Negative results out; erring referee sent home

CLARK, Philippines — All 12 PBA teams have tested negative after the second round of their RT-PCR swab testing, which is part of the bubble protocols here.

The good news covered majority of the 350-strong delegation while the rest of the entourage, made up of league staff, officials, media and other late player entries, will be tested this week.

The second round of testing started last week, and the negative results came out yesterday morning.

Everybody inside the bubble will undergo mandatory testing once every 14 days for the duration of the tournament in accordance with the IATF guidelines.

The air inside the bubble is clean.

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Commissioner Willie Marcial is sending home referee Sherwin Pineda following the latter’s “wrong call” in the dying moments of the Rain or Shine vs NorthPort match over the weekend.

The official whistled a foul on Batang Pier’s Paolo Taha in the last 1.3 seconds, leading to Rey Nambatac’s two free throws and a 70-68 win for the Elasto Painters.

“Papauuwin ko na. Maling tawag. Di ko matatanggap ‘yung tawag na ‘yun,” said Marcial after a thorough review of the controversial play with the technical committee head and deputy commissioner Eric Castro.

Marcial bared that he has also suspended and fined two more referees after the opening week of the 2020 Philippine Cup restart here.

He is cracking the whip here.

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Hanging his sneakers remains a far-fetched idea for Mark Caguioa, who is playing a record-setting 18th season with crowd-favorite Ginebra.

Caguioa, now 40, played six quality minutes in their 105-91 mastery of rival Meralco last Sunday for his official bubble debut and his 18th year with a single franchise.

The 2012 MVP and member of the 40 Greatest PBA Players broke out of a tie with Alvin Patrimonio (Purefoods) and Harvey Carey (TNT), who spent their entire PBA careers with a single club for 17 seasons.

“Just enjoying every bit of everything because you never know (how long) when I’m going to be here. Gusto ko lang pasalamatan yung mga fans. It’s really the fans making me you know, parang nahihirapan talaga ako mag-retire. I don’t want to think about that now. But I know, sooner or later, that day will come,” said the 2001 Rookie of the Year.

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Ginebra coach Tim Cone, Blackwater mentor Nash Racela and decorated golfer Jorge Gallent of San Miguel spent the sunny Monday morning swinging at the Mimosa Golf Course.

“You’ll be amazed how good Jorge is and how bad I am,” smiled Cone after the round.

TNT Tropang Giga manager Gabby Cui, also a skilled golfer, Northport’s Sean Anthony, Rain or Shine’s Adrian Wong and Prince Rivero are the others who have gone out for a round or two.