ALLAN THE MAN

Salud affirmed the Flagrant Foul Penalty 2 assessed on Pingris, which also meted him an automatic ejection during the waning minutes of the second period of the Mixers' 108-90 victory over the struggling Bolts.

“We affirmed the Flagrant Foul Penalty 2 called by the referees on Marc Pingris upon review of the game,” said Salud after his 15-minute talk with the Mixers forward at the PBA office on Thursday.

“We saw that he threw a punch that landed on the lower back side of James Sena, so a punching foul is an F2. He is being fined an amount of P40,000,” he added.

Explaining why no suspension was handed out, Salud said he took into account the "impact" of Pingris' attack and the damage of the punch which he said "barely grazed Sena's lower back."

“In considering a suspension, you have to take a look at the impact of the act itself and the damage that has been done,” he said.

“In this case, it was really done at the heat of the moment and it really barely grazed the lower back side of James Sena,” added Salud.

Salud then reminded Pingris that he is now in a “rare field,” considering he is one of the stalwarts of the Gilas Pilipinas team that finished second to Iran in last year's Fiba-Asia championships, and should act accordingly.

“I emphasized to Ping that he is in a rare field right now, considering that he is a member of the Gilas team. He realized that and he profusely apologized for what he has done,” explained the PBA commissioner.

Sena, who sparked a retaliation from Pingris when he hit the San Mig forward with an elbow to the ribs while setting a pick, was spared from punishment by Salud.

Sena claimed the hit was "purely accidental."