Boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao found his way onto the basketball court in a Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) game earlier this week.
Pacquiao scored one point in Kia Carnival’s 95-84 win over the Purefoods Star Hotshots and new import Daniel Orton.
Orton, who played poorly in the game (1-for-7 shooting), wasn’t pleased after the game. Orton said Pacquiao playing basketball is “a joke” and hammered the referees for turning the game into a “mockery” of what basketball should be.
Here is an excerpt of Orton’s postgame comments:
“That’s a joke. That’s part of the joke I was talking about,” Orton said Wednesday, February 18 when asked what it was like for him to play against the Philippine boxing icon.
“Professional boxer, yeah okay. Congressman, alright. Professional basketball player? No. It’s a joke. Seriously, it’s a joke.”
Orton, 24, had an off-night in the loss, scoring just 6 points on a miserably 1-of-7 field goals. He also had just 3 rebounds and played for only 19 minutes and 23 seconds due to foul trouble.
“I’m really upset about my performance tonight,” said a visibly very upset Orton. “I’m worried about the loss, yeah, you hate losing, you hate losing two in a row and I know the Purefoods fans that’s not acceptable to them.”
The 6-foot-9 former Oklahoma City center, who fouled out with 1 minute and 30 seconds left in the game as KIA pulled away for their second huge upset of the season, also aired his comments about the officiating.
“This game was seriously a joke,” he said. “The way the game was going the refs made it into a mockery, seriously. They took the game that I know and love and made it into a mockery.”
