EPITOMES OF TRUE WARRIORS & GENTLEMEN
They are warriors, fierce combatants and, above all, true gentlemen.
Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao and Alaska import Henry Walker demonstrated these characters through their just concluded PBA Governors’ Cup Final Four face-off.
As the dust of battle settled, so did the animosity they felt toward one another in the course of the series. Mutual respect and admiration prevailed.
It was felt by everybody as the two were seen locked in a hug at mid-court at the end of the series Saturday night.
The battle was won by Guiao and his troops as Walker missed a potential game-tying three-pointer in the dying seconds.
They went down in defeat, but Walker and his teammates, nonetheless, won the hearts of the crowd and even of their rivals.
“You have to respect his effort, what he has done,” said Guiao of Walker.
“You have to separate what’s really the psyching up, the psych battles from professionalism. It’s really just drawing the line, knowing when you have just to respect people for what they have done,” Guiao also said.
“After the game where you’re out to make a living, tapos na yon. Pagbalik sa game, ganon uli,” Guiao added.
Guiao and Walker had their running verbal tussle in the course of the playoff.
At one point, Walker hit Rain or Shine as a “dirty” team.
As Walker was thrown out of the match in Game Four after a flagrant infraction on Paul Lee, Guiao, meanwhile, called Walker “a menace and a bully.”
In the end, both admired one another as a competitor.
They salute one another. (SB)
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