Philippine Basketball Association

Vorlage:Distinguish2 Vorlage:Otheruses4 Vorlage:Infobox sports league The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a professional basketball league in the Philippines founded in 1975. It is the first and the oldest professional basketball league in Asia and the second oldest existing professional basketball league in the world after the United States' National Basketball Association (NBA). The league's rules are patterned after the FIBA and the National Basketball Association.

Season format

From 1975-2003, a season was usually composed of three conferences (tournaments). From the 1993 season, the conferences were named All Filipino, Commissioner's and Governors Cups, usually ending in a best-of-7 Finals series match wherein the winner takes the Conference Cup. If the same team wins all of the conferences, the team is said to be the "Grand Slam" champion. A draft was held on January.

In 2004, Commissioner Noli Eala introduced drastic changes to the season calendar. He reduced the number of conferences from three to two and changed the start of the season from February to October, so that the league can accommodate international tournaments that were frequently held from June to September. Another reason for the change in schedule was the popularity of college hoops, the NCAA and the UAAP, whose basketball season runs from June to October each year.

The first tournament is the Philippine Cup, which is held from October to February the following year, where only locals are allowed to play. The second tournament is the Fiesta Conference, held from March to June, teams are allowed to field one foreign player called an ("import"). The Philippine Cup is identical to the All-Filipino Conference of the previous seasons. The rookie draft is now usually held every July.

Teams

Current teams

Name	Season joined	Team colors	Company	Titles
Air21 Express	2002	Indigo and white	Airfreight 2100, Inc.	0
Alaska Aces	1986	Red, black and white	Alaska Milk Corporation	11
Barangay Ginebra Kings	1979	Red and white	Ginebra San Miguel, Inc.*	7
Coca-Cola Tigers	2002	Red and white	Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc.	2
Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants	1988	Red, navy and white	San Miguel-Purefoods Co., Inc.*	7
Red Bull Barako	2000	Red, yellow and white	Photokina Marketing Corporation	3
San Miguel Beermen	1975**	Crimson, white and black	San Miguel Beer Division*	17
Sta. Lucia Realtors	1993	Green and white	Sta. Lucia Realty	1
Talk 'N Text Phone Pals	1990	Yellow, blue and white	Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company	1
Welcoat Dragons	2006-07	Midnight blue and white	Asian Coatings Philippines	0

* San Miguel Corporation subsidiaries.
**Left on the 1985 season, returned on the 1987 season.

Defunct teams

The most prominent defunct teams are the Crispa Redmanizers and the Toyota Super Corollas.

Guest teams

UBC Thunderbirds (Canada) (2004 PBA Fiesta Conference)
U.S. Mail and More Pro-Am Selection (U.S.A.) (2004 PBA Fiesta Conference)
Yonsei University (South Korea) (2003 Invitational)
Magnolia Jilin Tigers (China) (2003 Invitational)
Novi Sad Amateur Selection (Yugoslavia) (2003 Invitational)
Northern Consolidated (1985 PBA Reinforced Conference Champions)
Philippine national basketball team (On various occasions, 1984-2003)
Emtex (Brazil) (1977)
Ramrod (Australia) (1977)
Nicholas Stoodley (U.S.A.) (1980 PBA Invitational Champions)
Adidas (France) (1980)
Nicholas Stoodley (South Korea) (1982)

Important people

Commissioners

Players

Most of the league's present star players are also members of Philippine national team. Within a 30-year historical period, Filipino basketball fans have seen the likes of Samboy Lim, Allan Caidic, Hector Calma, Ramon Fernandez, Robert Jaworski, Alvin Patrimonio, Vergel Meneses and Danny Ildefonso take centerstage. Ramon Fernandez and Alvin Patrimonio are prominent names, as they are the only players to win four Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards.

On the other hand, Vergel Meneses is the only player to win four All-Star MVP awards while Danny Ildefonso is the only player to have won five Philippine Basketball Association Best Player of the Conference Awards.

The league awards the MVP award since 1975 and the Rookie of the Year award since 1976. Other lesser awards are handed out at the end of the season; the Best Player and Best Import of the Conference awards are handed out at the end of the conferences.

PBA champions

The San Miguel Beermen currently is the winningest team, with 17 championships. Among disbanded teams, the Crispa Redmanizers have the most championships, with 13, while rival Toyota Super Corollas ended with nine.

The Barangay Ginebra Kings won the latest conference, the 2006-07 PBA Philippine Cup, their seventh championship.

Rivalries

Team encounters are a natural phenomenon in the PBA, and this sometimes results in soaring ticket sales. The most famous matchup was the Crispa-Toyota rivalry of the 1970s. Fans faithfully supported their favorite squads, and had appeared in the multitudes at the Araneta Coliseum, or wherever the archrivals had met. In those days, the players were very passionate. On one occasion, they had engaged in a major brawl. Players from both clubs were arrested and detained for one night in jail.

Other famous contests include:

Crispa vs Great Taste
Ginebra vs Purefoods (late-1980s rivalry, both are now sister teams)
Añejo/Ginebra vs Shell (early-1990s rivalry)
Purefoods vs San Miguel Beer (1990s All-Filipino Conference rivalry)
Añejo vs San Miguel Beer (late-1980s rivalry)
Ginebra/Gordon's Gin vs Alaska (late-1990s rivalry)
Ginebra vs Red Bull (current rivalry as both teams met numerous times in the playoffs)
Purefoods vs Red Bull (2005-06, both teams met twice in the Finals)
Talk n' Text/Mobiline vs. Ginebra (perhaps the most watched match-up in 2004 and 2005.)

Media coverage

The PBA had been covered by television, as well as other media since its opening day. Their current TV partner is the Associated Broadcasting Company.

Current season

Vorlage:PBAseason2

External links

Vorlage:PBA Vorlage:Bb start Vorlage:International basketball Vorlage:Prohoops Vorlage:Basketball in the Philippines Vorlage:Bb end