Alaska’s Tim Cone, Yeng Guiao of Rain or Shine, Bo Perasol of Powerade and Ryan Gregorio of Meralco all agreed that while it may not have been perfect, officiating was the least of both parties’ concerns during the most crucial time of the season-opening meet.

All four witnessed the quality of the calls up close and personal when they sat as part of the Solar television panel during the entire stretch of the best-of-seven title series won by Talk n Text in six games.

“That’s the beauty of good officiating. You won’t notice it at all,” said Perasol. “I
think the game officials did a great job.”

Even more gracious was Gregorio, who had his share of technical fouls in the past for resentment to the referees’ calls.

“I thought the officiating was above par. I didn’t see any violent reactions from the coaches who usually vent their frustrations if the call went against their way. No controversies were noted, and obviously the officials did not decide any of the games.

“The best test of the success of a series is when the players are the ones who decide the outcome of the game and the referees are there just to maintain parity in the game.”

Commissioner Chito Salud has prioritized officiating as one of the major concerns needed to be addressed for the league to gain the trust of both member teams and fans alike.

True, fines were meted on Mark Yee (P10,000) and Emerson Oreta (P5,000) for committing physical plays in the waning minutes of Game 3 but no violent incident happened during the Finals. Ryan Reyesand Jason Castro were also assessed fines for flagrant fouls after reviews of Games 1 and 5 by the Office of the Commissioner.

And that should be enough for even the most vocal critics of PB referees – Cone and Guiao – to give them more than a passing grade.

“I thought it was fine though a bit physical,” Cone said. “It seemed that the players
adjusted well to what was being called.”

Guiao added, “Quite decent. There were lapses, but not enough to affect the result of the games.”

Chot Reyes, the Talk `N Text mentor, praised the way the referees handled themselves in the first conference Finals held under Salud’s term. And he clarified it’s not because they won.

For him it’s all just a matter of giving credit where credit is due.

Win or lose.

“Commissioner Salud committed to both teams during the press conference just before the Finals that the referees will not be a factor in the series. So if the referees are doing their jobs why would I complain.

“They didn’t hear from us because even in the games that we lost (Games 3 and 4), the referees did a wonderful job. And that propped us to go to the Commissioner’s Office to give them kudos for a job well done.”