The Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA), also shortened as Metroball, was a professional basketball league in the Philippines that ran for five seasons from 1998 until 2002.
The MBA was established to rival the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The MBA contained between 8 and 15 teams which represented cities and provinces who played at home and away. Initially, the league was divided into two conferences: the Northern Conference for teams based in Luzon and the Southern Conference for teams based in Visayas and Mindanao. At the end of each season, the champions of each conference faced each other at the MBA National Finals to determine the league champion. Later, the MBA allowed companies to sponsor teams and attach their brand to the teams' names—and by the final season, used a three-conference format. The MBA's rules also differed slightly from the basic rules of basketball.
Each of the five seasons had a different champion: the Pampanga Dragons, Manila Metrostars, San Juan Knights, Batangas Blades, and Negros Slashers. The Negros Slashers had the most finals appearances, with four. The Northern Conference produced the most champions, with four, while the Southern Conference produced only one. A total of sixteen teams have competed in the MBA.
MBA games were broadcast on ABS-CBN Corporation's television networks from 1998 until 2001 when it moved to the state-run NBN-4 under the production of Silverstar Communications. The MBA folded in July 2002 due to high costs of maintaining the league and ABS-CBN's withdrawal of support.
History
The MBA played its first game on March 7, 1998, at the Don Narciso Ramos Sports Complex in Lingayen, Pangasinan. The MBA was widely viewed as broadcast giant ABS-CBN's attempt to undermine the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) after failing on its bid to acquire broadcasting rights for the 1998 season. Prior to the start of the MBA's inaugural season, the league had successfully poached PBA free agents for talent in order to compete.
Metroball allowed foreigners to play for their teams, not requiring Philippine passports of them, nor requiring those foreigners to have Filipino blood. All the league required was that these players be born in the Philippines.
As a direct result of this practice, the MBA and its foreign-born players began attracting attention away from the PBA, forcing the more-established league to escalate their own players' salaries and practically sidelining its rookie draft through a "direct hiring" process of foreign citizens with Filipino descent which the elder league approved in the 1998 off-season. This allowed PBA teams like the Mobiline Phone Pals and Tanduay Rhum Masters to negotiate directly with MBA players or prospects (like Asi Taulava and Sonny Alvarado) for their services.
The MBA folded on July 26, 2002, due to high expenses of funding a regional basketball league, and ABS-CBN withdrawing its funding for the league. In its immediate aftermath, the displaced players went to the semi-professional Philippine Basketball League en route to the PBA.
Format
The MBA had a format similar to that of North America's National Basketball Association (NBA). The teams were divided into two conferences: the Northern Conference composed of Luzon-based teams, and the Southern Conference composed of Visayas- and Mindanao-based teams. The season concluded with the MBA National Finals, where the champions of both conferences face off to determine the season champions.
After the league adapted a semi-commercial format, in which teams are sponsored by companies, several methods were used to in determining the champion. In their final season, they have adapted a three-conference format, similar with the PBA.
Teams
Location of the teams.
Northern Conference
Batangas Blades (1998–2002; team merged with Manila in 2001, known as LBC-Batangas Blades)
Laguna Lakers (1998–2001; team abandoned the league after their owners FedEx joined the PBA in 2002)
The MBA generally followed the basic rules of basketball but had a set of its differences compared to the PBA:
The shot clock was reduced to 23 seconds, as opposed to the NBA and PBA's 24 seconds.
The time limit for a team to advance the ball over the center line was reduced to eight seconds, as opposed to both the NBA and PBA's 10 seconds. The PBA later adopted the 8-second limit in 2004, two years after the MBA disbanded.
Free-three – An option to trade a player's two free throws for a free three (one attempt at the three-point arc above the free throw line, worth three points if successfully made) at the last two minutes of the fourth quarter. This option was later made available at any time during the game by 1999.
One-for-one situation – There were two penalty situations in the MBA: first, if a squad incurs five team fouls, the fouled player needed to successfully make the first free throw before getting the second. Two free throws were only guaranteed to a player fouled in the act of shooting if a squad incurred seven team fouls or more.
Blitz Three – Introduced in 2001, any field goal converted within four seconds of a change of possession was worth three points. A red siren is installed at the backboard to indicate the Blitz Period.
Foreigners were allowed to play in the league, provided that the player is born in the Philippines.
October 31, 1998: Pampanga Dragons emerge as the first MBA champions, winning against Negros Slashers in five games. The Dragons clinch the national championship following an 89–85 victory in Game Five at the San Fernando Sports Complex.
December 8, 1999: Manila Metrostars rout the Cebu Gems, 101–83 in Game Six, before a hometown crowd at the Mail & More Sports Complex in San Andres and crowned themselves the 1999 MBA national champions.
November 25, 2000: San Juan Knights defeated Negros Slashers, 104–91 in Game Six, at the packed San Juan Gym for their first MBA national title since becoming one of the three new teams last season.
August 24, 2001: Andok's-San Juan is champions anew in the MBA first phase tournament, scoring a 3-1 series win over Negros Slashers, the same team they beat in the national finals last year. The Knights outscored the Slashers, 30-15 in the final quarter, for a 103-90 victory.
December 19, 2001: LBC-Batangas Blades captured their first MBA crown in the second phase of the 2001 season, beating hard-luck Negros Slashers, 94–75 in Game Four, for a 3–1 series victory.
June 1, 2002: After four runner-up finishes, RCPI-Negros finally win their first MBA title. The Slashers completed a three-game sweep off LBC-Batangas Blades. Winning Slashers coach Jojo Villapando now joined the elite list of MBA champion coaches.
Manila-Cebu – Seen as a rivalry of two basketball hotbeds in the Philippines. Both teams played the first MBA game on March 7, 1998, in Pangasinan with Metrostars defeating the Gems. Manila and Cebu also entangled in a regular season match in August 1999 which saw Manila escape with a nail-biting win that preserved their record 23-game winning streak. Manila later defeated Cebu in the 1999 MBA National Finals. Cebu bounced back, defeating Manila to win the 2000 MBA Interconference tournament.
Negros-Cebu – A rivalry of both teams from the Visayas region, and also in the MBA Visayas Division. The Slashers defeated the Gems 4–3 in the 1998 MBA Southern Conference Finals, after Negros trailed 1–3 in the series. The Gems bounced back in the 1999 Southern Conference semis by defeating the Slashers. A game during the series was halted and restarted a week later, due to physical play and fan behavior. Negros bounced back in 2000, defeating Cebu in the Southern finals.
Davao-Cebu – A Southern Conference rivalry, had a game in 1998 halted due to physical play while fans pelted the court with debris.
Pasig-San Juan – A Northern Conference rivalry between both nearby Metro Manila cities. Probably the most intense rivalry in MBA history, with games being halted with fights from both players on the court and rival fans in attendance. Pasig-Rizal defeated San Juan to win the 1999 MBA Northern Conference Two title and also eliminated the Knights in the 1999 Northern Conference semifinals.
Trivia
The Manila Metrostars set a league record in 1999 by winning 22 consecutive games only to be halted by the Negros Slashers during the elimination round, en route to a 26–4 record and the MBA National Championship. The record was also seen by many as the most in Philippine professional basketball history, breaking the PBA's Crispa Redmanizers' record of 21 consecutive victories in 1983.
8-second rule, standard in professional and original used of MBA started in 1998.
Felix Belano of the Davao Eagles was the only player to record a quadruple-double in MBA history (if a player records a double-figure numbers in four categories such as points, rebounds, assists, blocks or steals) during a game against the Nueva Ecija Patriots in 1999. Belano later had a stint with the Talk 'N Text Phone Pals of the PBA.
Chris Clay of Laguna Lakers was holds of 19/19 free throw in 2001 season.
The SocSarGen Marlins became the first team to register a win in the first double-header of the league in 1998. Max Delantes led the way for the Marlins.
Stephen Padilla holds the record for most 3-point shots made with 10 as he scores 40 points with a 10/10 from the 3-point arc in 2001.
John Ferriols was the first MVP of the tournament while Alex Compton was the first American player to be named MVP of the MBA in 1999.
In 1999, the Manila Metrostars became the first MBA team to banner a team at the 1999 Southeast Asian Games in Brunei. They made it before winning the national championship over the Cebu Gems. Coach Louie Alas led the RP Team (now Team Gilas Pilipinas) to win the gold medal by beating Thailand. The majority of the line-up were the players from the Metrostars led by Adducul and Camaso and recruited some players from other teams.
March 7, 1998 (1998-03-07)– July 26, 2002 (2002-07-26)
The MBA on ABS-CBN was a branding for presentation of the Metropolitan Basketball Association games by the ABS-CBN Sports. The MBA on ABS-CBN premiered on March 7, 1998, when the league inaugurated its first season, and ended on December 19, 2001.
State-owned NBN-4 officially took over the coverage in the ill-fated 2002 season with the game telecasts being produced by Silverstar Communications.
