The tweet comes as the TNT Tropang Giga and the San Miguel Beermen suffered losses in the EASL.
"And they thought playing here was easy..."
It was the tweet that sparked a heated debate on Thursday night, as the San Miguel Beermen suffered an opening game loss in the East Asia Super League Champions Week.
With the Beermen losing June Mar Fajardo early in the ball game and effectively the rest of the competition after hurting his knee, Carl Tamayo and the Ryukyu Golden Kings of Japan dominated the match, 96-68.
That result came just a day after the TNT Tropang Giga also suffered a blowout loss against another Japanese team, the Utsunomiya Brex, 99-66.
The back-to-back defeats prompted Thirdy Ravena to post this tweet.
SMB point guard Chris Ross, fresh off that loss and who had just lauded Gilas Pilipinas last Monday, responded to the national team player.
"No need to bring anyone down. You have no clue what’s going on over here bro chill," he said.
The younger Ravena then clarified that he was not throwing shade at San Miguel and TNT. He said he was talking about the fans who criticized players for choosing to play in Japan and South Korea instead of the Philippines.
"Big bro, ain't talking down on nobody. My dad's in one of those teams, why would I?" Ravena explained while pertaining to his dad, Bong, who serves as an assistant coach for TNT.
"I'm not even throwing shade at the PBA," he added.
"That tweet is for all the Filipino basketball fans who discredit and hate on some of us for being out here, especially me and my bro."
Ravena started the exodus of young Filipino ballers by playing for the San-en NeoPhoenix in the Japan B.League.
Right now, there are eight Pinoy players in the first division—the latest being Kai Sotto signing up with the Hiroshima Dragonflies. There are many more in the second division and even in the Korean Basketball League.
Greg Slaughter, who plays for the Rizing Zephyr Fukuoka in the second divison of the B.League, appears to have weighed in, too.
Matthew Aquino, who is part of the Shinshu Brave Warriors and even played for Japan in the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, had to react. The son of PBA legend Marlou Aquino later deleted the tweet.
Coach Charles Tiu, who experienced several setbacks himself with the Strong Group Philippines during the Dubai International Basketball Championship, chimed in.
"Ain’t as easy to win international games," he said.
Ross explained that the Beermen only had a fairly short amount of time playing with their imports.
"It’s not [easy]," he replied to Tiu's tweet, "But health and the right imports help as well," Ross said.
"These teams have their imports all season. We’ve played with Cam [Clark] for a month and Jessie [Govan] for 5 days. Come on now!"
Tiu did acknowledge that the Beermen played without their key player in Fajardo, but raised the question whether the PBA is lagging behind other leagues in the region.
"But during the last EASL, you guys were the best team in the PH by far, and we fell short, but it's still a good achievement," the coach said.
"While now, all our PBA teams got destroyed which is worrisome... Are other leagues getting better than ours?"