2021 PBA 3x3 season

2021 PBA 3x3 season
DurationNovember 20, 2021 – July 3, 2022
Number of teams13
TV partner(s)Local:
One Sports
TV5 (selected legs and grand finals only)
One Sports
PBA Rush (HD)
International:
AksyonTV International
Online:
GigaPlay
1st Conference championsLimitless Appmasters
  1st Conference runners-upPlatinum Karaoke
2nd Conference championsPioneer Pro Tibay
  2nd Conference runners-upSista Super Sealers
3rd Conference championsTNT Tropang Giga
  3rd Conference runners-upPurefoods TJ Titans
Seasons
← N/A

The 2021 PBA 3x3 season was the inaugural season of the PBA 3x3, the 3x3 basketball league of the Philippine Basketball Association.

Postponement

[edit]

The inaugural season was supposed to be held in 2020, with all 12 franchise teams of the main PBA to field their own teams. Mighty Sports and Dunkin Donuts reportedly were interesting in also fielding teams in the PBA 3x3.[1] The inaugural season was supposed to start with the 3×3 Philippine Cup in March 2020, but was postponed to 2021 by June 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic with the PBA preoccupied with plans to resume the season of its main league during that time.[2]

The PBA 3x3 inaugural season was initially scheduled to be held in parallel with the 2021 PBA season, which opened on April 11, 2021,[3] but was further postponed. The inaugural PBA 3x3 season commenced on November 20, 2021.[4]

Teams

[edit]

All 12 franchise teams of the main 5-a-side Philippine Basketball Association are eligible to field a 3x3 team for the 2021 PBA 3x3 season.[3] The Alaska Aces and Blackwater Bossing decided not to field a team, while three guest teams (Pioneer, Platinum, and Zamboanga) participated.[5][6] Another guest team, Master Sardines, joined before the second conference to become the 14th team of the tournament.[7] The Zamboanga Valientes took a leave of absence during the second conference, but returned during the third conference.

Four of the participating franchising teams Magnolia Hotshots, NLEX Road Warriors, Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters and Rain or Shine Elasto Painters announced in November they would be competing in the PBA 3x3 under different team names; Purefoods TJ Titans, Cavitex Braves, Limitless Appmasters, and Sista Super Sealers respectively.[6][8]

Team Company Coach
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. Kirk Collier
Cavitex Braves Metro Pacific Investments Corporation Borgie Hermenda
Emman Monfort
Limitless Appmasters Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc. Willy Wilson
Master Sardines Fishing Champs[note 1] Universal Canning, Inc. Victor Ycasiano
Meralco Bolts 3x3 Manila Electric Company Patrick Fran
NorthPort Batang Pier Sultan 900 Capital, Inc. Alfredo Jarencio II
Pioneer Pro Tibay[note 2] Pioneer Epoxy Adhesives Inc. Lester Del Rosario
Platinum Karaoke[note 1] Vismay International Corporation Anton Altamirano
Purefoods TJ Titans San Miguel Food and Beverage, Inc. Tonyboy Espinosa
San Miguel Beermen[12] San Miguel Brewery, Inc. Boycie Zamar
Sista Super Sealers[13] Asian Coatings Philippines, Inc. Juven Formancil
Terrafirma 3x3 Terrafirma Realty Development Corporation Raymond Tiongco
James Tolentino
TNT Tropang Giga[14] Smart Communications Mau Belen
Zamboanga Valientes MLV Group

Format

[edit]

The inaugural PBA 3x3 season had three tournaments or conference.[6] Each conference had six two-day legs and a grand final. The 13 teams were divided into three pools, with pool A having five teams while pools B and C having four each. Teams within their pools play in a single round-robin format. The top three teams of pool A and the top two teams of pools B and C directly qualify for the quarterfinals. The third-best teams of pools B and C played in a knockout game prior to the quarterfinals. The knockout stage is a single-elimination tournament and a third place game is also held. The winner of each leg gets 100,000, the runner-up gets ₱50,000, while the third placed team gets ₱30,000.[15][16] The seedings and pool compositions for each leg are based on the results of the preceding leg. For the third conference, there were 14 teams divided into four pools, with pools A and C having four teams while pools B and D having three each. The top two teams of each pool advanced to the quarterfinals.

After six legs, the cumulative standings were calculated and the top four teams directly qualified for the quarterfinals of the Grand Finals. The fifth to tenth-placed teams qualified for the preliminary round of the Grand Finals. The bottom teams were not qualified for the Grand Finals.[17] The Grand Champion gets ₱750,000, the runner-up gets ₱250,000, while the third placed team gets ₱100,000.

Transactions

[edit]

Coaching changes

[edit]
Coaching changes
Team In-season Ref.
Second Conference
Master Sardines Fishing Champs Victor Ycasiano Hubert De Los Santos
Terrafirma 3x3 Raymond Tiongco Joe Lipa

First conference

[edit]

The conference started on November 20, 2021, and ended on December 29.

Legs summary

[edit]
Pos Team 1st leg 2nd leg 3rd leg 4th leg 5th leg 6th leg Pts Qualification
1 Meralco Bolts 3x3 2nd 1st 5th 2nd 4th 5th 420 Qualification to Grand Finals quarterfinal round
2 TNT Tropang Giga 1st 3rd 9th 3rd 2nd 2nd 420
3 Limitless Appmasters 11th 4th 7th 6th 1st 1st 361
4 Platinum Karaoke 4th 2nd 6th 4th 6th 3rd 360
5 Terrafirma 3x3 5th 6th 3rd 5th 3rd 7th 325 Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round
6 Purefoods TJ Titans 3rd 9th 4th 1st 5th 11th 316
7 Pioneer Pro Tibay 10th 7th 2nd 7th 7th 8th 253
8 Sista Super Sealers 12th 5th 1st 10th 10th 10th 218
9 San Miguel Beermen 7th 8th 11th 9th 8th 4th 206
10 Barangay Ginebra San Miguel 8th 11th 8th 11th 9th 6th 167
11 Cavitex Braves 6th 10th 12th 8th 12th 12th 140
12 NorthPort Batang Pier 9th 13th 10th 12th 11th 9th 100
13 Zamboanga Valientes 13th 12th 13th 13th 13th 13th 74

Source: PBA 3x3

Grand Finals

[edit]

Preliminary round

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Pool A
[edit]
Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD PCT Qualification
1 San Miguel Beermen 2 1 1 38 36 +2 .500[a] Quarterfinals
2 Terrafirma 3x3 2 1 1 35 35 0 .500[a]
3 Sista Super Sealers 2 1 1 33 35 −2 .500[a]
Source: PBA 3x3
Rules for classification: 1) Wins; Win ratio if unequal number of games; 2) Head-to-head record; 3) Average points per game; 4) Higher seed.
Notes:
  1. ^ a b c San Miguel Beermen 19.0 avg. points; Terrafirma 3x3 17.5 avg. points; Sista Super Sealers 16.5 avg. points
Pool B
[edit]
Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD PCT Qualification
1 Pioneer Pro Tibay 2 2 0 43 36 +7 1.000 Quarterfinals
2 Purefoods TJ Titans 2 1 1 41 31 +10 .500
3 Barangay Ginebra San Miguel 2 0 2 25 42 −17 .000
Source: PBA 3x3
Rules for classification: 1) Wins; Win ratio if unequal number of games; 2) Head-to-head record; 3) Average points per game; 4) Higher seed.

Knockout stage

[edit]
Bracket
[edit]

Seed refers to the position of the team after six legs. Letter and number inside parentheses denotes the pool letter and pool position of the team, respectively, after the preliminary round of the Grand Finals.

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
1 Meralco Bolts 3x3 15
5 (A2) Terrafirma 3x3 19
5 (A2) Terrafirma 3x3 10
4 Platinum Karaoke 21
7 (B1) Pioneer Pro Tibay 15
4 Platinum Karaoke 21
4 Platinum Karaoke 16
3 Limitless Appmasters 18
3 Limitless Appmasters 21
9 (A1) San Miguel Beermen 15
3 Limitless Appmasters 21 Third place
2 TNT Tropang Giga 16
6 (B2) Purefoods TJ Titans 13 5 (A2) Terrafirma 3x3 14
2 TNT Tropang Giga 18 2 TNT Tropang Giga 22

Second conference

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The second conference was originally scheduled to start on January 8, 2022, but was suspended after Metro Manila was put on Alert Level 3 due to the rising COVID-19 cases.[18] The conference started on February 19 and ended on April 27.

Legs summary

[edit]
Pos Team 1st leg 2nd leg 3rd leg 4th leg 5th leg 6th leg Pts Qualification
1 Limitless Appmasters 4th 3rd 1st 2nd 1st 7th 450 Qualification to Grand Finals quarterfinal round
2 TNT Tropang Giga 1st 6th 2nd 3rd 2nd 4th 435
3 Meralco Bolts 3x3 2nd 5th 3rd 1st 6th 5th 395
4 San Miguel Beermen 6th 1st 7th 4th 8th 1st 380
5 Pioneer Pro Tibay 13th 4th 8th 7th 5th 2nd 277 Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round
6 Barangay Ginebra San Miguel 3rd 2nd 9th 5th 13th 8th 267
7 Platinum Karaoke 5th 7th 11th 6th 3rd 6th 266
8 Purefoods TJ Titans 8th 8th 10th 9th 4th 3rd 238
9 Sista Super Sealers 7th 10th 5th 11th 7th 11th 180
10 Terrafirma 3x3 11th 12th 4th 10th 11th 13th 136
11 Cavitex Braves 9th 11th 6th 12th 10th 9th 133
12 Master Sardines Fishing Champs 12th 13th 12th 8th 9th 12th 109
13 NorthPort Batang Pier 10th 9th 13th 13th 12th 10th 94

Source: PBA 3x3

Grand Finals

[edit]

Preliminary round

[edit]
Pool A
[edit]
Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification
1 Sista Super Sealers 2 2 0 39 36 +3 Quarterfinals
2 Pioneer Pro Tibay 2 1 1 38 35 +3
3 Purefoods TJ Titans 2 0 2 35 41 −6
Source: PBA 3x3
Rules for classification: 1) Wins; Win ratio if unequal number of games; 2) Head-to-head record; 3) Average points per game; 4) Higher seed.
Pool B
[edit]
Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification
1 Barangay Ginebra San Miguel 2 2 0 44 37 +7 Quarterfinals
2 Terrafirma 3x3 2 1 1 39 41 −2
3 Platinum Karaoke 2 0 2 38 43 −5
Source: PBA 3x3
Rules for classification: 1) Wins; Win ratio if unequal number of games; 2) Head-to-head record; 3) Average points per game; 4) Higher seed.

Knockout stage

[edit]
Bracket
[edit]

Seed refers to the position of the team after six legs. Letter and number inside parentheses denotes the pool letter and pool position of the team, respectively, after the preliminary round of the Grand Finals.

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
1 Limitless Appmasters 14
5 (A2) Pioneer Pro Tibay 16
5 (A2) Pioneer Pro Tibay 16
6 (B1) Barangay Ginebra San Miguel 14
6 (B1) Barangay Ginebra San Miguel 21
4 San Miguel Beermen 12
5 (A2) Pioneer Pro Tibay 12
9 (A1) Sista Super Sealers 10
3 Meralco Bolts 3x3 15
9 (A1) Sista Super Sealers 16
9 (A1) Sista Super Sealers 13 Third place
2 TNT Tropang Giga 12
10 (B2) Terrafirma 3x3 17 6 (B1) Barangay Ginebra San Miguel 21
2 TNT Tropang Giga 18 2 TNT Tropang Giga 16

Third conference

[edit]

The conference started on May 21, 2022, and ended on July 3.

Legs summary

[edit]
Pos Team 1st leg 2nd leg 3rd leg 4th leg 5th leg 6th leg Pts Qualification
1 TNT Tropang Giga 1st 7th 1st 1st 2nd 2nd 500 Qualification to Grand Finals quarterfinal round
2 Meralco Bolts 3x3 4th 1st 4th 8th 5th 3rd 375
3 Purefoods TJ Titans 3rd 5th 2nd 12th 7th 1st 354
4 San Miguel Beermen 7th 10th 7th 3rd 1st 5th 318
5 Cavitex Braves 6th 2nd 10th 5th 3rd 8th 298 Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round
6 Platinum Karaoke 5th 6th 3rd 6th 6th 7th 295
7 Terrafirma 3x3 9th 4th 13th 2nd 4th 13th 244
8 Limitless Appmasters 10th 8th 5th 4th 9th 4th 243
9 Barangay Ginebra San Miguel 2nd 3rd 14th 10th 8th 11th 230
10 Sista Super Sealers 8th 13th 6th 9th 12th 6th 171
11 Pioneer Pro Tibay 11th 11th 9th 7th 14th 12th 117
12 Master Sardines Fishing Champs 13th 12th 8th 13th 13th 9th 105
13 NorthPort Batang Pier 14th 9th 12th 11th 11th 10th 95
14 Zamboanga Valientes 12th 14th 11th 14th 10th 14th 81

Source: PBA 3x3

Grand Finals

[edit]

Preliminary round

[edit]
Pool A
[edit]
Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD PCT Qualification
1 Limitless Appmasters 2 2 0 42 35 +7 1.000 Quarterfinals
2 Barangay Ginebra San Miguel 2 1 1 37 36 +1 .500
3 Cavitex Braves 2 0 2 35 43 −8 .000
Source: PBA 3x3
Rules for classification: 1) Wins; Win ratio if unequal number of games; 2) Head-to-head record; 3) Average points per game; 4) Higher seed.
Pool B
[edit]
Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD PCT Qualification
1 Platinum Karaoke 2 2 0 38 22 +16 1.000 Quarterfinals
2 Sista Super Sealers 2 1 1 29 27 +2 .500
3 Terrafirma 3x3 2 0 2 18 36 −18 .000
Source: PBA 3x3
Rules for classification: 1) Wins; Win ratio if unequal number of games; 2) Head-to-head record; 3) Average points per game; 4) Higher seed.

Knockout stage

[edit]
Bracket
[edit]

Seed refers to the position of the team after six legs. Letter and number inside parentheses denotes the pool letter and pool position of the team, respectively, after the preliminary round of the Grand Finals.

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
1 TNT Tropang Giga 21
9 (A2) Barangay Ginebra San Miguel 14
1 TNT Tropang Giga 21
4 San Miguel Beermen 15
6 (B1) Platinum Karaoke 8
4 San Miguel Beermen 10
1 TNT Tropang Giga 21
3 Purefoods TJ Titans 19
3 Purefoods TJ Titans 18
8 (A1) Limitless Appmasters 16
3 Purefoods TJ Titans 21 Third place
10 (B2) Sista Super Sealers 19
10 (B2) Sista Super Sealers 18 4 San Miguel Beermen 20
2 Meralco Bolts 3x3 12 10 (B2) Sista Super Sealers 21

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Universal Canning was set to enter a team featuring their brand Master Sardines, but later withdrew.[9] They were replaced by a team of Vismay International Corporation, which is Platinum Karaoke.[10] Master Sardines eventually joined before the second conference.[7]
  2. ^ Phenom Sportswear was supposed to enter with a co-branding of former PBA Developmental League team BRT Sumisip.[11] However they were not among the final roster of participating teams. They were subsequently replaced by a team of Pioneer Epoxy Adhesives Inc. under the monicker of Pioneer Pro Tibay.

References

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  1. ^ Giongco, Mark (February 1, 2020). "PBA, SBP set to launch 3×3 tournament in March". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  2. ^ Lozada, Bong (June 12, 2020). "Inaugural PBA 3x3 tournament postponed to next year". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  3. ^ a b Leongson, Randolph (March 10, 2021). "PBA set for 16-team three-conference maiden 3x3 season". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  4. ^ "SMB, Meralco go unbeaten on Day 1 to book PBA 3x3 knockout stage spots". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. November 20, 2021. Retrieved November 20, 2021.
  5. ^ Bacnis, Justine (April 5, 2021). "Blackwater to skip PBA 3x3". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved April 5, 2021.
  6. ^ a b c Terrado, Jonas (November 12, 2021). "PBA 3x3 to hold draw proceedings for 13 teams; Opening set on Nov. 20". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Master Sardines newest team to join growing PBA 3x3". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
  8. ^ Bacnis, Justine (November 2, 2021). "PBA 3x3 to have 13 teams". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  9. ^ Li, Matthew (March 27, 2021). "Master Sardines commits to PBA 3x3". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  10. ^ Li, Matthew (July 19, 2021). "Ababou to lead Platinum Karaoke in PBA 3x3". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  11. ^ Li, Matthew (April 20, 2021). "Phenom-BRT Sumisip replaces Blackwater in PBA 3x3". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  12. ^ "Louie Vigil leads San Miguel team in inaugural PBA 3x3". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  13. ^ Li, Matthew (July 14, 2021). "Franky Johnson headlines Rain or Shine 3x3". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  14. ^ "TNT insists Gray committed to 3x3 team amid Taiwan rumor". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  15. ^ "FAST FACTS: PBA 3x3 lineups, groupings, tournament format". Rappler. November 13, 2021.
  16. ^ "PBA 3X3 gets going with 17-game opener". 3x3.pba.ph.
  17. ^ "Meralco, TNT lead qualifiers to PBA 3x3 First Conference Grand Finals". 3x3.pba.ph.
  18. ^ "PBA postpones 3x3 second conference tentatively". 3x3.pba.ph.