embattled Aces will have to do it without Williams. Cone’s assistant, Joel Banal, was also slapped a P10,000 penalty for accompanying the veteran coach in entering the court. Bolts team manager Virgil Villavicencio was also penalized P20,000, the same amount slapped on Meralco guard Sol Mercado. Both were fined after they approached the technical staff. "There's a league ruling which states that team members cannot approach the technical group during or after the game. They went to our technical team and pinagmumura yung mga referees," said PBA operations manager Rickie Santos. - KY, GMA News