2004–05 PBA Philippine Cup
| 2004–05 PBA Philippine Cup | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Duration | October 3, 2004 – February 11, 2005 |
| TV partner(s) |
ABC (Local) The Filipino Channel (International) |
| Finals | |
| Champions | Barangay Ginebra Kings |
| Runners-up | Talk 'N Text Phone Pals |
| Awards | |
| Best Player | Eric Menk (Brgy. Ginebra) |
| Finals MVP | Eric Menk (Brgy. Ginebra) |
| PBA Philippine Cup chronology | |
| PBA conference chronology | |
The 2004–05 PBA Philippine Cup, or known as the 2004-05 Gran Matador Brandy-PBA Philippine Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the All-Filipino Conference of the Philippine Basketball Association's (PBA) 2004-05 season.
The Barangay Ginebra Kings won its first back-to-back titles, with a 4-2 conquest of the Talk 'N Text Phone Pals. The series was marred by a controversial reversal of the Phone Pals' Game 1 victory after fielding in an ineligible Asi Taulava in the said game. Taulava was serving an indefinite suspension after being cited as one of six Filipino-American players with questionable citizenship papers.
The San Miguel Beermen won third place after beating the Shell Turbo Chargers in a one-game playoff.
Eric Menk won another Best Player of the Conference Award, his third in his PBA career.
Chot Reyes left his post as the Coca-Cola Tigers head coach to become the new coach of the Philippine national basketball team
Classification round
| Qualified for semifinals | |
| Qualified for wildcards with the twice-to-beat advantage | |
| Qualified for wildcards | |
| Qualified for wildcards with the twice-to-win disadvantage |
| # | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | PD | PO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barangay Ginebra Kings | 13 | 5 | .722 | - | ||
| 2 | Talk 'N Text Phone Pals | 12 | 6 | .667 | 1 | NA* |  |
| 3 | Shell Turbo Chargers | 12 | 6 | .667 | 1 | NA* |  |
| 4 | Alaska Aces | 9 | 9 | .500 | 4 | +16 | |
| 5 | San Miguel Beermen | 9 | 9 | .500 | 4 | +11 | |
| 6 | Purefoods TJ Hotdogs | 9 | 9 | .500 | 4 | -27 | |
| 7 | Coca-Cola Tigers | 8 | 10 | .444 | 5 | ||
| 8 | Sta. Lucia Realtors | 6 | 12 | .333 | 7 | +15 | |
| 9 | FedEx Express | 6 | 12 | .333 | 7 | +4 | |
| 10 | Red Bull Barako | 6 | 12 | .333 | 7 | -19 |
NA* = teams tied for 2nd and 4th would have to play an extra game regardless of the results of their classification round games.
Second-seed playoff
Fourth-seed playoff
Bracket
| Wildcard phase | Quarterfinals (Best-of-3) |
Semifinals (Best-of-5) |
Finals (Best-of-7) | ||||||||||||||||
| (#4 twice to beat) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Alaska | 96 | |||||||||||||||||
| 9 | FedEx | 93 | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Alaska | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| (Best-of-3) | 5 | San Miguel | 2 | 5 | San Miguel | 2 | |||||||||||||
| 5 | San Miguel | 2 | 1 | Barangay Ginebra | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| 8 | Sta. Lucia | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Barangay Ginebra | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| (#3 twice-to-beat) | 2 | Talk 'N Text | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Shell | 98 | |||||||||||||||||
| 10 | Red Bull | 77 | 2 | Talk 'N Text | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| 3 | Shell | 2 | 3 | Shell | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| (Best-of-3) | 6 | Purefoods | 1 | Third-place playoff | |||||||||||||||
| 6 | Purefoods | 2 | 5 | San Miguel | 105 | ||||||||||||||
| 7 | Coca-Cola | 1 | 3 | Shell | 100 | ||||||||||||||
Wildcard phase
The #3 vs. #10 and the #4 vs. #9 matchups are in the "twice-to-beat" format; the team with the higher seed only needs to win once to advance, but needs to be beaten twice in order to be eliminated. The other two matchups are a best-of-three series.
Shell–Red Bull series
Alaska–FedEx series
San Miguel–Sta. Lucia series
Purefoods–Coca-Cola series
Quarterfinals
Shell–Purefoods series
Alaska–San Miguel series
Semifinals
Barangay Ginebra–San Miguel series
Talk 'N Text–Shell series
Third-place playoff
Finals
January 30 |
| Scoring by quarter: 24-19, 22-18, 22-16, 21-18 | ||
| Pts: Jimmy Alapag 19 Rebs: Willie Miller 10 Asts: Willie Miller 8 |
Pts: Eric Menk 23 Rebs: Sunday Salvacion 13 Asts: Rodney Santos 4 | |
| PBA commissioner Noli Eala forfeited Game 1 in favor of Ginebra since Asi Taulava, who was still suspended by the league, participated in the game. | ||
| Barangay Ginebra leads series, 1-0 | ||
February 2 |
| Talk 'N Text Phone Pals 105, Barangay Ginebra Kings 106 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 32-35, 22-32, 24-22, 27-17 | ||
| Pts: Willie Miller 22 Rebs: Willie Miller 10 Asts: Willie Miller 10 |
Pts: Eric Menk 27 Rebs: Eric Menk 11 Asts: Mark Caguioa 6 | |
| Barangay Ginebra leads series, 2-0 | ||
February 4 |
| Talk 'N Text Phone Pals 102, Barangay Ginebra Kings 66 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 25-12, 29-20, 25-19, 23-15 | ||
| Pts: Willie Miller 25 Rebs: de Ocampo, Pablo 9 each Asts: Jimmy Alapag 6 |
Pts: Menk, Caguioa 14 each Rebs: Eric Menk 9 Asts: Aries Dimaunahan 8 | |
| Barangay Ginebra leads series, 2-1 | ||
February 6 |
| Talk 'N Text Phone Pals 90, Barangay Ginebra Kings 85 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 19-26, 22-21, 20-23, 29-15 | ||
| Pts: Willie Miller 29 Rebs: Yancy de Ocampo 10 Asts: Jimmy Alapag 8 |
Pts: Mark Caguioa 43 Rebs: Sunday Salvacion 12 Asts: Eric Menk 5 | |
| Talk 'N Text ties series, 2-2 | ||
February 9 |
| Talk 'N Text Phone Pals 85, Barangay Ginebra Kings 95 (2OT) | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 23-14, 9-19, 26-24, 15-16, Overtime: 8-8, 14-4 | ||
| Pts: Victor Pablo 27 Rebs: Victor Pablo 10 Asts: Jimmy Alapag 11 |
Pts: Mark Caguioa 26 Rebs: Eric Menk 16 Asts: Dimaunahan, Santos 6 each | |
| Barangay Ginebra leads series, 3-2 | ||
February 11 |
| Talk 'N Text Phone Pals 86, Barangay Ginebra Kings 96 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 14-20, 31-22, 12-22, 29-32 | ||
| Pts: Jimmy Alapag 23 Rebs: Mark Telan 12 Asts: Miller, Alapag 4 each |
Pts: Eric Menk 39 Rebs: Eric Menk 19 Asts: Caguioa, Santos 4 each | |
| Barangay Ginebra wins series, 4-2 | ||
On January 26, 2005, Judge Rogelio Pizarro of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 222 issued a writ of preliminary mandatory injunction "commanding and directing" the PBA to allow Taulava "to play in the current All Filipino Conference and succeeding Conferences of the PBA" during the term of his contract.[1] This was after Taulava passed citizenship papers that should've allowed him to play in the league; earlier, he was indefinitely suspended from playing after his Filipino citizenship was nullified (only Filipinos are allowed to play in the Philippine Cup).
The PBA Board of Governors refused to honor the court order, upholding Commissioner Noli Eala's suspension of Taulava after consultation with the league's legal counsel. Taulava's lawyer Ed Francisco charged Eala with giving the board wrong legal advice.[1] Taulava did play at Game 1, in which Talk 'N Text won easily 89-71. As Taulava was being introduced, the pro-Ginebra crowd jeered him as the outnumbered Talk 'N Text crowd greeted him with cheers, displaying placards with a message "Welcome Back!" Eala himself had considered quitting his commissioner's post as he received a phone call "to make sure that Asi Taulava be allowed to play". After the game, Barangay Ginebra filed a protest to the commissioner's office.[2] Talk 'N Text intends to play Taulava for the entire duration of the series.[3]
Barangay Ginebra reportedly indicated that the team may forfeit the Finals series if Taulava continues to be allowed to play and Game 1 won't be forfeited.[4] The league has issued a motion for reconsideration on the court order, and Eala said that Talk 'N Text may face sanctions for violating league rules.[5] In a board meeting on February 1, there was a "heated clash" between Eala and Talk 'N Text alternate representative Paul Gueco in which Gueco reportedly challenged Eala to make a decision on the Taulava case by himself and to tell Talk N Text what his decision was, a statement supported by board chairman Buddy Encarnado of the Sta. Lucia Realtors.[6]
Talk 'N Text did not field Taulava in Game 2 "in the interest of the Philippine Basketball Association and the public", even though Eala was filed of contempt charges, and Talk 'N Text's Game 1 win was forfeited against Ginebra.[7] Ginebra won against Talk 'N Text by one point, thanks to Eric Menk's last basket with 5.2 seconds left to play. Ginebra's defense disallowed an attempt from the Phone Pals leading to the 2–0 series lead.[8] Francisco pointed out that new rules and regulations covering the eligibility of Filipino-foreign players such as Taulava, who was declared eligible by the PBA based on the Bureau of Immigration clearance and Department of Justice (DOJ) affirmation in 2001, cannot be subject to additional rules or conditions imposed retroactively and any such changes can only be applied prospectively. The DOJ, for its part, considered on intervening and seek a reversal of the court’s ruling allowing the cager to play anew in the PBA despite the DOJ's findings that he is not a Filipino; although they won't intervene if the Court of Appeals would rule favorably on the justice department's petition seeking to lift an injunction against it issued by the Manila RTC on the separate issue of Taulava's deportation. DOJ Secretary Raul Gonzalez said that the rulings of the Quezon City and Manila RTC constitute "undue interference by the courts." Parañaque Congressman Eduardo Zialcita would seek a congressional inquiry into Eala's "continued defiance" on the court orders.[7]
Negros Oriental Congressman Jacinto Paras asked the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) to investigate Eala for his "questionable and dictatorial acts" as the PBA is under the direct jurisdiction of the GAB. Meanwhile, the Phone Pals appealed to the Board of Governors to reverse Eala's prior decisions of forfeiting game 1 and for the reinstatement of Taulava.[9] Meanwhile, with all of the publicity, the tournament scored the highest TV ratings in years, with ratings of at least 11% and an audience share of at least 17.4%.[10]
References
- 1 2 Nathanliesz, Ronnie (29 January 2005). "PBA faces legal battle". Manila Standard. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
- ↑ Caluag, Randy (31 January 2005). "Kings to file protest". Manila Standard. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
- ↑ "TNT lets Asi to play in finals". Manila Standard. 31 January 2005. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
- ↑ Nathanliesz, Ronnie (1 February 2005). "Kings may forfeit series". Manila Standard. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
- ↑ "PBA decides on protest". Manila Standard. 1 February 2005. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
- ↑ Nathanliesz, Ronnie (2 February 2005). "Heated clash at PBA board meeting". Manila Standard. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
- 1 2 Nathanliesz, Ronnie (3 February 2005). "Contempt charges vs Eala; Asi not playing". Manila Standard. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
- ↑ "Menk lifts Kings to 2-0 lead over Phone Pals". PBA.ph. 3 February 2005. Archived from the original on February 18, 2005. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
- ↑ Caluag, Randy; Nathanielsz, Ronnie; Evangelista, Romie (4 February 2005). "Asi lands PBA on carpet". Manila Standard. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
- ↑ "PBA enjoys high TV ratings". Manila Standard. 4 February 2005. Retrieved 29 January 2009.