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SEASON OF CELEBRATION KICKS OFF NOV. 17
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SYDNEY – The Philippine Basketball Association celebrates the resurgence of the country in Asian basketball with grand festivities on opening day of its Season 39 highlighted by three matches in Manila, Cebu and Davao on Nov. 17.
Talk n Text opens its quest for a Philippine Cup “four-peat” versus Meralco at the New Cebu Coliseum while newly crowned Governors’ Cup champ San Mig Coffee tests the mettle of a new-look Barangay Ginebra San Muguel team at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The innovative PBA inaugurals also feature a game in Davao City pitting Commissioner’s Cup titleholder Alaska versus Rain or Shine.
This grand Season 39 opening-day extravaganza, the season calendar and import ceilings in the second and third conferences were among those approved on the continuation of the planning session by the PBA Board of Governors at The Westin here Wednesday.
On the sideline of the summit Wednesday morning, GlobalPort and Petron Blaze closed a trade deal involving guards Chris Ross and Denok Miranda.
Ross left the Batang Pier camp without playing a single regular PBA game with the Mikee Romero-owned ball club. GlobalPort acquired Ross in an earlier trade transaction with Meralco.
New PBA Board chairman Mon Segismundo vowed they would leave no stone unturned as they try to sustain the league’s incredible run in a year marked by the country’s return stint in the world championship.
He said several innovations and landmark activities are in store for the season, including the send-off for Gilas Pilipinas that competes in the 17th FIBA World Cup in Spain in September next year.
Of course, members of the national squad play for their respective PBA mother teams before regrouping as a band of brothers for the world meet –the country’s first in 36 years.
The league plays four play days (Sundays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays) a week in a calendar purposely cramped by the Commissioner’s Office to give the Nationals some time to prepare for a respectable showing in Spain.
Segismundo is hopeful Gilas Pilipinas will land in the Top 16.
It’s still a three-conference season featuring a long all-Filipino tourney and the two import-laced sprints (the Commissioner’s and the Governors’ Cups).
The height ceilings for imports allow the return of Best Import winners Eric Dozier (Alaska) and Marqus Blakely (San Mig Coffee).
The Commissioner’s Cup limit is 6-foot-9 and the Governors’ Cup cap remains at 6-foot-5.
An innovation in height limit for imports in the second conference is the “equalizer rule.”
“To further equalize or balance the strength of the 10 teams, the last two placers in the Philippine Cup will be allowed to field an import with a limit of 6-foot-11 in the Commissioner’s Cup,” said commissioner Chito Salud.
For the record, the league allowed imports of unlimited height in the Commissioner’s Cup in the last two years.
The Philippine Cup calls for an inter-intra competition in the eliminations where competing teams play 14 games each. The top eight advance to the playoffs.
It also calls for the division of the 10 teams into two groups. Groupmates play just once and play teams from the other group twice. Air21, Alaska, Barangay Ginebra, Petron and Rain or Shine make up Group A while Barako Bull, GlobalPort, Meralco, San Mig Coffee and Talk n Text compose Group B.
It’s the same format used in the last Philippine Cup which ended with Talk n Text completing “an All-Filipino three-peat” on a four-game sweep of Rain or Shine in the Finals. (SB)
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EDITORS' PICK
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