2007–08 PBA Philippine Cup

Coca-Cola and Talk 'N Text met in the first wildcard round, with the two teams making a mid-season trade, with Asi Taulava going to the Tigers while Ali Peek and draft picks going to the Phone Pals. Coke, which had previously denied the Phone Pals of a playoff for the last quarterfinal berth by winning their last elimination round game 2 days earlier, started out strong; the Phone Pals failed to answer to the challenge as they were beaten by the #9 seeds.^[2]

Air21 on the other hand faced defending champions

On the final wildcard game, Arboleda wasn't able to sustain his shooting as Taulava and Mark Telan had career games to advance to the quarterfinals to face the Alaska Aces.^[4]

Quarterfinals

(3) Alaska vs. (9) Coca-Cola

Elimination round games: Alaska won both games, 117-106 and 98-94.

Alaska ended Coca-Cola's run as the worst-seeded wildcard winner as they were eliminated by the #3 seed. Reigning

Magnolia and Red Bull renewed their playoffs rivalry with Red Bull forcing the upset, as Magnolia was rated as the top team during the preseason, with Red Bull being decimated by one-sided trades (ironically to Magnolia). Cyrus Baguio had a coming-out party as he scored a career-high 31 points to win Game 1 for the Bulls. Junthy Valenzuela outplayed former Red Bull players Lordy Tugade and Enrico Villanueva to sweep the Beverage Masters.

The Bulls now clinch their sixth consecutive semifinals appearance.

Semifinals

(1) Purefoods vs. (4) Red Bull

Elimination round games: Red Bull won both games, 87-74 and 97-84.

Purefoods, owing to a couple of weeks' rest blew out Red Bull which had defeated last season's finalists in Game 1.^[5] However, Red Bull came back in Game 2 to put up a defensive stand in the fourth quarter to tie the series, 2-2. Team captain Junthy Valenzuela kept the Giants at bay when they were making a run in the final minutes, scoring 2 crucial baskets.^[6] Purefoods then did their own pull-away at Game 3, crashing the boards at will; Marc Pingris rebounded a career-high 19 boards.^[7]

With a 1-3 series deficit looming, Red Bull again kept a pace with Purefoods in Game 4; however

After the injury to Yap, Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio announced prior to Game 5 that Yap would be day-to-day.^[9] However, Yap started on Game 5 and Purefoods raced to a 40-17 lead after the first quarter. Red Bull crept up the lead and eventually cut down the lead to two with a minute to go thanks to a trey from Mick Pennisi. In the ensuing possession, Pingris was fouled on the act of shooting; Pingris missed both of his freethrows to give Red Bull another chance. After the time out and with both teams in penalty, Valenzuela was fouled. Valenzuela converted the first but missed the second, which led to a Kerby Raymundo rebound that sealed the win for the Giants.^[10]

Needing to win twice in a row to enter the Finals, Red Bull started Game 6 with a 20-1 blast that caught Purefoods flatfooted. The Bulls then cruised on, with Mike Hrabak and Pennisi shooting treys to tie the series for last time, at 3-all.^[11] However, Purefoods started out Game 7 strong but the Barakos answered every Giants run to keep pace; however, thanks to misses from the perimeter by Red Bull and Purefoods' transition defense, the Giants were able to clinch their league-leading 12th All-Filipino Cup finals appearance.

(2) Sta. Lucia vs. (3) Alaska

Elimination round games: Sta. Lucia won both games, 94-88 and 101-96.

Unlike Purefoods which capitalized their long rest, Sta. Lucia had a rusty Game 1 that led to an Alaska blowout.^[12] However, Sta. Lucia then had their own blowout game in Game 2 to tie the series.^[13] Kelly Williams' dunk at the end of Game 2 was criticized by Alaska coach Tim Cone as a "lack of class".^[9]

With her

The pattern of early blowouts then a furious comeback continued as Sta. Lucia held off Alaska to lead the series, 3-2. Veteran Paolo Mendoza relived his collegiate days as he scored 19 points mostly in the early going. John Ferriols and sophomore Aaron Aban then led another comeback by the Aces to cut down the lead to two. Alaska's Jeffrey Cariaso was ejected from the game after he was assessed with two technical fouls that led to a cold period between the two teams in the final 6 minutes. With the score unchanged, Willie Miller converted a three-point play to tie at 90-all but the Realtors then scored the last 5 points of the game to put them one step closer to their first All-Filipino conference Finals stint.^[16]

Like Red Bull, Alaska blew out their Game 6, with Miller and

Furthermore, the ABS-CBN News Channel carried the Finals live overseas. Sports Radio 918 carried the games live on AM radio.

Featured songs include "How Far We've Come" by Matchbox Twenty and "Shadow of the Day" by Linkin Park.

Awards

• Finals Most Valuable Player: Dennis Espino (Sta. Lucia)
• Best Player of the Conference: Kelly Williams (Sta. Lucia)
• Players of the Week:
  • October 14–21: James Yap (Purefoods)
  • October 22–28: Junthy Valenzuela (Red Bull)
  • October 29 – November 4:
    Willie Miller
    (Alaska)
  • November 5–11: Froilan Baguion (Welcoat)
  • November 12–18: Lordy Tugade (Magnolia) and Nic Belasco (Welcoat)
  • November 19–25: James Yap (Purefoods, 2nd time) and Junthy Valenzuela (Red Bull, 2nd time)
  • November 26 – December 2: Jeffrey Cariaso (Alaska) and Asi Taulava (Coca-Cola)
  • December 3–9: Kelly Williams (Sta. Lucia)
  • December 10–16: Asi Taulava (Coca-Cola, 2nd time)
  • December 17–23: Ryan Reyes (Sta. Lucia; rookie)
  • December 24–30: Sunday Salvacion (Brgy. Ginebra)
  • December 31 – January 6: James Yap (Purefoods, 3rd time) and Kelly Williams (Sta. Lucia, 2nd time)
  • January 7–13: Nelbert Omolon (Sta. Lucia)
  • January 14–20: Asi Taulava (Coca-Cola, 3rd time) and Mark Telan (Coca-Cola)
  • January 21–27:
    Willie Miller
    (Alaska, 2nd time)
  • January 28 – February 3: Kelly Williams (Sta. Lucia, 3rd time) and Junthy Valenzuela (Red Bull, 3rd time)
  • February 4–10: James Yap (Purefoods, 4th time)

Stats leaders

References

External links

• PBA.ph