The management of TNT KaTropa yesterday fined import Glen Rice Jr. $10,000, apart from the P26,000 penalty sanctioned by the PBA earlier this week, for his actions in Sunday’s 115-105 loss to Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in the Governors’ Cup semifinals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Rice was ejected in the first quarter of the semifinal series’ fourth game Sunday when he committed a Flagrant Foul 1 for shoving Kevin Ferrer and subsequently throwing the ball near the fallen Ginebra rookie that resulted in a technical foul.
TNT officials were obviously dismayed over the actions of Rice, who left the Big Dome minutes after getting tossed.
At that point, the KaTropa were holding a double-digit lead and had a strong chance of forcing the series to a deciding Game 5.
But the loss of Rice eventually took its toll on TNT as Ginebra charged back from an 18-point third quarter deficit to complete a 3-1 series victory and a date with Meralco for the title of the season-ending conference.
“His undesirable, unprofessional, unruly and unsportsmanlike behavior adversely affected not only the team’s image but the brand and corporate reputation of the PLDT Group as well,” TNT said in a statement.
“Rice, as a profesional player, promised to comply with all the team’s rules and regulations and to act or conduct himself in a gentlemanly manner at all times so as to project a totally wholesome image for the Team and the PLDT Group.
“As a consequence, the team is deducting from his final compensation the amount of the PBA fine plus the Team fine.
This is without prejudice however to whatever legal right TNT may have against Mr. Rice for damages and other available remedies under our contract,” the statement concluded.