The tension was high in the PBA Governors’ Cup game between Meralco and Converge on Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Meralco's Allein Maliksi accused Converge of intentionally hurting them during the game, which saw the Bolts emerge victorious 132-129 in overtime.
The game reached a boiling point in the final seconds when Barkley Ebona of Converge fouled Maliksi with a clothesline. The foul was so rough that it prompted Maliksi to respond by grabbing Ebona's neck before cooler heads prevailed and pacified the situation.
Ebona later apologized to Maliksi when he caught up with him at the Big Dome hallway. However, Maliksi, who was ejected from the game with a Flagrant Foul 2, was still not in a forgiving mood. He strongly believed that Ebona intended to hurt him with the foul.
Maliksi commented on the incident, saying, "If he didn't do it on purpose, [it would be fine], but I don't think that's the case because he was not going for the ball, and he was really going for the face. You can foul me on the shoulder or other parts of the body, but he was going for my face."
Now, people were reminded of the choking incident between Renaldo Balkman and Arwind Santos. Balkman ended up receiving a lifetime ban.
Now, is Allein Maliksi deserving of a lifetime ban too?
PBA clearly said no because they only gave him a single game suspension and P75,000 fine. And fans are actually not happy about it.
The reality is, what Balkman did was worse and was against logic. He choked his teammate! So, I do not think Allein should received a lifetime ban. Remember also that Maliksi reacted because he received a hard foul. Balkman did it after a turnover.
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