Coach challenge gains ground

MANILA, Philippines — Five-time PBA champion coach Dante Silverio never got a taste of the Head Coach Challenge (HCC) when he called the shots for Toyota in 1975-79 and Shell in 1987-89 but said it’s an innovation that’s good for the game. Silverio, 87, gave his thumbs-up on the rule when asked about it during a lull at the recent 50 Greatest Players Selection Committee’s second meeting in the PBA office, Libis. Aside from his five PBA titles, Silverio is credited with six runner-up finishes. He said the challenge allows officials to make the right calls after review and isn’t meant to disparage referees.

HCC was introduced on experiment during the PBA OnTour series in 2023 and applied starting last season. In the previous conference, there were 108 challenges in 94 games. Of the 108 challenges, 42 were successful or a rate of 38.9 percent. The teams that had the most successful challenges were Rain or Shine, San Miguel Beer and Ginebra with six each. The breakdown of challenges per quarter was 14.8 percent in the first, 25 percent in the second, 26.9 percent in the third and 33.3 percent in the fourth.

In the NBA, the challenge rule was instituted in 2019 when the success rate was 44 percent. This season as of last week, the success rate has increased to 61 percent with the New York Knicks topping the list at 79.4 percent. The breakdown of challenges is 12 percent in the first quarter and 39 percent in the fourth.

PBA deputy commissioner Eric Castro said there’s always pressure on the referees to make the right calls. “Nobody wants to make mistakes especially with the HCC,” he said. So far in the ongoing Commissioner’s Cup, there have been 142 challenges after 93 games with 60 successful or a rate of 42.3 percent. The uphold rate is 57.7 percent compared to the NBA’s 39 percent.