Jay R. Gotera
Saudi Gazette
MANILA — The 40th season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) opens Sunday with the Philippine Cup blockbuster match between the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings and the Talk N Text Tropang Texters following the clash between the league’s two new teams, the Manny Pacquiao-led Kia Sorento and the Blackwater Elite.
The games will be held in the Philippine Arena, considered as the world’s largest multi-purpose indoor arena located in Bulacan province with a 55,000-seating capacity.
Since the PBA now has 12 squads, there will be more regular season games with five playdates a week — Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
Each of the teams will play a minimum of 11 regular season games in each of the single-round-robin elimination phase of the Philippine Cup, the Commissioner’s Cup and the Governors’ Cup.
The PBA Board of Governors has tweaked the formats of the three conferences. After the elims in the Philippine Cup, the top two automatically advance to the semifinals and the bottom two are eliminated. The third-ranked team up to 10th seed will engage in separate playoff matchups – with 3 vs. 10, 4 against 9, 5 opposite 8 and 6 vs. 7. The higher seeds will enjoy twice-to-beat advantage. The winners advance to the best-of-seven semifinals. The finals will also be a best-of-seven series.
In the Commissioner’s Cup, the four lowest ranked teams get eliminated outright. The top eight advance to the quarters with teams No. 1 and No. 2 having a twice-to-beat advantage as they go up against teams No. 8 and No. 7, respectively. The middle teams (No. 3 vs. No. 6 and No. 4 vs. No. 5) battle in best-of-three series. The winners fight in a best-of-five semis, and then the two winners will slug it out in a best-of-seven finals.
The season-ending Governors’ Cup will have the same format as the Commissioner’s Cup.
If all the playoffs go the distance, the season will end on Aug. 7, 2015.
Four teams have largely kept their roster intact. They include the reigning grand slam champion San Mig Super Coffee Mixers, who will carry their iconic Purefoods brand once again.
They will now be called the Purefoods Hotshots. Two-time league MVP James Yap, Peter June Simon, Marc Pingris, Joe Devance and Mark Barroca will be back to try and lead the Hotshots for a fifth straight crown.
San Miguel Beer only added former San Sebastian wingman Ronald Pascual to its already-loaded lineup. New coach Leo Austria said Pascual will give the Beermen the depth in the small forward position, to complement MVP center June Mar Fajardo and Fil-Am gunners Chris Lutz and Marcio Lassiter.
The Barangay Ginebra Kings also only had one new acquisition — former Adamson bruiser Rodney Brondial.
At the end of the last season, they also got Joseph Yeo in a trade with the NLEX Road Warriors. The Kings will once again be led by LA Tenorio, Greg Slaughter, Japeth Aguilar, Chris Ellis, Mac Baracael and team captain Mark Caguioa.
The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters will also have just one rookie in Jericho Cruz who will join the solid core group of Paul Lee, Gabe Norwood, Jeff Chan, and Beau Belga. Talk N Text will be missing the services of team captain Jimmy Alapag, who has been relegated to the injured list after leading the Gilas national squad to the FIBA and Asian Games championships. Jayson Castro, another Texter who suffered an injury in the FIBA Cup, is also on the injured list. To compensate somehow, the Texters have reacquired 6-foot-7 forward Jay Washington.
TNT also added rookie standout Matt Ganuelas-Rosser and veteran frontline Larry Rodriguez to its roster. Top pick Stanley Pringle will see action for the first time as GlobalPort Batang Pier tangles with the NLEX Road Warriors on Oct. 21.
