2003 PBA season

The 2003 PBA season was the 29th season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

2003 PBA season
Duration	February 23 – December 14, 2003
Number of teams	10
TV partner(s)	Local: NBN, IBC International: The Filipino Channel
2003 PBA Draft
Top draft pick	Mike Cortez
Picked by	Alaska Aces
Season MVP	Asi Taulava (Talk 'N Text Phone Pals)
All-Filipino Cup champions	Talk 'N Text Phone Pals
All-Filipino Cup runners-up	Coca Cola Tigers
Invitational Cup champions	Alaska Aces
Invitational Cup runners-up	Coca Cola Tigers
Reinforced Conference champions	Coca-Cola Tigers
Reinforced Conference runners-up	San Miguel Beermen

Board of governors

Executive committee

• Jose Emmanuel M. Eala (Commissioner)
• Casiano Cabalan Jr. (Chairman, representing Barangay Ginebra Kings)
• Manuel M. Encarnado (Vice-Chairman, representing Sta. Lucia Realtors)
• Angelito Alvarez (Treasurer, representing FedEx Express)

Teams

Team	Company	Governor	Alternate Governor
Alaska Aces	Alaska Milk Corporation	Wilfred Steven Uytengsu	Joaquin Trillo
Barangay Ginebra Kings	La Tondeña Distillers, Inc.	Casiano Cabalan Jr	Ira Daniel Maniquis
Batang Red Bull Thunder	Photokina Marketing Corporation	George Chua	Manuel Mendoza
Coca Cola Tigers	Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc.	Jesse Macias
FedEx Express	Airfrieght 2100, Inc.	Angelito Alvarez	Alberto Lina
Purefoods TJ Hotdogs	Purefoods Corporation	Francisco Alejo III	Rene Pardo
Sta. Lucia Realtors	Sta. Lucia Realty and Development Corporation	Manuel Encarnado	Ariel Magno
San Miguel Beermen	San Miguel Brewery, Inc.	Alberto Malapit	Ely Capacio
Shell Turbo Chargers	Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation	Roberto Kanapi
Talk 'N Text Phone Pals	Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company	Ricky Vargas	Al Panlilio

Opening ceremonies

The muses for the participating teams are as follows:

Team	Muse
Alaska Aces	Michelle Quizon
Batang Red Bull Thunder	Four Binibining Pilipinas-Miss World
Barangay Ginebra Kings	Aubrey Miles
Coca-Cola Tigers	Zorayda Ruth Andam
FedEx Express	Sandra Seifert
Purefoods TJ Hotdogs	Maxene Magalona
San Miguel Beermen	Apreal Tolentino
Shell Turbo Chargers	Phoemela Baranda
Sta. Lucia Realtors	Cindy Kurleto
Talk 'N Text Phone Pals	Mika Lim

Notable occurrences

• The NBN/IBC consortium took over the league's TV coverage after winning the TV rights over the league's TV partner Viva Television in December 2002.^[1]
• Noli Eala became the league's sixth commissioner after Jun Bernardino retired at the end of the 2002 season.
• The league reintroduced the Invitational Championship and the Reinforced Conference.
• The league reverted their rules of playing 12-minute quarters and the use of the 6.75 m (22.1 feet) three point line. The eight-second backcourt rule was retained. In 2002, the league adopted all of the FIBA basketball rules to prepare the players that will play for the Asian Games in Busan.^[2]
• The Talk 'N Text Phone Pals filed a game protest on their match against the Barangay Ginebra Kings on March 21 and questioned the nullification of a possible game-winning shot of Asi Taulava with 0.2 seconds remaining in the first overtime. Barangay Ginebra eventually won the match, 122-117 in the second overtime.^[3] On March 26, PBA commissioner Noli Eala ordered to replay the game on April 22. All game statistics from the nullified game, including the 45-point, 18 rebound explosion of Eric Menk of Barangay Ginebra, and the 40-point, 14-assist output of Jimmy Alapag of Talk 'N Text will be removed from the PBA records.^[4] The replay was won by Talk 'N Text, 90-87. ^[5]
• The league's greatest rivalry; the Crispa Redmanizers and Toyota Tamaraws clash in a reunion game coinciding the league's All-Star Weekend at the Araneta Coliseum. ^[6] The Toyota Tamaraws won, 65-61.
• The NBN/IBC consortium and the PBA contested the placement of logos of Beam Toothpaste at the Araneta Coliseum's basketball flooring. The advertisement placements were done between the Araneta Coliseum and Nelson Macaraig's Jonels Promotion.^[7] A same agreement was done by Jonels Promotion for the PhilSports Arena weeks after.^[8] The league considered this as "backdoor advertising" as Macaraig did not enter an agreement with the PBA to put Beam's logos in the league's main playing venues and threatened the management of both venues that they will not hold their games at Araneta Coliseum and PhilSports Arena unless both will remove the Beam Toothpaste advertisements.^[9]
• An estafa case was filed against Nelson Macaraig and Jonels Promotion after Macaraig issued a bounced check for P5 million for payment for the Beam Toothpaste advertisements at the Araneta Coliseum and PhilSports Arena.^[10]
• Commissioner Noli Eala sanctioned the Talk 'N Text Phone Pals with a P250,000 fine, for shooting at their opponent's basket at the closing seconds of their match against Red Bull Barako on August 13, 2003. Talk 'N Text was leading with one point 88-87 and wanted to force the game to overtime since Talk 'N Text needed to win at least eight points to enter the playoffs. Talk 'N Text coach Ariel Vanguardia was separately fined with P50,000 and suspended for five games.^[11]
• A random drug testing was initiated by the league and two players were suspended for testing positive in illegal substance: Alex Crisano of the Barangay Ginebra Kings and Jimwell Torion of Red Bull Barako.^[12]

2003 PBA All-Filipino Cup

Main article: 2003 PBA All-Filipino Cup

Elimination round

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	San Miguel Beermen	12	6	.667	—	Quarterfinal round
2	FedEx Express	10	8	.556	2
3	Alaska Aces	9	9	.500	3
4	Sta. Lucia Realtors	8	10	.444	4
5	Purefoods TJ Hotdogs	5	13	.278	7

Source: PBA.ph

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	Batang Red Bull Thunder	14	4	.778	—	Quarterfinal round
2	Coca-Cola Tigers	11	7	.611	3
3	Talk 'N Text Phone Pals	10	8	.556	4
4	Barangay Ginebra Kings	6	12	.333	8
5	Shell Turbo Chargers	5	13	.278	9

Source: PBA.ph

Quarterfinal round

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	Alaska Aces	2	1	.667[a]	—	Semifinals
2	Sta. Lucia Realtors	2	1	.667[a]	—
3	San Miguel Beermen	1	2	.333[b]	1
4	FedEx Express	1	2	.333[b]	1

Source: PBA.ph
Notes:

1. Head-to-head record: Alaska 1–1 Sta. Lucia (Alaska +5)
2. Head-to-head record: FedEx 1–1 San Miguel (San Miguel +1)

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	Coca-Cola Tigers	3	0	1.000	—	Semifinals
2	Talk 'N Text Phone Pals	2	1	.667	1
3	Batang Red Bull Thunder	1	2	.333	2
4	Barangay Ginebra Kings	0	3	.000	3

Source: PBA.ph

Playoffs

	Semifinals (Best-of-5)					Finals (Best-of-7)
	A1	Alaska	2
	B2	Talk 'N Text	3
						B2	Talk 'N Text	4
						B1	Coca-Cola	2
	B1	Coca-Cola	3
	A2	Sta. Lucia	1			Third-place playoff
						A1	Alaska	102
						A2	Sta. Lucia	79

Semifinals

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5
(A1) Alaska Aces	3–1	(B2) Talk 'N Text Phone Pals	109–115 (OT)	86–77	74–87	87–86 (OT)	88–92
(B1) Coca-Cola Tigers	3–1	(A2) Sta. Lucia Realtors	85–70	87–90	94–80	99–93	—

Third place playoff

Team 1	Score	Team 2
(A1) Alaska Aces	102–70	(A2) Sta. Lucia Realtors

Finals

Main article: 2003 PBA All-Filipino Cup finals

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5	Game 6	Game 7
(B1) Coca-Cola Tigers	2–4	(B2) Talk 'N Text Phone Pals	93–79	92–89	59–67	91–99	92–97 (OT)	76–78	—

2003 PBA Invitational championship

Main article: 2003 PBA Invitational championship

Qualification

PBA Philippine Cup

Combined standings from the 2002 PBA All-Filipino Cup:

• Top 5 teams qualify outright
• Bottom 5 teams proceed to last-chance qualifying Mabuhay Cup

Pos	Team v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	Batang Red Bull Thunder	14	4	.778	—	Qualify to Invitational tournament
2	San Miguel Beermen	12	6	.667	2
3	Coca-Cola Tigers	11	7	.611	3
4	Talk 'N Text Phone Pals	10	8	.556	4
5	FedEx Express	10	8	.556	4
6	Alaska Aces	9	9	.500	5	Proceed to Mabuhay Cup
7	Sta. Lucia Realtors	8	10	.444	6
8	Barangay Ginebra Kings	6	12	.333	8
9	Shell Turbo Chargers	5	13	.278	9
10	Purefoods TJ Hotdogs	5	13	.278	9

Source: PBA.ph

PBA-Samsung Mabuhay Cup

Pos	Team v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	Alaska Aces	4	0	1.000	—	Qualify to Invitational tournament
2	Barangay Ginebra Kings	2	2	.500	2
3	Sta. Lucia Realtors	2	2	.500	2
4	Shell Turbo Chargers	2	2	.500	2
5	Purefoods TJ Hotdogs	0	4	.000	4

Source: PBA.ph

Elimination round

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	FedEx Express	3	1	.750[a]	—	Semifinals
2	Red Bull Barako	3	1	.750[a]	—
3	Talk 'N Text Phone Pals	3	1	.750[a]	—
4	KK Novi Sad (Yugoslavia) (G)	1	3	.250	2
5	Yonsei University (South Korea) (G)	0	4	.000	3

Source: PBA.ph
(G) Guests
Notes:

1. Head-to-head quotient: FedEx 1.032, Red Bull 1.025, Talk 'N Text 0.949

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	Alaska Aces	4	0	1.000	—	Semifinals
2	Coca-Cola Tigers	3	1	.750	1
3	San Miguel Beermen	2	2	.500	2
4	Cebuana Lhuillier (Philippine national team) (G)	1	3	.250	3
5	Magnolia-Jilin (China) (G)	0	4	.000	4

Source: PBA.ph
(G) Guests

Playoffs

	Semifinals (Single elimination)					Finals (Best-of-3)
	A1	FedEx	83
	B2	Coca-Cola	91
						B2	Coca-Cola	1
						B1	Alaska	2
	B1	Alaska	95
	A2	Red Bull	87			Third-place playoff
						A1	FedEx	99
						A2	Red Bull	84

This box:

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Finals

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
(B1) Alaska Aces	2–1	(B2) Coca-Cola Tigers	81–94	78–76 (OT)	91–86

2003 PBA Reinforced Conference

Main article: 2003 PBA Reinforced Conference

Elimination round

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	Sta. Lucia Realtors	8	5	.615	—	Quarterfinals
2	FedEx Express	5	8	.385	3
3	San Miguel Beermen	5	8	.385	3
4	Alaska Aces	4	9	.308[a]	4
5	Purefoods TJ Hotdogs	4	9	.308[a]	4

Source: PBA.ph
Notes:

1. Fourth-seed playoff: Alaska 93–88 Purefoods

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	Red Bull Barako	11	2	.846	—	Quarterfinals
2	Coca-Cola Tigers	11	2	.846	—
3	Barangay Ginebra Kings	7	6	.538	4
4	Talk 'N Text Phone Pals	7	6	.538	4
5	Shell Turbo Chargers	3	10	.231	8

Source: PBA.ph

Playoffs

Quarterfinals (Best-of-3)

Semifinals (Best-of-5)

Finals (Best-of-7)

A1

Sta. Lucia

2

A4

Alaska

1

A1

Sta. Lucia

0

A3

San Miguel

3

A2

FedEx

0

A3

San Miguel

2

A3

San Miguel

3

B2

Coca-Cola

4

B1

Red Bull

1

B4

Talk 'N Text

2

B4

Talk 'N Text

0

Third place

B2

Coca-Cola

3

B2

Coca-Cola

2

B4

Talk 'N Text

123

B3

Barangay Ginebra

1

A1

Sta. Lucia

106

This box:

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Quarterfinals

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
(A1) Sta. Lucia Realtors	2–1	(A4) Alaska Aces	88–79	84–95	88–86
(B1) Red Bull Barako	1–2	(B4) Talk 'N Text Phone Pals	116–120	99–80	81–95
(A2) FedEx Express	0–2	(A3) San Miguel Beermen	92–97	90–100	—
(B2) Coca-Cola Tigers	2–1	(B3) Barangay Ginebra Kings	94–104	85–77	92–86

Semifinals

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5
(A1) Sta. Lucia Realtors	0–3	(A3) San Miguel Beermen	88–109	86–101	96–110	—	—
(B2) Coca-Cola Tigers	3–0	(B4) Talk 'N Text Phone Pals	86–73	109–105	101–81	—	—

Third place playoff

Team 1	Score	Team 2
(A1) Sta. Lucia Realtors	106–123	(B4) Talk 'N Text Phone Pals

Finals

Main article: 2003 PBA Reinforced Conference finals

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5	Game 6	Game 7
(B2) Coca-Cola Tigers	4–3	(A3) San Miguel Beermen	81–84	103–79	81–86	87–84	86–84	80–85	92–84

Awards

• Most Valuable Player: Asi Taulava (Talk 'N Text) ^[13]
• Rookie of the Year: Jimmy Alapag (Talk 'N Text)
• Sportsmanship Award: Patrick Fran
• Most Improved Player: Rafi Reavis (Coca-Cola)
• Defensive Player of the Year: Rudy Hatfield (Coca-Cola)
• Mythical Five
  • Asi Taulava (Talk 'N Text)
  • Jimmy Alapag (Talk 'N Text)
  • Jeffrey Cariaso (Coca-Cola)
  • Rudy Hatfield (Coca-Cola)
  • Dennis Espino (Sta. Lucia)
• Mythical Second Team
  • Johnny Abarrientos (Coca-Cola)
  • Harvey Carey (Talk 'N Text)
  • Marlou Aquino (Sta. Lucia)
  • John Arigo (Alaska)
  • Don Allado (Alaska)
• All Defensive Team
  • Asi Taulava (Talk 'N Text)
  • Rudy Hatfield (Coca-Cola)
  • Marlou Aquino (Sta. Lucia)
  • Patrick Fran (Talk 'N Text)
  • Willie Miller (Red Bull)
• Gawad Emerson Coseteng Lifetime Achievement Award: Leo Prieto

Awards given by PBA Press Corps

• Coach of the Year: Chot Reyes (Coca-Cola)
• Mr. Quality Minutes: Renren Ritualo (Fedex)
• Referee of the Year: Ogie Bernarte
• Darling of the Media: Asi Taulava (Talk 'N Text)

Cumulative standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	Best finish
1	Batang Red Bull Thunder	43	30	13	.698	Semifinalist
2	Coca-Cola Tigers	65	44	21	.677	Champions
3	Talk 'N Text Phone Pals	56	32	24	.571
4	Alaska Aces	56	31	25	.554
5	San Miguel Beermen	51	28	23	.549	Finalist
6	FedEx Express	43	21	22	.488	Third place
7	Sta. Lucia Realtors	50	23	27	.460	Semifinalist
8	Barangay Ginebra Kings	41	16	25	.390	Quarterfinalist
9	Shell Turbo Chargers	35	10	25	.286	Elimination round
10	Purefoods TJ Hotdogs	36	9	27	.250
11	KK Novi Sad (G)	4	1	3	.250
12	Cebuana Lhuillier (G)	4	1	3	.250
13	Yonsei University (G)	4	0	4	.000
14	Magnolia-Jilin (G)	4	0	4	.000

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(G) Guests

Elimination round

• The Mabuhay Cup records are treated as if they're elimination round games.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT
1	Batang Red Bull Thunder	35	28	7	.800
2	Coca-Cola Tigers	35	25	10	.714
3	Alaska Aces	39	21	18	.538
4	Talk 'N Text Phone Pals	35	20	15	.571
5	San Miguel Beermen	35	19	16	.543
6	FedEx Express	35	18	17	.514
7	Sta. Lucia Realtors	35	18	17	.514
8	Barangay Ginebra Kings	35	15	20	.429
9	Shell Turbo Chargers	35	10	25	.286
10	Purefoods TJ Hotdogs	35	9	26	.257
11	KK Novi Sad (G)	4	1	3	.250
12	Cebuana Lhuillier (G)	4	1	3	.250
13	Yonsei University (G)	4	0	4	.000
14	Magnolia-Jilin (G)	4	0	4	.000

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(G) Guests

Playoffs

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L
1	Coca-Cola Tigers	30	19	11
2	Talk 'N Text Phone Pals	21	12	9
3	Alaska Aces	17	10	7
4	San Miguel Beermen	16	9	7
5	Sta. Lucia Realtors	15	5	10
6	FedEx Express	8	3	5
7	Batang Red Bull Thunder	8	2	6
8	Barangay Ginebra Kings	6	1	5
9	Purefoods TJ Hotdogs	1	0	1
10	Shell Turbo Chargers	0	0	0
11	KK Novi Sad (G)	0	0	0
12	Cebuana Lhuillier (G)	0	0	0
13	Yonsei University (G)	0	0	0
14	Magnolia-Jilin (G)	0	0	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(G) Guests