Lastimosa blasts Ross, Cruz

The series that was advertised as just another ordinary finale had escalated into a full-blown war.

TNT Tropang Giga Jojo Lastimosa ripped San Miguel Beer stars Jericho Cruz and Chris Ross for their respective antics in the aftermath of their 91-105 loss in Game 4 of their Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup best-of-seven finals series late Sunday.

The outspoken Lastimosa admitted that he was offended by the “showboating” of Cruz in which he playfully dribbled before faking a free throw directed at Almond Vosotros in the dying seconds of the victory that put them on the brink of spoiling the Tropang Giga’s march to the grand slam.

“It was disrespectful. He was showboating,” said Lastimosa, who was also the team manager when Cruz played for NLEX from 2019 to 2022.

“We were together at NLEX with coach Yeng Guiao and he was so arrogant. The guy has a problem. I know he has a problem and he brings them to the court. There’s no friends here for now.”

“He’s just acting up. He’s just like a little boy. You can quote me on that.”

Cruz, who had a masterful performance after torching the Tropang 5G with 15 of his 23 points in the pivotal fourth quarter, was shocked to hear Lastimosa’s post-game comment.

He said he was just merely celebrating for a job well done and didn’t mean to offend the Tropang 5G.

“I know him, he knows me, we were always together back in NLEX, doing shooting drills. So, I was surprised that he came up with that statement,” said Cruz, who also had a verbal exchange with TNT coach Chot Reyes who clapped at him during the crucial stretch of Game 3 last Friday.

“I was jumping because I was happy. I wasn’t showboating. I wasn’t even looking at him.”

Even Ross didn’t escape the wrath of Lastimosa, the only person in the TNT organization who owns a grand slam. He won it while he was still playing for Alaska in 1996.

Lastimosa accused the veteran Filipino-American guard of taunting during the game. And when the final buzzer sounded, Ross was seen approaching the TNT bench to console an emotional Poy Erram.

Lastimosa tried to drive him away but Ross fired back, triggering a heated exchange.

“We are in the finals. There are no friends here. Don’t go over our side. We’re supposed to be enemies,” Lastimosa said, adding that Ross has a habit of acting like a “nice” guy in front of the members of the inner circle of the Tropang 5G organization.

“He is not a nice guy. He is a complainer,” Lastimosa said.

“He loves to complain without admitting it. He will come over here and will look at the wives and girlfriends over here to act as if he didn't do something wrong.”

Ross said he was surprised by Lastimosa’s behavior in which he threw a lot of “cuss words” while asking him to refrain from approaching Erram.

“I told him I respect him for giving that effort and I suddenly turned into the bad guy,” a surprised Ross said.

“There were a lot of curse words and bad stuff coming at me. I was just trying to be a good sport and tell Poy how I felt about his effort.”

“You can ask Poy what I told him. I don’t know what their problem is with me.”

Lastimosa added that the Beermen should not celebrate because the battle is still far from over.