THE pro league has yet to decide whether it would summon the personalities involved in a classic case of a player–and in this case, team officials–losing their cool last Wednesday night in the Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
NorthPort team manager Pido Jarencio engaged NLEX import Thomas Robinson in a shouting match, with the former yelling grave threats and expletives at the former NBA veteran before they were pacified by teammates, coaches, and even PBA chief Willie Marcial.
“You are one bullet, I will shoot you later… Happy New Year,” Jarencio was heard telling Robinson amid the chaotic scene at the aisle separating the teams’ dugouts.
Jarencio stepped in after Robinson exchanged words with Batang Pier governor Eric Arejola.
“Inaano niya iyong boss ko,” Jarencio was overheard as saying as he entered the NorthPort locker room.
The incident was an offshoot of the third quarter battle when Robinson and second year forward JM Calma got a bit physical.
Robinson and Arejola figured in a word war that even extended at the endgame all the way to the Big Dome hallway before Jarencio took over.
The 6-foot-10 Robinson, tabbed fifth overall by the Sacramento Kings in the 2012 NBA Draft, simply shrugged off the incident.
“They’re just upset. They lost, we won,” Robinson, who notched 30 points and 18 rebounds in NLEX’s 112-104 win over NorthPort, said. “Just competing. He is competing. I’m competing.”
