2018 MPBL season

The 2018 MPBL season, also known as the MPBL Rajah Cup or the MPBL Anta–Rajah Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the inaugural season of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League. The regular season began on January 25, 2018 and ended on March 17, 2018. The playoffs began on March 20, 2018 and ended on April 19, 2018. The inaugural season featured ten teams, all based in Luzon, making it the only season to not have divisions nor feature teams from Visayas or Mindanao.

2018 MPBL season
Season	2018
Dates	Regular season: January 25 – March 17, 2018 Playoffs: March 20 – April 10, 2018 Finals: April 12–19, 2018
Number of games	45 (regular season) 19 (playoffs)
Number of teams	10
TV partner(s)	ABS-CBN Sports (S+A)
Regular season
Top seed	Batangas City Athletics
Finals
Champions	Batangas City Athletics
Runners-up	Muntinlupa Cagers
Semifinalists	Valenzuela Classic Parañaque Patriots
Finals MVP	Val Acuña
Statistical leaders
Points Gary David 20.45 Rebounds Felix Apreku 11.11 Assists Allan Mangahas 5.28
Records
Biggest home win	Valenzuela Classic 97–80 Bataan Defenders (February 8)
Biggest away win	Imus Bandera 56–74 Batangas City Athletics (February 10)
Highest scoring	Muntinlupa Cagers 103–87 Quezon City Capitals (February 20)
Winning streak	Bulacan Kuyas & Batangas City Athletics (6 straight wins each)
Losing streak	Caloocan Supremos (5 losses)
2018–19 → All statistics correct as of May 24, 2018.

The opening ceremony took place at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, followed by the inaugural game between the Parañaque Patriots and the Caloocan Supremos.^[1] This season featured 10 teams, the smallest the league has been since.

The Batangas City Athletics were crowned the 2018 MPBL champions, after defeating the Muntinlupa Cagers in the 2018 MPBL Rajah Cup Finals, three games to one.

Teams

The inaugural season featured ten teams, all based in Luzon, with no division alignment.

Arenas

Team	Arena	Capacity
Bataan Defenders	Bataan People's Center	4,000
Batangas City Athletics	Batangas City Sports Coliseum	4,000
Bulacan Kuyas	Bulacan Capitol Gymnasium	5,000
Caloocan Supremos	Caloocan Sports Complex	3,000
Imus Bandera	Imus City Sports Complex	1,000
Muntinlupa Cagers	Muntinlupa Sports Center	3,000
Navotas Clutch	Navotas Sports Complex	1,000
Parañaque Patriots	Olivarez College Gymnasium	3,500
Quezon City Capitals	JCSGO Seed Dome	1,000
Valenzuela Classic	Valenzuela Astrodome	3,000
Opening ceremonies	Smart Araneta Coliseum	25,000

Roster regulations

Since the MPBL was a semi-professional league at the time, its initial set of roster regulations are made to help promote local talents:

• Teams are required to sign three homegrown players into the roster. These players must be native to the locality in which the team is based in.
• A limit of five ex-professional (or ex-pro) players is placed on each team. Any player who has had experience in professional basketball is considered an ex-professional player.

Opening ceremony

On January 25, 2018, the league held the opening ceremonies at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. It featured the inaugural game which saw the Parañaque Patriots beating the Caloocan Supremos with a score of 70–60. Daniel San Juan de Guzman of the Parañaque Patriots made the league's first basket in that game.

Regular season

Format

The ten teams played in a single round-robin format, playing one game against all other teams in the league. In each gameday, a series of games is played in a designated home arena, with the home team usually playing in the final game.

The top eight teams overall advanced to a three-round, single-elimination playoffs, playing in best-of-three series in the Quarterfinals and Semifinals, and a best-of-five series in the Finals, with homecourt advantage alternating between the higher seeds of each series (excluding the Finals). ^[2]

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PCT	Qualification
1	Batangas City Athletics	9	8	1	.889	Playoffs
2	Bulacan Kuyas	9	6	3	.667^[a]
3	Muntinlupa Cagers	9	6	3	.667^[a]
4	Valenzuela Classic	9	6	3	.667^[a]
5	Quezon City Capitals	9	5	4	.556^[b]
6	Navotas Clutch	9	5	4	.556^[b]
7	Parañaque Patriots	9	4	5	.444
8	Bataan Defenders	9	2	7	.222^[c]
9	Imus Bandera	9	2	7	.222^[c]
10	Caloocan Supremos	9	1	8	.111

Source: Standings
Rules for classification: 1) Win percentage; 2) Head-to-head record; 3) Head-to-head point differential; 4) Head-to-head points scored; 5) Overall point differential; 6) Overall points scored.
Notes:

1. Head-to-head point differential: Bulacan +5, Muntinlupa +1, Valenzuela -6
2. Head-to-head record: Quezon City 1–0 Navotas
3. Head-to-head record: Bataan 1–0 Imus

Schedule

Team ╲ Game	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Bataan	QCC	BTG	VAL	CAL	IMS	NAV	PAR	MUN	BUL
Batangas	VAL	BAN	IMS	NAV	PAR	MUN	BUL	QCC	CAL
Bulacan	IMS	NAV	PAR	MUN	CAL	QCC	BTG	VAL	BAN
Caloocan	PAR	VAL	MUN	BAN	BUL	IMS	QCC	NAV	BTG
Imus	BUL	QCC	BTG	VAL	BAN	CAL	NAV	PAR	MUN
Muntinlupa	NAV	PAR	CAL	BUL	QCC	BTG	VAL	BAN	IMS
Navotas	MUN	BUL	QCC	BTG	VAL	BAN	IMS	CAL	PAR
Parañaque	CAL	MUN	BUL	QCC	BTG	VAL	BAN	IMS	NAV
Quezon City	BAN	IMS	NAV	PAR	MUN	BUL	CAL	BTG	VAL
Valenzuela	BTG	CAL	BAN	IMS	NAV	PAR	MUN	BUL	QCC

Source: Schedule
  = Win;   = OT win;   = Loss;   = OT loss

Results

Team	BAN	BTG	BUL	CAL	IMS	MUN	NAV	PAR	QCC	VAL
Bataan		73–88	74–81	69–76	91–87	78–87	96–88	71–74	69–87	80–97
Batangas	—		72–80	86–75	74–56	82–77	80–71	87–79*	77–68	73–65
Bulacan	—	—		92–74	93–79	71–75	76–77*	72–74	95–81	92–83
Caloocan	—	—	—		61–70	76–89	56–66	60–70	89–90	78–79
Imus	—	—	—	—		69–81	70–67	77–78	75–84	77–81
Muntinlupa	—	—	—	—	—		76–82	67–60	103–87	80–83
Navotas	—	—	—	—	—	—		78–74	78–87	82–77
Parañaque	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		54–64	75–80
Quezon City	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		79–84
Valenzuela	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Source: Schedule
Legend: Blue = left column team win; Red = top row team win.
Matches with lighter background shading were decided after overtime.

Not all games are in home–away format. Each team plays every team once. Number of asterisks after each score denotes number of overtimes played.

Playoffs

Main article: 2018 MPBL playoffs

Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its division, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. Teams with home court advantage, the higher seeded team, are shown in italics.

	Quarterfinals (Best-of-3)					Semifinals (Best-of-3)					Finals (Best-of-5)
	1	Batangas City	2
	8	Bataan	0
						1	Batangas City	2
						4	Valenzuela	0
	4	Valenzuela	2
	5	Quezon City	1
											1	Batangas City	3
											3	Muntinlupa	1
	2	Bulacan	1
	7	Parañaque	2
						7	Parañaque	1
						3	Muntinlupa	2
	3	Muntinlupa	2
	6	Navotas	0

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Quarterfinals

In the Quarterfinals, the first- and second-seeded teams host games 1 and 3, while the third- and fourth-seeded teams host game 2.

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
(1) Batangas City Athletics	2–0	(8) Bataan Defenders	88–75	95–82	—
(2) Bulacan Kuyas	1–2	(7) Parañaque Patriots	83–73	54–81	70–77
(3) Muntinlupa Cagers	2–0	(6) Navotas Clutch	83–77	72–69	—
(4) Valenzuela Classic	2–1	(5) Quezon City Capitals	96–89	68–76	74–72

Semifinals

In the Semifinals, the highest seeded team hosts games 1 and 3, while the second-highest seeded team hosts game 2.

Due to Batangas City advancing after game 2, Muntinlupa instead hosted game 3.

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
(1) Batangas City Athletics	2–0	(4) Valenzuela Classic	80–75	89–64	—
(2) Muntinlupa Cagers	2–1	(7) Parañaque Patriots	59–84	66–56	81–70

Finals

Main article: 2018 MPBL Finals

In the MPBL Finals, the higher-seeded team hosts games 1, 2, and 5, while the lower-seeded team hosts games 3 and 4.

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5
(1) Batangas City Athletics	3–1	(2) Muntinlupa Cagers	70–64	78–74	77–82	68–66	—

Records

• On February 20, 2018, The Muntinlupa Cagers became the first team in league history to score at least 100 points in a single game, doing so against the Quezon City Capitals. It was also the only such occurrence throughout the entire season.

Statistics

Individual statistic leaders

Category	Player	Team	Statistic
Points per game	Gary David	Bataan Defenders	34.4
Rebounds per game	Felix Apreku	Muntinlupa Cagers	11.1
Assists per game	Allan Mangahas	Muntinlupa Cagers	5.3
Steals per game	Allan Mangahas	Muntinlupa Cagers	1.78
Blocks per game	Jay Collado	Quezon City Capitals	1.92
Turnovers per game	Chestern Ian Melencio	Imus Bandera	3.44
Fouls per game	Daniel De Guzman	Parañaque Patriots	3.64
Minutes per game	Harold Miguel Arboleda	Parañaque Patriots	33.2
FG%	Mark San Jose	Parañaque Patriots	100.0%
FT%	10 tied	Multiple Teams	100.0%
3FG%	2 tied	Multiple Teams	100.0%
Double-doubles	Felix Apreku	Muntinlupa Cagers	6
	Harold Miguel Arboleda	Parañaque Patriots
Triple-doubles	Andrew Estrella	Quezon City Capitals	1

Individual game highs

Category	Player	Team	Statistic
Points	Gary David	Bataan Defenders	29
Rebounds	Gian Abrigo	Quezon City Capitals	20
Assists	Paolo Hubalde	Valenzuela Classic	14
Steals	6 tied	Multiple Teams	4
Blocks	Jayson Grimaldo	Batangas City Athletics	5
	Jeff Morillo	Quezon City Capitals
Three-pointers	Val Acuña	Batangas City Athletics	7

Team statistic leaders (regular season)

Category	Team	Statistic
Points per game	Bulacan Kuyas	83.6
Rebounds per game	Quezon City Capitals	49.0
Assists per game	Bulacan Kuyas	22.2
Steals per game	Muntinlupa Cagers	9.0
Blocks per game	Bulacan Kuyas	6.6
Turnovers per game	Bataan Defenders	18.4
Fouls per game	Imus Bandera	20.8
FG%	Bulacan Kuyas	45.39%
FT%	Batangas City Athletics	70.63%
3FG%	Valenzuela Classic	35.07%
+/−	Batangas City Athletics	+8.3

Media

This season marked the first of three years of ABS-CBN's broadcast rights with the league. Games were aired on the S+A channel in both SD and HD quality.^[3]

References

1. "MPBL lalarga ngayon" [MPBL rolls of today]. Pang-Masa (in Filipino). January 25, 2018. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
2. Jurado, Theodore (January 22, 2018). . Journal Online. Archived from the original on February 10, 2018. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
3. "Grassroots Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League tips off on ABS-CBN S+A". ABS-CBN News. January 25, 2018. Retrieved January 27, 2018.

External links

• MPBL Official Website