THE GREATNESS OF THE DELAYED REACTION STRATEGY
It's a well-established fact that Mick Pennisi's epic flop is one of the most hilarious plays in Philippine basketball history.
In fact, even the international channels picked up the play, and basketball fans from all walks of life couldn't stop joking about its absurdity.
His defensive aggression gave then-Petron import Will McDonald the green light to bounce the ball off his forehead. It was hella funny, and I bet there wasn't a basketball fan in 2012 who didn't spam that clip on YouTube.
That said, there was actually a method to his madness. And in the TNT vs. Converge game, we saw why that seemingly nonsensical exaggeration was a big-brain move.
Basically, the reason I'm bringing this up is that, during the Converge vs. TNT game, Henry Galinato found himself tangled up with Alec Stockton.
It was a rebound play, and Stockton looked lost inside the paint. The former FEU gunner is more of a 3-and-D guy, compared to the former UP slotman, whose bread and butter is grabbing rebounds and establishing his presence near the rim.
In fact, by that point, Galinato already had six points, nine rebounds, and two steals. So when a player like Stockton ends up practically using Galinato's back as a futon, I can understand why Galinato would be peeved.
However, Galinato was still at fault for headbutting Stockton. He was supposed to keep his cool, especially in a game where he was an integral part of TNT's push. In fact, during the Governors' Cup, Galinato seemed more important to TNT than Stockton was to Converge, given TNT's need for big men and Converge's abundance of scorers.
I can't say that Galinato's ejection directly triggered TNT's loss to the FiberXers, but it certainly played a part. Stockton forced overtime, and Converge eventually came away with the win.
But what was that Stockton flop all about? Should it even have been called a flop?
Well, the thing is, it happened during a dead-ball situation, so it didn't affect the play itself, aside from the consequences of Galinato's headbutt. Stockton was essentially selling the impact of the headbutt more than anything else.
It's basically like wrestling. You can't get the proper reaction without the proper action. Yes, the delayed reaction seemed pointless, but Stockton had to sell it to get a response. And it was effective as hell, as Galinato was thrown out of the game.
It was hella dirty, but effective nonetheless.
And this is what we tend to forget about Mick Pennisi's original move.
When Pennisi pulled off that infamous flop, the game was supposed to be a make-or-break affair for the Petron Blaze Boosters. If Petron lost, it would be out of the quarterfinals.
Petron began the 2012 PBA Commissioner's Cup with former Japanese national team player and former Dallas Mavericks and LA Clippers player Nick Fazekas as its import. However, Fazekas was dropped from the lineup after leading the Blaze Boosters to a 3-4 record.
Will McDonald came in as his replacement, making his debut against Barako Bull. A win would have forced Petron into a four-way logjam at 4-4 with the Meralco Bolts and the Powerade Tigers, with a chance to secure a playoff spot outright depending on the other results. Petron would then have had a final shot at improving its position against the Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters.
Talk 'N Text would eventually lose in the Finals to the Denzel Bowles-led B-MEG Llamados.
Petron didn't just lose its game against Barako Bull after McDonald was sidelined midway through the second quarter. The Blaze Boosters also fell to TNT in their final game. Meanwhile, Barako Bull advanced to the semifinals, where it lost to TNT in a five-game thriller.
For an import stopper like Pennisi, the move accomplished more than simply stopping McDonald. By getting the import ejected, he effectively prevented him from playing the rest of the game. In a way, that moment also helped seal the end of Petron's Commissioner's Cup campaign.
Pennisi could have done what he did best and created a ruckus. Instead, he chose to make a mockery of his opponent's aggression with one of the most outrageous counters in Philippine basketball history.
Over the years, people in the PBA have found ways to bend the rules to their advantage. Remember what Chot Reyes did when he instructed his players to shoot at their opponents' basket? Or when Ron Jacobs helped bring about the eventual demise of the injury-timeout rule back in the '90s?
Some of these tactics worked, while others weren't exactly well received. The injury timeout was abused to the point that the league eventually scrapped it altogether, while the Chot Reyes incident arguably helped kick-start his villain arc as a coach.
But then there are moves like Pennisi's, which practically tell a player, "Why throw punches when you can just act as if a bazooka hit you?" Even if your reaction comes two or three seconds late.
Stockton's move didn't generate the same online reaction as Pennisi's infamous flop, and maybe that's because we understand what Stockton was doing compared to the sheer absurdity of the original.
Nobody forced Galinato to headbutt Stockton, just as nobody forced McDonald to bounce the ball off Pennisi's forehead.
It's a shady way to get an opponent taken out of a game, but it's effective nonetheless.
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