Metropolitan Basketball Association

Did You Know?

• The MBA's shot clock was 23 seconds, one second shorter than the NBA and PBA's 24 seconds.
• The MBA introduced a 'Blitz Three' rule in 2001, where any field goal converted within four seconds of a change of possession was worth three points.

History

The MBA's first game took place on March 7, 1998, at the Don Narciso Ramos Sports Complex in Lingayen, Pangasinan. The league was widely seen as ABS-CBN's effort to challenge the PBA after the network failed to secure broadcast rights for the 1998 PBA season. Before the inaugural season, the MBA recruited free agents from the PBA. Foreign-born players were allowed to play as long as they were born in the Philippines, without requiring Filipino citizenship or ancestry. This practice drew attention from the PBA, which responded by raising player salaries and allowing direct hiring of foreign-born players with Filipino descent. The MBA folded on July 26, 2002, due to high expenses and ABS-CBN ending its funding. Displaced players moved to the semi-professional Philippine Basketball League before reaching the PBA.

MBA Champions

The Pampanga Dragons became the first MBA national champions on October 31, 1998, defeating the Negros Slashers in five games. The Manila Metrostars won the 1999 title by routing the Cebu Gems 101–83 in Game Six. In 2001, Andok's-San Juan won the first phase tournament with a 3–1 series win over Negros, while LBC-Batangas Blades captured the second phase crown by beating Negros 94–75 in Game Four. On June 1, 2002, RCPI-Negros finally won their first MBA title, sweeping LBC-Batangas Blades in three games.

Rivalries

The Manila-Cebu rivalry was considered a clash of basketball hotbeds; they played the first MBA game in 1998, and Manila defeated Cebu in the 1999 National Finals, while Cebu won the 2000 Interconference tournament. The Negros-Cebu rivalry featured both Visayas-based teams; Negros overcame a 1–3 deficit to beat Cebu in the 1998 Southern Conference Finals, and Cebu eliminated Negros in the 1999 Southern Conference semis after a game was halted and restarted due to physical play and fan behavior. The Davao-Cebu rivalry had a 1998 game halted when fans threw debris onto the court. The Pasig-San Juan rivalry, considered the most intense, saw games halted due to fights between players and fans; Pasig-Rizal defeated San Juan for the 1999 Northern Conference Two title and eliminated the Knights in the 1999 Northern Conference semifinals.

Trivia

The Manila Metrostars set a league record in 1999 with 22 consecutive wins, later halted by the Negros Slashers, en route to a 26–4 record and the national championship; this streak was seen as the longest in Philippine professional basketball history, surpassing the PBA's Crispa Redmanizers' 21-game streak from 1983. The MBA introduced an 8-second rule for advancing the ball past half-court in 1998, which the PBA later adopted in 2004. Felix Belano of the Davao Eagles recorded the only quadruple-double in MBA history, against the Nueva Ecija Patriots in 1999. Peter Martin made the first shot in MBA history when his Manila Metrostars faced the Cebu Gems in the league's opening game. Chris Clay of the Laguna Lakers made 19 of 19 free throws in the 2001 season. Stephen Padilla holds the record for most three-point shots made in a game, with 10, scoring 40 points on 10-of-10 from the arc in 2001. John Ferriols was the first MVP of the tournament, and Alex Compton was the first American player named MVP in 1999. The Manila Metrostars became the first MBA team to represent the Philippines at the 1999 Southeast Asian Games in Brunei, winning the gold medal against Thailand. The Pasig Pirates and San Juan Knights were revived as expansion teams of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League in 2018; the SocSarGen Marlins were later rechristened as the Soccsksargen Marlins and then the Sarangani Marlins.