Basketball: Philippines v Boomers brawl may curtail Steven Adams' chances even more

The Philippines and Boomers engage in warfare during their Fiba World Cup qualifier this week. Photo / AP

The ugly stoush between the Boomers and the Philippines will only reinforce most professional basketball teams' reluctance to release marquee players to their national teams because of the risk."That brawl has drawn international media attention in North America," says Taylor Corporation Hawks coach Zico Coronel.

His team resumes its Sal's Pizza National Basketball League (NBL) campaign against 2 Cheap Cars Supercity Rangers from 7pm in Auckland tomorrow.

The Jarrod Kenny-captained Hawks, who have six wins and as many losses, have Boomer Angus Brandt in their line upin his debut season. He will be playing at the Trusts Arena, in Henderson, after he was expected to arrive late today from the Philippines via Brisbane.

Coronel says the likes of Steven Adams, a Kiwi Oklahoma City Thunder centre, will have an even tougher time slipping on a Tall Blacks singlet for coach Paul Henare.

He says it is disappointing Boomers centre Daniel Kickert took matters into his own hands but, other than that, the rest of the Aussies had acted in self-defence.

Kickert's stiff arm to the head of Roger Pogoy sparked a free-for-all brawl in the third quarter and eventually led to a farcical end to the Fiba World Cup qualifying match which the visitors won when the hosts were reduced to one player on the court in the third quarter.

The "basketbrawl" on Monday prompted a finger-pointing exercise with both camps accusing each other of starting it but they have since unequivocally apologised for their unruly behaviour.

TV footage shows Chris Goulding becoming a prey before fellow guard Nathan Sobey, who had come to his aid, was king hit from behind with a chair to the back of the head and a punch to the face.

Australian assistant coach Luc Longley had come to his rescue as he lay on the floor behind one end of the court.

Kickert and teammate Thon Maker, who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA, will be among culprits who face lengthy suspensions after the latter executed fly-kicks on Filipino opponents.

Hawks coach Zico Coronel says nations playing in other parts of the world must feel secure as tourists. Photo / Photosport

However, he stresses the "Chiller north of Manila" implicates Philippines coach Chot Reyes and his assistant who allegedly hit Goulding with a chair in what appeared to be an "act of revenge" from the hosts, making up for their disappointment of not winning the qualifier.

"Apparently it's at a different level because they aren't talking about a player in the heat of the moment."

Spectators had run on to the court to join the battle but Coronel can't fathom the reasoning behind the ejection of Goulding and Sobey.

Fiba's verdict is pending although Coronel suspects the Philippines may be allowed to play the second-round qualifiers but lose the privilege of hosting any.

"They may have to play in an empty stadium to make sure you don't have an incident like that again," he says of the nation former Tall Blacks and Hawks coach Tab Baldwin mentored only a few years ago.

Coronel says the Filipino leagues tend to be more "unstable" where "all kinds of crazy stories" emerge and that was "par for the course" but it becomes intensified when Western countries are involved.

Ironically, he recalls a similar brawl with a touring Korean university team but says such scraps tend to be few and far in between.

It wasnot far-fetched to expect cases of manslaughter to followfrom such brawls becauseall it takes is for someone to fall awkwardly to become a fatality.

Oklahoma City Thunder will see the Boomers v Philippines brawl as a reaffirmation of why they are reluctant to release the likes of Steven Adams for international duties. Photo / File

However, Coronel says, the match officials also have to come under scrutiny for their inaction.

"I mean the referees have a lot of blame in this regard."

He feels that had the whistle-blowers acted on two initial fouls which ignited Kickert's stiff arm the blow-up may have been averted, although he does cut them some slack in the first transgression "on the play".

"But when that guard forearms Goulding that should have been unsportsmanlike and the refs should have been running in to stop the incident from occurring."

That, he argues, would have curtailed the need for Kickert to retaliate.

"It was probably excessive [of Kickert] but he was within his rights to address the player ... who had just assaulted one of his teammates."

Coronel says the Aussies redeemed themselves in ensuring the bench did not spill on to the court - TV footage shows a few calmer heads restraining a couple of players trying to enter the fracas.

"I mean you're not just going to sit back when someone's trying to assault your teammates."

He says their discipline reflects how much respect the Boomers have for their staff. Coronel says leaving the bench to engage in an on-court altercation warrants an automatic ejection.

He was surprised the referees had not called off the game rather than following the script to the letter of the law.

"It was a 31-point game and there was no doubt who was going to win."

The priority, he argues, should have been for officials to ensure the safety of the tourists rather than having to quell an emotionally charged arena of 3000 incensed spectators.

Brandt and his teammates caught a flight out the next morning, altering their schedules from Tuesday evening to exit the country immediately.

He says the Aussies would have stuck out like a sore thumb in Philippines and anything may have been possible in the age of social media to incite further violence.

Taylor Hawks Everard Bartlett (left) discusses the next plan of action with Aussie import Angus Brandt. Photo / Photosport

"If he was still using that kind of rhetoric, you know, that 'we won't back down' and all that kind of stuff with firing words probably indicates he did incite the incident."

He is immensely proud of Brandt and the Boomer culture that resonates with the ethos of the Hawks.

"I don't believe they would have had Angus in the team if they didn't believe he is a good person and a very good basketball player ... so it doesn't come as a surprise that he conducted himself really well."