The Year in Sports: Parity highlights PBA’s banner season

(Editor's note: The Yahoo! Philippines Sports team looks back at 2013's memorable moments in sports with a series of year-end articles on the topics and events that had the biggest impact on our readers.)

Three different conferences, three different champions, six different teams making the championship round – could the PBA’s 38th season have ushered in an era of true parity in a league where some teams are always perennial favorites to win it all? Perhaps. The variety of matchups, the numbers, and the award-winners from almost every team, show that there were numerous standouts in an outstanding season for the PBA.

In what could be considered the “longest season” in PBA history (the First Conference started on 30 September 2012, and the Third Conference ended on 25 October 2013), we saw a little of everything, from outstanding rookies, proven veterans, up-and-coming superstars, excellent plays, outside gunners, inside operators, heart-stopping game-endings and heartbreakers, blowouts, hefty fines, suspensions, comebacks, retirements, and coaching duels. There was much drama, lots of thrill and suspense, some comedy, and, on top of it all, a large dose of love/hate and romance among players and teams, and necessarily, between the league and its legions of fans.

The Philippine Cup

After a star-studded opening ceremony with beautiful muses for each team, led by Anne Curtis, to get the season started, the Philippine Cup was underway, with two-time defending champion Talk ‘N Text ready to defend its title once more. All throughout the conference, TNT, led by emerging superstar Jayson Castro (who would later be named Player of the Conference) and a group of battle-tested veterans, proved to be the toughest nut to crack among the league’s ten teams, finishing the eliminations with the top record of twelve wins against two losses. The San Mig Coffee Mixers ended up at second place (10-4), with Rain or Shine landing at third (9-5). The debuting GlobalPort Batang Pier, on the other hand, could only win one of its fourteen elimination-round games in a tough maiden conference, and was eliminated together with ninth-place Barako Bull Energy (4-10).

TNT was on a mission to “three-peat” and it quickly dispatched of Air 21 in a single game quarterfinal matchup. The Texters, though, had a tough time in what was a sign of things to come, in the semifinal round against the Alaska Aces, which had beaten Meralco in a quarterfinal sweep under young coach Luigi Trillo. Alaska, with a nice mix of veterans injected with the energy of rookie Calvin Abueva, gave TNT all it could handle, before the defending champs pulled out a four games to two series victory to make it to the Finals once more. On the other side of the brackets, powerful but seemingly perplexed Petron had exited in the quarters, losing to San Mig, which was matched up in the semis against Rain or Shine, which had disposed of Barangay Ginebra in three games in the quarters. San Mig succumbed to the physical Elastopainters also in six games, and the Philippine Cup Finals matchup was set.

Rain or Shine seemed to have the perfect lineup to match up with TNT in the best-of-seven Finals, and fans eagerly anticipated how the defending champions could withstand the highly-physical, unpredictable style of Coach Yeng Guiao’s team. However, the outstanding TNT lineup declined to engage its opponent in anything other than just basketball, and went on to grab the first game by six, 87-81, the second by eight, 89-81, then the third by nine, 89-80. Desperate to avoid a sweep, Rain or Shine dug deep and competed even harder in game four, but Finals MVP Ranidel de Ocampo towed the rest of his team to a convincing twenty-three point victory, 105-82, a sweep of the series and another repeat as Philippine Cup champs.

The Commissioner’s Cup

Less than a month later, in February 2013, the Commissioner’s Cup began. Teams were allowed one import each with no height limit. Alaska rode its Philippine Cup semifinal momentum by leading the team standings throughout the conference, with unspectacular but steady import Rob Dozier, who would be named the conference’s Best Import, finishing the elims at 11-3. Early on, though, Petron Blaze, with NBA veteran Renaldo Balkman as import, was asserting itself and looked to be the frontrunner. Unfortunately, Balkman went berserk after a lousy performance against the Aces, pushing a referee, an assistant coach, teammate Ronald Tubid, and, finally, did the “choke heard ‘round the world” on his own teammate, Arwind Santos, which resulted in his lifetime ban from the PBA, sending Petron’s title hopes on a downward spiral. Again, GlobalPort and Barako made early exits, while the other seven teams won from six to nine games and ended bunched up in the middle of the standings.

Alaska eliminated Air 21 quickly, then defeated the comebacking Denzel Bowles-led San Mig (which had beaten Meralco) in the semis to clinch a Finals slot. The other semis matchup was between TNT, which had swept Petron, and Barangay Ginebra, which swept ROS, despite both being the lower seeds in the quarters. Ginebra, behind high-leaping import Vernon Macklin and eventual Player of the Conference LA Tenorio, outlasted TNT in the full five games to make the Finals a gin versus milk matchup.

Despite the high expectations of the Ginebra faithful, which came out in droves for all the Finals games, Alaska was not to be denied. In a masterful, tactical performance, the Aces swept the Gin Kings by an average of more than eighteen points a game, bringing Alaska back to its former championship glory and giving Trillo his first PBA title. The Boss, Sonny Thoss, was a dominant post-presence in all three games and was named Finals MVP.

The league took an almost three-month break to make way for the 2013 FIBA Asia Championships, which were held in Manila from 01 to 11 August 2013. Gilas Pilipinas, composed of PBA stars, including the two Players of the Conference at that point, Castro and Tenorio, performed admirably, garnering the silver medal and a seat in the FIBA World Cup in 2014.

The Governors’ Cup

Just days after FIBA Asia ended, the Governors’ Cup was underway, but with a shortened format due to the delayed start. Teams would only play nine elimination round games, instead of fourteen as in the first two conferences. Teams were allowed one import not taller than 6’5. Some teams that lent players to Gilas Pilipinas got off to slow starts as such players took some time off to rest and recover. TNT, in particular, had a terrible conference as five of its players had competed in FIBA Asia, injuries beset some others, and neither of the two imports the team brought in seemed to fit. TNT and Air 21 were eliminated first, as Barako and GlobalPort finally made the playoffs.

Petron, with Elijah Millsap (the NBA’s Paul’s younger brother) as import, and new coach Gee Abanilla at the helm, seemed to have put past troubles behind it, and emerged on top of the standings (8-1). San Mig finished second (6-3) despite losing its first three games, while the rest of the playoff teams were, again, bunched up. Petron kept its momentum in the playoffs as it knocked out Ginebra and, surprisingly, ROS (which had beaten GlobalPort) with ease, making it to the Finals in what many thought would be a simple formality. San Mig, however, struggled against Alaska before prevailing in the quarters, then beat Meralco (which had beaten Barako) in a hard-fought four games, to set up a Finals showdown with the heavily-favored Blaze Boosters.

Even San Mig fans I spoke to before the series tipped-off told me they expected their team to win maybe a game or two, but knew how powerful Petron was, especially with giant June Mar Fajardo in the middle and MVP-race leader Arwind Santos, among others, flanking him. In Game 1, Petron showed its might and won by sixteen. Not much surprise from most observers. However, when San Mig grabbed Game Two, 100-93, more people started paying attention, a glimmer of hope shined through for San Mig fans and the Coffee Mixers themselves seemed to have renewed vigor. Unlike in the first two conferences, there would not be any sweep here. Petron pulled away to win in Game 3, but San Mig squeaked out a Game 4 win, evening the series. San Mig thoroughly outplayed Petron late in Game 5 to take back-to-back wins and the series lead, and nobody counted them out anymore. Petron grabbed Game 6, to set up a winner-take-all Game 7.

Player of the Conference Santos, who was named season MVP prior to Game 5, was having a horrible series, but vowed to bounce back. Two-time MVP James Yap was not having one much better. Fajardo was producing monster numbers, but the much-smaller Marc Pingris was up to the task of matching his Gilas frontcourt-mate. Though both teams truly battled, Petron’s outside shots would not fall, the ball seemed to fall San Mig’s way, and nobody could match the intensity and energy of Pingris. Up until Game 5, Mark Barroca was the prime Finals MVP candidate for San Mig, but Pingris left it all on the floor in the decider, falling to the floor as San Mig scored what many will consider an upset for the ages. Balik-import Marqus Blakely, the Best Import winner, who said he had unfinished business after losing a year before, teamed with Pingris in a two-pronged hustle attack that would not be denied. Coach Tim Cone had set a record for the most championships (tied with Baby Dalupan) and won his second with San Mig.

The PBA enjoyed an excellent season as far as attendance, gate receipts and TV ratings are concerned. Congratulations go out to all the 38th Season champions and award winners. All three conferences had their share of outstanding match-ups that will be featured years from now as among the Greatest Games. The images of the 38th Season of the PBA will remain etched in the minds of the PBA faithful, even as the current 39th Season is already creating lots of buzz, with more new talent coming aboard like Terrence Romeo and Greg Slaughter, and the early emergence of veterans like Japeth Aguilar, Marcio Lassiter, and John Wilson. The PBA and its fans have much to look forward to this season after a banner 38th.

You can follow Charlie on Twitter @CharlieC.

Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.