Pessumal insists shove on ex-teammate Ravena part of basketball: ‘I’m not here to make any friends’

Delfin Dioquino

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Pessumal insists shove on ex-teammate Ravena part of basketball: ‘I’m not here to make any friends’
Long-time friends Pessumal and Ravena don't have plans on making the incident too personal

MANILA, Philippines – Von Pessumal and Kiefer Ravena looked nothing like the former Ateneo Blue Eagles teammates that shared the floor during high school and college after the two figured in a physical play during San Miguel’s 109-98 win over NLEX on Friday, January 19.

Pessumal, now with the Beermen, shoved Road Warriors rookie Ravena in the back with both forearms during a rebound play early in the 4th quarter. Pessumal was then slapped with an unsportsmanlike foul.

When asked about his comment on the shove, Pessumal insisted that what happened was just a part of playing basketball.

“It’s part of the game, I don’t see any reason why it’s a big deal,” said Pessumal. “I wouldn’t say anything. I don’t know, after the game? I’m a professional basketball player, I’m not here to make any friends.”

Ravena has an idea why Pessumal reacted that way.

Before being shoved into the floor, Ravena blocked Pessumal, who was going for a layup, and then stared him down. After getting up, Pessumal nudged Ravena on the back.

“If you watched the game, when that fastbreak happened, the same exact possession na I challenged him, looked at him, and after that ‘yun na ‘yung nangyari. But I never instigated something to provoke Von to do that. Probably noong tinignan ko siya,” said Ravena.

(If you watched the game, when that fastbreak happened, the same exact possession that I challenged him and looked at him, that is what happened. But I never instigated something to provoke Von to do that. Probably because I stared him down.)

Although admitting that he did not expect the shove, the 24-year-old rookie said that he did not want to make things personal against his former teammate, especially since “we go way back.”

“Things like this hopefully don’t become too personal. I have no intention na ipapahiya ‘yung tao or sasaktan mo ‘yung tao. Wala namang ganun. Laro laro lang.”

(Things like this hopefully don’t become too personal. I have no intention to put him to shame or hurt him. There is not such things as that. It is all just a game.)

“I’m just doing my job. They won the game. For me I’ll just try to, like what Chris Ross was doing to me, tried to get inside my head. I just wanted that as an advantage. They were talking smack so I was trying to do the same thing,” Ravena added. – Rappler.com

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Delfin Dioquino

Delfin Dioquino dreamt of being a PBA player, but he did not have the skills to make it. So he pursued the next best thing to being an athlete – to write about them. He took up journalism at the University of Santo Tomas and joined Rappler as soon as he graduated in 2017.