TNT KaTropa is still far from enthusiastic with the way San Miguel’s Alex Cabagnot celebrated his game-winning three during their lone elimination round in the PBA Philippine Cup two weeks ago at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
In that game, Cabagnot celebrated a triple that eventually gave the Beermen a 97-94 win last Jan. 28 by mimicking a pose as if he was pointing an arrow at the bench, prompting his teammates to jokingly respond by falling on the floor as if they were hit.
The KaTropa finally got a measure of revenge in Game 2 of their best-of-seven semifinals last Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena, when their defense on Cabagnot in the final seconds allowed them to escape with an 87-85 win at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Pressed to comment after the game, TNT coach Nash Racela believed the message they sent to Cabagnot was loud and clear.
“I think they heard the message of Alex. And at the same time, in a way they retaliated, gave him a message,” Racela said. “If you watch Alex, at least in this series, hindi na niya ginagawa. Siguro nalaman din niya na what he did was offending some people and ganun naman talaga e.”
In response, Cabagnot said he has no plans of repeating such antics, especially with the rest of the series expected to be as tight as ever after TNT leveled the series at 1-1.
“It was a no-bearing game for us,” he said. “Gabby (Espinas) and I were working on some stuff, I mean it just happens. Serious time right now, I haven’t done it. It’s the second game (of the series) and I’m not gonna do it.”
Cabagnot, though, did find some humor in calls for him to be known as “The Arrow”.
“I’m not the arrow, I’m not what you guys are calling me,” Cabagnot told scribes while laughing. “It’s so lame, it’s yuck, it’s just that thing. I don’t hear you guys calling Beau Belga the shotgun barrel (referring to Belga’s celebration for every made three), or I don’t know. It’s just so weird.
“The biggest thing about that shot in that situation is I made the shot. People forget that I made the shot, so when it comes down. When it comes down to it, I know that opportunities are going to come again and God’s going to be good to me and He’s going to grace me with his blessing.”
