2014-15 PBA Philippine Cup standings and magic numbers

You guys know the drill. If you don't, check out what magic numbers are, see this.TL;DR: The magic number is the number of wins a team has to earn for them to qualify; the "tragic" number is the number of losses the team has to get before it is eliminated.

2014 PBA mock draft: Literally mocking edition

So yeah, you've probably read all of the 2014 PBA mock drafts known to man. You probably know that Stanley Pringle is going to be the #1 pick. And that Kia is picking Manny Pacquiao at the first round. You've probably even have a cheatsheet on actual draft day. You're probably planning on going to Robinsons Place Manila wearing your Barangay Ginebra San Miguel knockoffs then throw rocks at the jeepneys outside to vent your frustration realizing that Ginebra would still be in deep shit no matter what.

So what makes this mock draft lottery, aside from mocking you, the hard-working Ginebra fan? Here, we literally mock the draft applicants, the teams, Robinsons Place Manila and nearby schools. Yes, even those. Let's get started.

2014 PBA Commissioner's Cup team standings and magic numbers!

We're past midway the tournament, so the standings, and the magic numbers, are beginning to take shape. For details on what magic numbers are, see this.

Condo tayo, PBA edition!

The PBA Championship Belts!

Here's an idea: Why not keep track of the winners of the very first game this season (there are two, so we'd go by the complication later), give them hypothetical belts, then once the winner of those games are defeated, the hypothetical belts would pass over to the winning team. We'd do that until the season ends. It's like NBA Regular Season Championship Belt at Grantland, only that we'd go into playoffs, and unification matches, if we're lucky!

But first, since there are two opening games this season, so we'd have two titles: The Alvin Patrimonio belt, which begins at the Ginebra vs. San Mig Coffee game at Araneta, and Ramon Fernandez belt for the Meralco vs. TNT game at Cebu. Of course named after the only players that won four MVP titles. Don't worry Jawo fans, I'd name the unified title after him. Let's begin!

How to solve the PBA's FIBA scheduling woes

The PBA now has a huge problem on scheduling concerns as long as Gilas Pilipinas is concerned. Any well-meaning coach will tell you that 2 months is the best amount of time a national team can use in training: these include actual training, tuneup games, tuneup tournaments and traveling to and from each venue.

However, the PBA, to maintain fiscal stability, reverted to the three conference format: more playoff games, higher attendance. However, this means the season has to be lengthened somewhat; this also means less them for the national team to train. So, what can the PBA do?

Tanking for Ray-Ray

We don't actually know if Bobby Ray Parks, Jr., who hasn't settled for a basketball nickname yet so let's just call him "Ray-Ray", will be signing up for the 2014 Draft. All we know is that his UAAP playing days are over, he has next-to-nil chance of being drafted to the NBA, and he could very well be elevated by the BDO D-League team if they're thinking of joining the big leagues.

That means if Ray-Ray's isn't going to find a UAAP rule loophole to play again in 2014, isn't going to the NBA, isn't being elevated from BDO D-League team, there's a 100% chance he'd be picked first in 2014. This has to be the easiest #1 pick since the 2009 draft where Japeth was picked #1 by Air21... and you know the story; ever since that brouhaha, Air21, now known as Barako Bull, has never dealt with a MVP ballclub ever. Well, OK, maybe not on big-time deals.

2013-14 PBA Philippine Cup team standings and magic numbers!

We're past midway the tournament, so the standings, and the magic numbers, are beginning to take shape. For details on what magic numbers are, see this.

Which is bigger? PBA, UAAP or NCAA?

Happy PBA Opening Day!
Have you ever wondered which among the PBA, UAAP and NCAA garner the biggest amount of interest? This Google Trends (of course!) chart should finally resolve any discussion.


Heck let's resolve all of our differences with a truckload of stats, after the jump.

What's the oldest (and youngest) PBA team?

Have you ever wondered what the average age of every PBA team is? InterAKTV has just published the final team rosters for the 2012-13 PBA Philippine Cup. This is supposedly the "final" list but teams left out college players who are still playing (explained after the jump). Cross-referencing from the PBA official website players list, we can determine how old the players -- and their teams -- are.

Is it time for the PBA to expand?

After the 7-round-deep PBA draft, several drafted rookies after the 1st round would not be signed. Several veterans would lose out roster spots to younger players. So the easy solution would be, when would it be time for the PBA to expand?

The better question would be, would it be feasible for the PBA to expand? If yes, by how many teams?

What is the fattest (and "skinniest") PBA team?

Have you ever wondered what is the fattest PBA team today? It's gotta be Rain or Shine with their Extra Rice, Inc., right? How about the skinniest? Probably the minion-dominated Barako Bull, right?

How do we measure "fatness", anyway? The body mass index (BMI) is the most popular method right now. It is calculated by dividing the mass (or weight, since we're on Earth it's the same) by the square of the height of a player. If you're using SI units (or formerly known as the MKS from "meters, kilograms and seconds"), a BMI of more than 25 means you're fat. But since that's for Caucasians, the suggested BMI for Asians is between 22 and 23. For reference, the average BMI for Filipino males is 22.73.

Provisional 2013 PBA Draft order

Hey, it's that time of the year when PBA fans get to care if Raymond Almazan would either be the next Kerby Raymundo or the next Bonel Balingit, if Greg Slaughter is the next EJ Feihl or the next Junemar Fajardo, if Kevin Alas is as good as advertised, if Bobby Ray Parks is signing up, if Sudan Daniel is the great Filipino center... wait, he's an import, and if we'd see the next Wilmer Ong from the collegiate ranks.

2013 PBA Governors' Cup team standings, magic and tragic numbers!

Why not a PBA version of our magic and tragic numbers? For details, see this.

Gilas 2.0 postmortem: The Philippines is going to the World Cup!

Nope, not that World Cup. The FIBA Basketball World Cup. It's been a long time coming, and the Gilas boys have finally broke through. In 2009, I've written about things the Gilas program can improve on. While not everything I wanted to see transpired, we got the silver that glistened like gold.

2011 yearender: Gabi ng Parangal, local sports edition

2011 came and went like Asiong Salonga killing the bad guys then being killed himself (OOPS SPOILER ALERT!) so let's end the year with a completely irrelevant conclusion of the already-stated premise with some awards they had not come up with -- so yes, no team, player of the year and that shit. This time let's go on local sporting events. Ten categories of pure unadulterated sporting achievements.

Game of the Year: UAAP 2nd round of Ateneo vs Adamson.
It's a tough choice between 2nd round of Ateneo vs Adamson and the UFL Cup semifinal between Kaya and Loyola Meralco, but I had to give it to the Ateneo-Adamson game, solely because more people know the Ateneo Blue Eagles exist than the Loyola Meralco Sparks.

Series of the year: 2011 PBA Governors Cup Finals.
It's like the 2011 NBA Finals: Everybody picked the Heat to win; in this case, everyone picked Talk 'N Text to win, but Chot Reyes happened. Close second was the Philippines vs Sri Lanka series for World Cup qualifying.

Game Nobody Knew Happened of the Year: UFL Cup Semifinal, Loyola Meralco vs Kaya
The 3,000-man girl strong Rizal Stadium got wet with delight when Papa Phil scored a hat-trick.

The Kerby Raymundo Award for Best Quote of the Year: Ato Agustin
For saying, in Chot Reyes' face, that he's gay.

We Did Something but the Press Didn't Care Award: Smart Gilas
The long shots went to the semifinals of the FIBA Asia Championship. That's like a Southeast Asian team making it to the AFC Asian Cup, without hosting it.

We Did Nothing but the Press Cared Award: Azkals U-23
Let's face it: Two networks had parallel coverages on a team that finished dead last.

We Should've Joined WilTime Big Time Award: Philippine national dragon boat team
Not to rain on their parade or anything, but did the international dragon boat championship even made it to the sports page of Tampa newspapers?

The Graham Lim Award for Incompetence: The PSC and POC
For screwing up, yet again, the country's already screwed up sports program, if it exists.

The Sporting Event of the Year: Smart All-Star Weekend
Kobe Bryant live in the flesh. It's like David Beckham live in the flesh, in 1998, not 2011. And oh, don't forget Kobe had 2011 MVP Derrick Rose, and the 2012 MVP Kevin Durant in tow.

Bastardization of the Year: Smart Araneta Coliseum
"Araneta Coliseum" is a smart name. The new name smells like the Dunkin Donuts Center, or the EnergySolutions Arena.

2011-12 PBA Philippine Cup quotient cheatsheet

Screw the NBA. We all know that's fixed, so let's watch the PBA, where not fixed happens!
Heck you went here for the quotients so here's the dirt, these aren't really quotients, but differentials. But the end-result is the same as long as you're using the same subset of data, in this case, scores among the tied teams. It gets different if it's overall quotients, and say, two teams have the same differentials but may have different quotients. That scenario doesn't happen here.

First, the tie for #7 is resolved as follows:

#  Team  W  L   PF   PA   PD
7. BBE   6  8  212  177  +35
8. ROS   6  8  177  212  -35

Aside from that, there are a few more things certain whatever the results of Sunday's games: Talk 'N Text and B-Meg are the top 2 teams, Alaska is #9, and Shopinas.com's Franz Pumaren became the PBA's Lawrence Frank... only that it's the other way around. Or is he???

Games on Sunday:
Rain or Shine vs Alaska
Talk 'N Text vs Barangay Ginebra

There are four results from those two games, so let's cover all bases. First, the most probable thing that'll happen: Rain or Shine and Talk 'N Text both win:
That means Talk 'N Text will have 11 wins and be #1. No need for quotients there. Meanwhile, a ROS win will tie them with Petron, while Ginebra goes down to a tie with Meralco. The tiebreaking situation would be:

#  Team  W  L   PF   PA   PD
3. PBB   9  5   90   80  +10
4. ROS   9  5   80   90  -10

5. MER   8  6   94   93   +1
6. BGK   8  6   93   94   -1

Hence the playoff bracket will be:
(1) TNT vs. (8) POW
(4) ROS vs. (5) MER
(2) BMEG vs. (7) BBE
(3) PBB vs. (6) BGK

Now, on the second most probable result: Rain or Shine and Ginebra both win:
That means TNT and BMEG will be tied for #1, and there'll be a three-way tie for #3.

#  Team  W  L   PF   PA   PD
1. BMEG 10  4  208  200   +8
2. TNT  10  4  200  208   -8

3. PBB   9  5  179  171   +8
4. BGK   9  5  184  183   +1
5. ROS   9  5  174  183   -9

Hence the playoff bracket will be:
(1) BMEG vs. (8) POW
(4) BGK vs. (5) ROS
(2) TNT vs. (7) BBE
(3) PBB vs. (6) MER

On my second least probable result, in which Alaska and Talk 'N Text both win:
TNT will be #1, BMEG will be #2, PBB will be #3, and there'll be a triple tie for #4:

#  Team  W  L   PF   PA   PD
4. ROS   8  6  321  273  +48
5. BGK   8  6  262  257   +5
6. MER   8  6  343  396  -53

Hence the playoff bracket will be:
(1) TNT vs. (8) POW
(4) ROS vs. (5) BGK
(2) BMEG vs. (7) BBE
(3) PBB vs. (6) MER

On my least probable result, where Alaska and Ginebra both win:
BMEG will be the #1 seed and TNT will be #2.

#  Team  W  L   PF   PA   PD
1. BMEG 10  4  208  200   +8
2. TNT  10  4  200  208   -8

3. BGK   9  5   91   89   +2
4. PBB   9  5   89   89   -2

5. ROS   8  6  228  179  +49
6. MER   8  6  179  228  -49

Hence the playoff bracket will be:
(1) BMEG vs. (8) POW
(4) PBB vs. (5) ROS
(2) TNT vs. (7) BBE
(3) BGK vs. (6) MER

It's also interesting that this conference had emerged to be one of the most open in years. If TNT loses on Sunday, the #1 team is just two games ahead of the #6 team. In conferences where teams had played 10 games or more in the elimination round, the last time the #6 team was 2 games behind the #1 team was in... eh like never?

And to make everyone happy, here are pics of Sasha Grey reading to kids at your nearest elementary school!

"Kids, this is my 'O' face. Go ask your dad what means!"

Note: Previous versions of this post was as bad as an ABS-CBN report stating Arroyo rode an ambulance en route to VMMC instead of a coaster.

Smart Gilas: Post-portem

When JV Casio missed the supposedly game-winning heave on the bronze medal game against Korea, Mico Halili was silent. I switched off the TV, and I didn't know if Halili ever spoke again on that telecast.

That should've been the collective expression of the Gilas hopefuls when Casio missed. Or when the other players missed free throws. They missed free throws as if George Muresan was guarding them.

So the question is: did Smart Gilas achieve their purpose? What is their purpose? To qualify for the Olympics. In that case, they didn't qualify for the Olympics.

Furthermore, aside from their purpose of qualifying for the Olympics, there was a supposedly way for them to reach that goal. Get the best college players (at least those who are willing), naturalize a "rebounding monster", mold them into a team, and make that team qualify for the Olympics.

Were they able to do it that way? The short answer is no -- when the time the team was being formed in 2007, there was no way they'd be able to achieve anything on the international stage, despite all of the coaching, training and tuneup tournaments unless they'd get PBA backups. Rajko Toroman knew this all too well, hence he asked for PBA reinforcements in the Asian Games. For the first time, the Philippines played in the Asian Games not to win, but the gauge the competition. We finished 6th, the worst since the PBA sent in a team, although in this case, not all players were from the PBA.

Toroman, as all coaches know, that the primary success for a team to succeed is talent. You can instill discipline, design the most effective plays, play endlessly in tuneup tournaments, but it'll all boil down to talent. Franz Pumaren, in an interview at Hardball a few years ago, said it bluntly: the DLSU system worked not primarily because of the system, but due to the talent that is in the system.

Toroman hence asked for PBA reinforcements. While they did help in the tournaments, ultimately succeeding where the 2 all-PBA teams before them failed, qualify for the semifinals, the supposedly two wins to the Olympics became two losses that led to the team not qualify for the Olympics altogether. The PBA reinforcements, it turned out, still weren't able to play to Toroman's system, at least into the final 2 games.

So does it turn out that talent is not that necessary? No. But once you get in the talent, then you should mold them. The Smart Gilas boys, it turned out, still needed PBA reinforcements. Basketball is played by 5 players per team on the court. Generally, the lesser the number of players playing, the more chemistry it takes for them to be effective. Smart Gilas, with their two PBA stints, should have had the chemistry already. But with several players leaving and new ones joining, the chemistry was back to zero.

What we saw but had not realized immediately was that the talent disparity between the professional and collegiate ranks is as wide as Commonwealth Avenue. Unlike in the U.S. where one phenomenal high school player can jump to the NBA and lead his team to the playoffs, the same is not true in the Philippines. Only drunk Ateneans smoking weed will tell you that Kiefer Ravena will lead the Shopinas.com Clickers at least to the semifinals the same way Carmelo Anthony led the Denver Nuggets into the NBA Playoffs.

Which leads me to Kiefer Ravena. That guy has to be the single most-hyped player to come out of the high school ranks in this country since... BJ Manalo? And we all know how BJ Manalo turned out to be. Which shows us another problem: the current generation of basketball players would've probably not lead the national team to Olympics after all.

Every generation of basketball players produced a 7-footer or at least a big man above 6-6. The Centennial Team had 7-0 EJ Feihl, 6-9 Marlou Aquino and the 6-9 Andy Seigle. The tallest Smart Gilas player is naturalized Marcus Douthit and Asi Taulava. The current generation has failed to produce a big man, we'd even have to go to Tonga and the U.S. to find one. While height is not necessarily might, you can contend for a title with a pair of centers at least taller than 6-9. Talent and chemistry can only lead you to... fourth place, although admittedly, it was not the lack of height that caused the last 2 losses. It was chemistry.

So what does a team need? Talent, chemistry and a pair of really tall centers. Marcus Douthit was a stop-gap measure, but fortunately, the next generation looks promising, if you're into tall guys. Greg Slaughter, a legit 7-footer, dominated the UAAP. Let's face it, if it not for him, Ateneo would not have won, whatever Kiefer Ravena or Nico Salva did. Mapua's 6-9 center Yousif Taha still has to dominate the NCAA but if he can put his head on the game, he can post 20-10 numbers. In our case, we don't need to naturalize scorers, as we produce guards and wingmen by the droves. Our only problem is the big man.

While Slaughter and Taha look promising, they might fall into the trap of playing in the collegiate ranks forever. Most star players in the collegiate ranks enter the pros when they're 25. Yep, 25. Arwind Santos is 30 years old and he's on his 5th year in the pros. Kobe Bryant is 33 years old and was in the league since 1996. In the collegiate and in the amateur ranks, your peak form is wasted by not playing in top form for most of the year. Like seriously, who'd injure themselves in the PBL? You'd kill yourself playing in the UAAP but that's for three-and-a-half months for a maximum of 20 games. Slaughter played college ball in Cebu before going to Ateneo, so we can expect him to max out his collegiate eligibility before he elevates his game to the pros.

So why is that a bad thing? FIBA tournaments are conducted at a breakneck pace. In a span of a fortnight, a team has played 9 games. That's not the pace a 30-year-old athlete can realistically play. In the UAAP, a team reaches 9 wins after a month of action.

So while the PBA players may have the talent, they might burn out in these tournaments since they're (1) old, (2) not accustomed to back-to-back games. The only time PBA teams play back-to-back games is... never. They have games every-other-day for the playoffs but realistically the most number of games a team plays per month is 6-7. Compare that to NBA teams who play several back-to-back games per month, with an average of 14 games every month. Ergo, if you're a PBA player playing in a FIBA tournament, you'll burn out, no matter how good your conditioning is.

So, what are the solutions? It's easier to say that the PBA should play more games per week, hence players would get accustomed to the international grind. This will also shorten the season so there'll be more time for national team members to develop chemistry. An alternative is to let a group of teams play an entire week by themselves, then another group for the next week.

The only reason to prevent this from happening is TV coverage. More games per week means more airtime on TV. It's not as if the PBA is worth two channels to air, or two channels would allow themselves to air games. If an extra gameday is added (such as a regular doubleheader on Saturday, not including the provincial game), or another game is added on the existing S-W-F schedule (such as an early afternoon or a late night game), that means another day to reserve for the PBA: no channel will allot four days per week for the PBA unless they have nothing else to air aside from Bundesliga matches and badminton; or another couple of hours for basketball. Would you expect PBA junkies to watch a game held either at 2PM or 10PM?

As for the collegiate leagues, it's time to ditch the 5-for-7(?) rule and replace it with a rule that limits a player to 21 years old or 5 years in college, whichever comes first. This also means high school (junior) tournaments' age limits should be lowered to 16 from 18. In a sporting perspective, it may be a good idea to make these leagues also play more games in a week, but with the "student comes first in 'student-athlete' so they should study first" reasoning I don't see this happening. So the best solution is to move the basketball tournaments to the second semester.

Looking at Lebanon, the best generation of hoops players have gone and they had failed to contend. Interestingly, the Philippines, with whatever generation, or with whatever "A" team it fields -- always contends. Let's not kid ourselves, those 2 PBA teams contended. Even the 2007 team that finished 9th place. The Middle Eastern teams, and even the likes of Japan don't have the luxury of continuity. The Philippines, whether we like or not, has a stable basketball program no matter who runs things. The only duty for the one who'll "run things" is to find talent, find a pair of tall centers, and mold them together.

TNT grand slammed! FireQuinito & Quinito workplace BFFs! Snow vs Tweety Bird! Draft night steals!

Screw the NBA lockout. While the NBA went from having the hottest offseason in history of offseasons, now they followed-up the epic trashing of LBJ and Co. with a scintillating lockout.

What's the biggest gainer in all of this except the guys who run NBA Premium TV, as they virtually earn their pesos by airing nothing? The PBA, that's what! Wait, what?

In case you were living under a rock, watching too many teledramas, or believe people from Laperal Compound watch Kirk Long's bald head on TV while they drool, the PBA just ended its season with Petron (formerly San Miguel, which is now the name of an ABL team. Wait what's ABL?) stopping what could've been Talk 'N Text's grand slam. That Finals series involved Mark Yee ANALyzing Anthony Grundy's behind, Hector Calma getting his first ever tech in the PBA... as a team manager, Jason Castro (no, not the dreadlocked dude on AI) getting injured and doing a Willis Reed, the MVP doing a LeBron James, Chot Reyes bitching about crappy imports they acquired themselves, and Ato Agustin taking potshots like a true Kapampangan.

That supposedly ended the season, but unlike the NBA that failed to follow up an impressive postseason, the PBA kept on churning news bits, just like how Erwin Tulfo makes sure your barangay officials are on their toes on his daily segment on Aksyon.

First, I guess anyone who knows about the PBA who knows how to use the interwebz has heard of FireQuinito, the award winning sports blog "that burns". The whole premise on the name was that Quinito Henson is not the hottest Lasallian, heterose since Enchong Dee, but since Quinito is more awful that Edward Cullen's tanning machine, he should be fired by whomever is giving him sustenance. Guess what, FireQuinito's main man Jaemark Tordecilla was hired by Sports5, the PBA's new broadcast partner. Incidentally, Sports5 retained several longtime PBA broadcasters, and no one is more old school than the Quinito Henson himself.

Could you imagine this? An Inside the PBA clone where FireQuinito and Quinito spit out zany league rumors, even Cristy Fermin would ditch AksyonTV to heed to her new calling as FireQuinito and Quinito's intrepid reporter.

Speaking of showbiz shit, the league resident Cristy Fermin, Snow Badua, got into a battle with ex-commissioner and now top SMC hoops honcho Noli Eala. Noli certainly did not exchange sweet nothings such as "BE MINE….AND MINE ALONE, and I WILL BE YOURS AND YOURS ALONE! I LOVE YOU FOREVER, I LOVE YOU FOR ALWAYS. AS LONG AS I’M LIVING MY TWEETIE YOU’LL BE! (actual verbatim quote, down to the ALL CAPS)" to Snow. Snow unleashed his inner Yeti by slipping away Eala's bouncers (wait, he has bouncers?) like ice cold Jimmy Alapag on your James Yap-like hands.

What does this mean? Aside from Snow's show getting higher ratings than his idol Manoling Morato's Dial M and Danding giving Noli more bouncers? This has the makings of an epic feud that your grandkids will tell their grandkids while they keep your body frozen a la Futurama. It's like T'Wolves manager David Kahn spilling coffee on one of Craig Sager's prized suits, then they duke it out like what Brian Ilad and Mark Fampulme used to do.

Just like Snow Badua (well, not really), I did not particularly pay attention to the just concluded PBA Draft, aside from Fafa Andy's purdy girlfriend, Brian Ilad actually being drafted, and pseudo-drooling on Shopinas' governor who just lambasted me on Twitter by saying that the "Shopinas.com Clickers" name is as awesome as the name of the Toro Rosso F1 team; aside that it's the final appearance of Tim Cone as coach of the Alaska Aces. Tim Cone leaving the Aces severs the league's final hold on to the 1990s, as virtually anyone who has won titles at that time is either retired, riding the bench, or contemplating a comeback of Captain Marbel proportions.

So while us NBA fans have to content ourselves with Ateneo sweeping the UAAP, San Sebastian and San Beda virtually assuring themselves of an NCAA Finals rematch, and hours wasted watching the NAASCU on Net 25, let's remind ourselves that the PBA is not dead, and even if it is dying, something nastier is sure to replace it. Like WilTime Bigtime taking over its timeslot. Imagine Shalani playcalling the PBA.

Tragedy! Ginebra failed to make to the Finals!

Ah yes. That time of the year where we ponder if the PBA can even make it next year -- no one's watching, no one is caring, and more people want to know the result of a Adamson-NU game. Seriously.

Sarcasm aside, the PBA has spoiled its fans by holding the one-game playoff -- holding an extra game to break a tie in the standings. Interestingly, this year, the PBA has stopped playing such games, instead going through the wrongly named quotient system, which should really be called the "differential" system as the numbers cited are differences, not quotients.
Curiously, the PBA is not the first league in the Philippines. In 2009, the UAAP has ditched these extra playoff games that lengthened seasons except for the #2 and #4 seeds. Elsewhere, the NBA had stopped playing such games in 1957, and FIBA doesn't hold such games either; the NBA has relied mostly on game results (wins/losses) while FIBA used the quotient on games among tied teams.

So, if you're a PBA fan, you'd expect that there'll be a playoff game if there are 2, much less 3, teams tied for the final Finals berth. But it hasn't, and they used the quotient (differential) system. Is this is fair tradeoff?

Normally, the PBA is more of a moneymaking enterprise than a sports league, so naturally, it is on their interest to play more games. I don't know what Chito Salud was smoking when he proposed this system to the PBA Board of Governors, but this makes perfect sense, if you're into the sporting side of the business.

However, the PBA's tiebreaking process has interesting quirk: unlike the NBA and FIBA that uses game results, the PBA uses the winning margin. There are many ways in breaking ties, and some will produce different results than the others; for example, in NCAA Season 84, 4 teams were tied for #2, and instead of having the two best teams play for #2 and the two worst teams play for #4, it had all 4 teams play for #2; in what was an almost sure Final 4 appearance for San Sebastian turned to naught when they lost all games. Compare this to the 2005-06 PBA Fiesta Conference: Four teams tied at #2, but the two teams with the best quotients played for the #2 seed, not all four. (As you can see, the PBA has also applied this quotient system before, but they still played playoff games).

So, for Ginebra fans, is this all fair? The answer is yes. When resolving ties in tournaments, you don't normally play a playoff unless all remedies are exhausted (all tie-breakers are still tied). We've just all been spoiled by the PBA when it comes to playoff games.

Still, it is for a Finals berth, so could a playoff game still had been held. The answer is "probably." It all depends on how the tournament has been set up. In American football parlance, you don't move the goal posts at the middle of the game -- in this case, you don't change how ties are broken. The commissioner could've allowed a playoff, but only if all three teams agreed (actually, all teams, including Talk 'N Text, and Powerade which was denied of a semifinals berth due to the same system).

As stated earlier, there are several tiebreaking procedures: the PBA relies on point differential, first on games among the tied teams, then for all games, then finally on a coin toss (see the PBAologist's article on interAKTV). In soccer (football), generally, the first tiebreaker is the overall goal difference (point differential). If we'd use that to break the tie of Petron, Alaska and Ginebra, here are the results:

Ginebra  +29
Alaska   +16
Petron   -25

Would you look at that, Ginebra would've won the tiebreaker if the PBA used overall point differential instead of only games among the tied teams. If the PBA used FIBA's method (ghttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifame results), the results are:

Petron   3-1
Alaska   2-2
Ginebra  1-3

Essentially, identical to the PBA tiebreaker.

Philosophically, the best way to break a tie is play another game; however, there had been several ways in which ties can be broken. The PBA has used these and, for the most part, without incident.

And oh, the incident was Talk 'N Text is very bad in tanking games. Air21 is much better in this regard, you wouldn't notice it.

You may like reading this: Tiebreak