2008–09 PBA season

2008–09 PBA season
Duration	October 4, 2008 – July 17, 2009
Number of teams	10
TV partner(s)	C/S9, Basketball TV
2008 PBA Draft
Top draft pick	Gabe Norwood
Picked by	Rain or Shine Elasto Painters
Season MVP	Jayjay Helterbrand (Barangay Ginebra Kings)
Philippine Cup champions	Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters
Philippine Cup runners-up	Alaska Aces
Fiesta Conference champions	San Miguel Beermen
Fiesta Conference runners-up	Barangay Ginebra Kings
Seasons
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

The 2008–09 PBA season was the 34th season of the Philippine Basketball Association. The season formally opened on October 4, 2008^[1] and ended on July 17, 2009. This was the first time that the league will hold their opening ceremonies on a Saturday. The league started the season with the 2008-09 Philippine Cup, or the traditional All-Filipino Conference, while capping off the season with the import-laiden 2009 Fiesta Conference.

The first activity of the season was the 2008 PBA Draft last August 31 at the Market! Market! in Taguig.

The 2008-09 season would be the first season under the PBA's new broadcast contract with Solar Sports. Games would now air on their cable channel Basketball TV, and on the stations of the Radio Philippines Network (who curiously, were the first broadcaster of the PBA) after an intense bidding war between Solar and ABS-CBN.^[2]

• The Welcoat Dragons became the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (their last team name in the Philippine Basketball League).
• The Magnolia Beverage Masters returned to their previous identity as the San Miguel Beermen.
• The Talk 'N Text Phone Pals became the Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters.

• The Alaska Aces traded 6-foot-3 Veteran Forward Eddie Laure and 6-foot-1 Point Guard Solomon Mercado to Rain or Shine Elasto Painters for 6-foot-7 Forward Joe Devance.
• The Air21 Express traded 6-foot-4 Forward Mark Borboran to Alaska Aces in exchange for 6-foot-6 Forward/center J.R. Quiñahan.

The season began on October 4 with the Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters defeating the Coca Cola Tigers, 98-97.

The muses for the participating teams are as follows:^[3]

Team	Muse
Air21 Express	Karla Henry
Alaska Aces	Isabelle Daza
Barangay Ginebra Kings	Iwa Moto
Coca-Cola Tigers	Pokwang
Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants	Iya Villania
Rain or Shine Elasto Painters	Priscilla Meirelles
Red Bull Barako	Marianna del Rio
San Miguel Beermen	5 SMB models
Sta. Lucia Realtors	Ariana Barouk
Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters	Rufa Mae Quinto

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

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5	Game 6	Game 7
(1) Alaska Aces	3–4	(2) Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters	102–95	100–91	73–92	98–100	95–93	94–99	89–93

• Finals MVP: Mark Cardona (Talk 'N Text)
• Best Player of the Conference: Willie Miller (Alaska Aces)

Exhibition games were held prior to Games 4 and 6 of the Philippine Cup finals between the Smart Gilas (Philippines team that will compete in the FIBA Asia Championship 2011) coached by Rajko Toroman and previously eliminated teams from the Philippine Cup. The games also marked the appearance of the newly renamed Burger King Titans team formerly known as the Air21 Express.

• Red Bull Barako changed their name to Barako Bull Energy Boosters.
• The former Air21 Express were renamed as the Burger King Titans. However, with the failure of several business deals that would have changed the franchise's upper management, the Titans renamed into the Burger King Whoppers by their seventh game into the conference, retaining their old management headed by the Lina family.
• The May 16 game between the Barangay Ginebra Kings and the Alaska Aces held at the Albay Astrodome in Legaspi was canceled when the playing court was judged as too slippery, with Ginebra leading 9–2, and 8:04 remaining in the first quarter. The game was stopped twice and the stoppages lasted two hours before the game was canceled. The game was restarted at the Araneta Coliseum on May 22.^[4]

Pos	Team v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	San Miguel Beermen	11	3	.786	—	Advance to semifinals
2	Barangay Ginebra Kings	8	6	.571[a]	3
3	Rain or Shine Elasto Painters	8	6	.571[a]	3	Twice-to-beat in the wildcard round
4	Burger King Whoppers	8	6	.571[a]	3
5	Sta. Lucia Realtors	7	7	.500[b]	4	Knockout in the wildcard round
6	Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants	7	7	.500[b]	4
7	Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters	7	7	.500[b]	4
8	Coca-Cola Tigers	6	8	.429[c]	5
9	Alaska Aces	6	8	.429[c]	5	Twice-to-win in the wildcard round
10	Barako Bull Energy Boosters	2	12	.143	9

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5	Game 6	Game 7
(1) San Miguel Beermen	4–3	(2) Barangay Ginebra Kings	96–102	95–78	103–116	106–104	98–106	98–84	90–79

• Finals MVP: Jonas Villanueva (San Miguel)
• Best Player of the Conference: Jayjay Helterbrand (Barangay Ginebra Kings)
• Best Import of the Conference: Gabe Freeman (San Miguel Beermen)

An Australian team was invited to a two-game series between the national team, with the winner of a game being awarded P75,000 (about A$4,340).^[5]

The 2009 PBA All-Star Weekend was held from April 22 to 26 at three different cities, particularly: Victorias, Negros Occidental (April 22), Panabo, Davao del Norte (April 24), and Quezon City (April 26). The winners were:

• Obstacle Challenge: Paul Artadi (Barangay Ginebra Kings)
• Three-point Shootout: James Yap (Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants)
• Slam Dunk Competition: David Noel (Barangay Ginebra Kings)

David Noel named the All-Star Game MVP.

• Most Valuable Player: Jayjay Helterbrand (Barangay Ginebra)
• Rookie of the Year: Gabe Norwood (Rain or Shine)
• First Mythical Team:
  • Jayjay Helterbrand (Brgy. Ginebra)
  • Mark Cardona (Talk 'N Text)
  • Jay Washington (San Miguel)
  • Arwind Santos (Burger King)
  • Asi Taulava (Coca Cola)
• Second Mythical Team:
  • Willie Miller (Alaska)
  • Dondon Hontiveros (San Miguel)
  • Gabe Norwood (Rain or Shine)
  • Jay-R Reyes (Rain or Shine)
  • Kelly Williams (Sta. Lucia)
• All-Defensive Team:
  • Arwind Santos (Burger King)
  • Billy Mamaril (Brgy. Ginebra)
  • Asi Taulava (Coca Cola)
  • Wynne Arboleda (Burger King)
  • Ronald Tubid (Brgy. Ginebra)
• Most Improved Player: Jonas Villanueva (San Miguel)
• Sportsmanship Award: Ryan Reyes (Sta. Lucia)
• Motolite Pangmatagalan Player of the Year: Willie Miller (Alaska)

• Coach of the Year: Chot Reyes (Talk 'N Text)
• Mr. Quality Minutes: Jayson Castro (Talk 'N Text)
• Comeback Player of the Year: Mike Cortez (San Miguel)
• Executive of the Year: Danding Cojuangco (San Miguel)
• Referee of the Year: Throngy Aldaba
• Player of the Week Order of Merit: Arwind Santos (Burger King) / Jimmy Alapag (Talk 'N Text)
• All-Rookie Team
  • Gabe Norwood (Rain or Shine)
  • Sol Mercado (Rain or Shine)
  • Bonbon Custodio (San Miguel)
  • Jared Dillinger (Talk 'N Text)
  • Larry Rodriguez (Barako Bull)

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	Qualification
1	San Miguel Beermen	61	36	25	.590	Champions
2	Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters	47	26	21	.553
3	Barangay Ginebra Kings	49	27	22	.551	Finalist
4	Alaska Aces	46	25	21	.543
5	Sta. Lucia Realtors	45	24	21	.533	Third place
6	Rain or Shine Elasto Painters	45	23	22	.511	Semifinalist
7	Burger King Whoppers/Titans/Air21 Express	45	23	22	.511	Third place
8	Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants	37	17	20	.459	Quarterfinalist
9	Coca-Cola Tigers	34	13	21	.382	Wildcard phase
10	Barako Bull Energy Boosters/Red Bull Barako	33	7	26	.212

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT
1	San Miguel Beermen	32	20	12	.625
2	Barangay Ginebra Kings	32	18	14	.563
3	Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters	32	18	14	.563
4	Alaska Aces	32	18	14	.563
5	Rain or Shine Elasto Painters	32	18	14	.563
6	Sta. Lucia Realtors	32	17	15	.531
7	Burger King Whoppers/Titans/Air21 Express	32	16	16	.500
8	Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants	32	15	17	.469
9	Coca-Cola Tigers	32	13	19	.406
10	Barako Bull Energy Boosters/Red Bull Barako	32	7	25	.219

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L
1	San Miguel Beermen	29	16	13
2	Barangay Ginebra Kings	17	9	8
3	Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters	15	8	7
4	Burger King Whoppers/Titans/Air21 Express	13	7	6
5	Sta. Lucia Realtors	13	7	6
6	Alaska Aces	14	7	7
7	Rain or Shine Elasto Painters	13	5	8
8	Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants	5	2	3
9	Barako Bull Energy Boosters/Red Bull Barako	1	0	1
10	Coca-Cola Tigers	2	0	2

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