1996 PBA Governors' Cup Finals

The 1996 PBA Governors Cup Finals was the best-of-7 basketball championship series of the 1996 PBA Governors Cup, and the conclusion of the conference's playoffs. The Alaska Milkmen and Ginebra San Miguel played for the 65th championship contested by the league.

1996 PBA Governors Cup Finals

Team Coach Wins Alaska Milkmen Tim Cone 4 Ginebra San Miguel Robert Jaworski 1
Dates	December 8–17, 1996
MVP	Johnny Abarrientos
Television	Vintage Sports (IBC)
Radio network	DZRH
PBA Governors Cup Finals chronology
< 1995 1997 >
PBA Finals chronology
< 1996 Commissioner's 1997 All-Filipino >

The Alaska Milkmen captured the coveted grandslam, winning their finals series over Ginebra San Miguel, 4 games to 1.

Johnny Abarrientos won on his first PBA Finals MVP in Governors Cup Finals.

Qualification

Alaska		Ginebra
Finished 8–3 (.727), 1st	Eliminations		Finished 7–4 (.636), 2nd
Qualified outright	Quarterfinals		Qualified outright
defeated Formula Shell, 3–0	Best-of-5 Semifinals		defeated San Miguel, 3–1

Series scoring summary

Team	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5	Wins
Alaska	90	110	95	96	91	4
Ginebra	79	105	82	97	83	1
Venue	Cuneta	Cuneta	Araneta	Cuneta	Cuneta

Games summary

Game 1

Vintage

December 8

Alaska Milkmen 90, Ginebra San Miguel 79

Alaska leads series, 1–0

Cuneta Astrodome, Pasay

The Ginebras fumbled despite taking small leads in the first three quarters, the Gins had 27 turnovers compared to the Milkmen's 15, those turnovers keyed Alaska's fourth quarter run that limited Ginebra to a low output.

Game 2

Vintage

December 10

Alaska Milkmen 110, Ginebra San Miguel 105

Alaska leads series, 2–0

Cuneta Astrodome, Pasay

The Milkmen led 104–91 with 3:40 to go, the Gins tried to rally with Fred Cofield hitting a triple to spark a 12–2 run and pulled Ginebra up close, 103–106, time down to 45.6 seconds.^[1]

Game 3

Vintage

December 13

Alaska Milkmen 95, Ginebra San Miguel 82

Alaska leads series, 3–0

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City

Alaska broke the game wide open with an 82–66 lead in the final quarter. Ginebra shot a dismal 33 percent from the floor.^[2]

Game 4

Vintage

December 15

Alaska Milkmen 96, Ginebra San Miguel 97

Alaska leads series, 3–1

Cuneta Astrodome, Pasay

New Ginebra import Derrick Rucker banked in the marginal basket with 29.7 seconds to go, after Jojo Lastimosa's short jumper drew Alaska to within 97–96, with 14.2 seconds left, Rucker's inbound pass was intercepted by Poch Juinio but the Milkmen failed to get a shot on time.^[3]

Game 5

Vintage

December 17

Alaska Milkmen 91, Ginebra San Miguel 83
Pts: Jojo Lastimosa 22, Sean Chambers 21		Pts: Derek Rucker 34
Alaska wins series, 4–1

Cuneta Astrodome, Pasay

Johnny Abarrientos engineered a searing 11–0 blast from a 62–69 deficit to a 73–69 lead for Alaska at the end of the third quarter. Abarrientos' jumper gave the Milkmen an 89–82 lead going into the last two minutes of the final period Then Johnny Abarrientos on his first Finals MVP and Alaska captures on his 3 peat grand slam champion 6th title.^[4]

1996 PBA Governors Cup Champions
Alaska Milkmen Sixth title

Rosters

Alaska Milkmen roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. G/F 4   Castelo, Merwin 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) San Beda G 5   Reyes, Gilbert 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Ateneo G/F 6   Lastimosa, Jojo 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) USJ–R G 7   Gomez, Roehl 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Cebu C 12   Bachmann, Dickie 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) De La Salle G 14   Abarrientos, Johnny 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Far Eastern F 16   Hawkins, Bong 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) UPHSD C 17   Ramas, Kevin 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Mapúa F 20   Chambers, Sean (I) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Cal Poly G/F 22   Cariaso, Jeffrey 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Sonoma State C 24   Bolado, Cris 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) National-U F/C 31   Pineda, Giovanni 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Adamson C 32   Juinio, Poch 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Philippines	Head coach   Tim Cone Assistant coach(es)   Joel Banal   Aric del Rosario Legend (C) Team captain (I) Import   Injured

Ginebra San Miguel roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. G 1   David, Bal 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) UST G 3   Rucker, Derek (I) 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Davidson F 6   Locsin, Noli 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) De La Salle G 7   Jaworski, Robert 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) UE F 9   De Joya, Macky 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) San Beda G/F 11   Gayoso, Jayvee 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Ateneo G 12   Hizon, Vince 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Ateneo C 13   Aquino, Marlou 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) Adamson G 15   Orquillas, Michael 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Cebu F 16   Cheng, Benny 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Mapúa F/C 18   Ong, Wilmer 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) USLS G 25   Jarencio, Pido 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) UST G 33   Cofield, Fred (I) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Eastern Michigan C 34   Feihl, EJ 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) Adamson G 52   Jaworski, Jr., Robert 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Ateneo	Head coach   Robert Jaworski Assistant coach(es)   Rino Salazar   Philip Cezar Legend (C) Team captain (I) Import   Injured

Broadcast notes

Game	Play-by-play	Analyst
Game 1	Noli Eala	Andy Jao
Game 2	Ed Picson	Quinito Henson
Game 3	Chino Trinidad	Yeng Guiao
Game 4	Noli Eala	Andy Jao
Game 5	Ed Picson	Quinito Henson

References

1. "Alaska now 2 wins shy of Grandslam". Manila Standard.
2. "Grandslam beckons Alaska". Manila Standard.
3. "Ginebra holds off Alaska". Manila Standard.
4. "Amazing Alaska completes Grand Slam". Manila Standard.

External links

• PBA official website