2008–09 PBA Philippine Cup

2008–09 PBA Philippine Cup
Duration	October 4, 2008 – February 11, 2009
TV partner(s)	C/S9, Basketball TV (Local) The Filipino Channel (International)
Finals
Champions	Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters
Runners-up	Alaska Aces
Awards
Best Player	Willie Miller (Alaska Aces)
Finals MVP	Mark Cardona (Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters)
PBA Philippine Cup chronology
< 2007–08 2009–10 >
PBA conference chronology
< 2008 Fiesta 2009 Fiesta >

The 2008-09 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup or known as the 2008-09 KFC PBA Philippine Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the first conference of the 2008-09 PBA season. The tournament started on October 4, 2008, and ended on February 11, 2009. The new conference will have games on Thursdays and Saturdays. The tournament is an All-Filipino format, which bans an import or a pure-foreign player for each team.

The tournament featured the first ever regular season game played in Singapore. It was played at the Singapore Indoor Stadium between the Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters and the San Miguel Beermen on November 30.^[1]

The following format was observed for the duration of the conference:

• Double-round robin eliminations; 18 games per team; Teams are then seeded by basis on win–loss records. Ties are broken among points differences of the tied teams if the teams are not tied for #2, #5 or #9. If tied on those seeds, an extra game will be played to determine which team clinches the higher seed.
• Teams seeded #6 vs # 9 and #7 vs # 8 both games is knock out then winner of both games advance the next knock out games to determine witch teams go to quarterfinals
• #3, #4 and #5 teams automatically advance to the best of three quarterfinals:
  • #3 team vs. winner of knockout wildcard
  • #4 vs. #5 teams
• #1 and #2 teams automatically advance to the best of seven semifinals:
  • Winner of first quarterfinal vs. #1
  • Winner of second quarterfinal vs. #2
• The winners in the semifinals advance to the best-of-seven Finals. The losers dispute the third-place trophy in a one-game playoff.

Pos	Team v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	Alaska Aces	12	6	.667	—	Advance to semifinals
2	Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters	11	7	.611	1
3	Barangay Ginebra Kings	10	8	.556[a]	2	Advance to quarterfinals
4	Rain or Shine Elasto Painters	10	8	.556[a]	2
5	Sta. Lucia Realtors	10	8	.556[a]	2
6	San Miguel Beermen	9	9	.500	3	Advance to wildcard round
7	Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants	8	10	.444[b]	4
8	Air21 Express	8	10	.444[b]	4
9	Coca-Cola Tigers	7	11	.389	5
10	Red Bull Barako	5	13	.278	7

In a battle of the two teams owned by the San Miguel Corporation, the Beermen escaped with a one-point win at game 1. The Kings averted elimination when the Beermen collapsed at Game 2, but Dondon Hontiveros lead the charge at game 3's fourth quarter to prevent a second-consecutive PBA championship for Ginebra as the Beermen closed out the Kings in a sold-out Cuneta Astrodome.

In their first playoff appearance since joining the league in 2006, the Elasto Painters were overwhelmed in Game 1 by the defending champions, who played with the comebacking Ryan Reyes who just came from injury. Fracas involving Rain or Shine's Gabe Norwood and Solomon Mercado at the end of the first game caused Norwood to be suspended in Game 2, and Mercado on Game 3 if it happens. The short-handed Elasto Painters wound up short in Game 2 as they were eliminated.

In a rematch of the 2007-08 semifinals series, the Aces won two consecutive game to lead the series 2–0. However, the Realtors won Game 3 to cut the series lead. But Alaska, seeking to prevent what happened last year, won Game 4 to take a commanding 3–1 series lead. Sta. Lucia won Game 5 but they came out short in Game 6 with Willie Miller having an all-around performance to lead the Aces to a rematch of the 2007 PBA Fiesta Conference Finals against Talk 'N Text.

Unlike the other semifinal which was a slow defensive battle, the Talk 'N Text–San Miguel matchup was a high-scoring offensive-minded series, with both teams passing the century mark in all of the games. The Texters walloped the winded Beermen in Game 1 with a 29-point win, but the Beermen were able to get even with a Game 2 victory. The Texters escaped at Game 3 thanks to Jimmy Alapag's clutch baskets, despite Hontiveros' 39-point explosion.

In a do-or-die Game 5, Marc Pingris and former Talk 'N Text player Jay Washington had double-double efforts to prevent the Texters from barging in the Finals. With Yancy de Ocampo was suspended after committing a flagrant foul-penalty 2 against Danny Seigle in Game 6, his brother Ranidel was ejected in the second quarter with the same offense. The game was close until the third quarter when the Texters made a run, but the Beermen tied the game at the end of the fourth quarter; Alapag missed a go-ahead tree-pointer as time expired to force overtime. With 1:57 left in overtime, Washington scored on a put-back to put SMB up 115–113. On the next possession, Mark Cardona converted his own three-pointer to put TNT up 116–115. Washington missed a short stab, and Harvey Carey missed his own shot at the other end. Ali Peek tapped the ball, and Cardona grabbed it as time expired, to lead the Texters into the Finals.

• Finals MVP: Mark Cardona (Talk 'N Text)
• Best Player of the Conference: Willie Miller (Alaska Aces)^[2]
• Players of the Week:
  • October 4–5: Solomon Mercado (Rain or Shine Elasto Painters)
  • October 6–12: Junjun Cabatu (Barangay Ginebra Kings)
  • October 13–19: Jay Washington (San Miguel Beermen) and Willie Miller (Alaska Aces)
  • October 20–26: Asi Taulava (Coca-Cola Tigers)
  • October 27 – November 2: James Yap and Kerby Raymundo (Purefoods TJ Giants)
  • November 3–9: Gary David (Air21 Express)
  • November 10–16: Mark Cardona (Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters)
  • November 17–23: Joseph Yeo (Sta. Lucia Realtors) and Ronjay Buenafe (Coca-Cola Tigers)
  • November 24–30: Jimmy Alapag (Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters)
  • December 1 – 7: Ranidel de Ocampo (Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters)
  • December 8–14: Jeffrei Chan (Red Bull Barako)
  • December 15–21: John Arigo (Coca-Cola Tigers) and Joseph Yeo (Sta. Lucia Realtors)
  • December 22–28: Ranidel de Ocampo (Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters)
  • December 29 – January 4: Bonbon Custodio (San Miguel Beermen)
  • January 5–11: Dondon Hontiveros (San Miguel Beermen)
  • January 12–18: Jimmy Alapag (Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters)
  • January 19–25: Mark Cardona (Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters)

Records marked with an asterisk (*) were accomplished with one or more overtime periods.

Record	Stat	Holder	Date/s
Longest winning streak	5	Sta. Lucia Realtors	December 11 – January 13
Longest losing streak	8	Red Bull Barako	November 2 – December 14
Most points in one quarter	42	Sta. Lucia Realtors vs. Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters (4th Quarter)	October 12, 2008
Biggest winning margin	29	San Miguel Beermen 118, Barangay Ginebra Kings 89	October 22, 2008
		Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters 129, San Miguel Beermen 100	January 14, 2009

Record	Stat	Holder	Date/s
Most points in one game	42	Mark Cardona (Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters) vs. Red Bull Barako	November 16, 2008
Most points in one half	30	Gary David (Air21 Express) vs. San Miguel Beermen	November 5, 2008
Most points in one quarter	19	Gary David (Air21 Express) vs. San Miguel Beermen	November 5, 2008
Most rebounds in one game	25	Asi Taulava (Coca-Cola Tigers) vs. Air21 Express	November 15, 2008
Most assists in one game	12	LA Tenorio (Alaska Aces) vs. Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters	February 6, 2009
Most blocks in one game	6	Mike Hrabak (Red Bull Barako) vs. Purefoods TJ Giants	October 8, 2008
		J.R. Quiñahan (Air21 Express) vs. Brgy. Ginebra Kings	December 5, 2008
Most steals in one game	6	Bonbon Custodio (San Miguel Beermen) vs. Red Bull Barako	December 6, 2008
Most 3 point FG made in one game	8	3 Tied	3 Occasions
Most minutes played in one game	50*	James Yap (Purefoods TJ Giants) vs. Coca-Cola Tigers	October 15, 2008
		Asi Taulava (Coca-Cola Tigers) vs Purefoods TJ Giants	October 15, 2008

Category	Player	Team	Stat	GP
Points per game	Mark Cardona	Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters	22.32	22
Rebounds per game	Asi Taulava	Coca-Cola Tigers	13.00	16
Assists per game	Alex Cabagnot	Coca-Cola Tigers	5.69	16
Steals per game	Ryan Reyes	Sta. Lucia Realtors	2.07	15
Blocks per game	J.R. Quiñahan	Air21 Express	2.00	19
Field goal percentage	Willy Wilson	Barangay Ginebra Kings	.548	21
Free throw percentage	Olsen Racela	San Miguel Beermen	.913	26
Three-point field goal percentage	Mark Macapagal	Coca-Cola Tigers	.477	19

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