Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes was quick to defend his players in the aftermath of the wild melee between Filipino players and some members of the Australia national basketball team on Monday night at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.
Reyes said it was the actions of Daniel Kickert during the warm-ups that triggered the bad blood between the teams.
Recalling the events that transpired leading to the brawl, Reyes said the Australian forward was taking cheap shots on Carl Bryan Cruz, Matthew Wright, Roger Pogoy and Calvin Abueva in the pregame shootaround.
Reyes was clueless on the motive of Kickert, but he was sure that there is no excuse for him to do it.
“I don’t know if he was trying to get into our minds, or he was trying to start something,” he said. “Where else can you see an opponent hitting a player during warm-up?”
Then came the third-period skirmish, and Kickert was seen as the first one who threw the elbow that decked Pogoy.
Things escalated quickly and all hell broke loose.
Reyes stood firm on the team’s stance that they are ready for any repercussions.
“We have to face those consequences because it is what it is,” he said. “And we are not going to back down.”
The basketball governing body of Australia expressed its remorse after the event.
“Basketball Australia deeply regrets the incident in tonight’s match between the Boomers and the Philippines in Manila. We are extremely disappointed with what happened and our role in it,” the statement said.
“This is not the spirit in which sport should be played and certainly not in the spirit in which we aim to play basketball. We apologise to our fans and will await the penalties to be handed down.”