MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine Basketball Association hopes to heighten the excitement by eliminating two teams per tournament when the Philippine Cup takes the lid off the league’s 36th Season on Oct. 3 at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
Asia’s first play-for-pay league, reeling from spiraling television ratings and live gate receipts, will re-adopt an old format in the elimination round in order to eliminate low-energy matches and forge tougher game days.
The past seasons saw just the tail-ending team getting the boot after the long elimination round. The wild-card series preceded the actual start of the playoffs.
Starting with the Philippine Cup, the last two teams in the standings will get the boot and all the others will advance to the quarterfinals, with the two teams with the best record needing just a win each to gain the Final Four.
Such was the tried and tested formula that the PBA adopted in its strongest years.
The No. 1 and No. 2 teams will draw the eight- and seventh-ranked teams, respectively in the quarterfinals, with the lower-ranked squads needing two straight wins to make it to the next phase.
The other quarterfinal pairings will have No. 3 clashing with No. 6 and No. 4 colliding with No. 5 in best-of-three series with the winner of the No. 3 vs No. 6 matchup marching on to face the winner of the No. 2 vs No. 7 quarterfinal pairing.
Newcomer Meralco, under Ryan Gregorio, will start the ball rolling when the B-Boys battle crowd-darling Barangay Ginebra in the only game scheduled on opening day.
Defending champion Derby Ace, Gregorio’s former squad, plays Talk ‘N Text on Oct. 6.
Rain or Shine battles Powerade (formerly Coca-Cola) in the other match on the second day, before the league travels to Batangas City on Oct. 9 for the Powerade-Ginebra clash.
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