3 PBA opening games in 3 cities

GAMES NOV. 17

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)

2 p.m.—Opening Ceremonies

3 p.m.—San Mig Coffee vs Barangay Ginebra

(New Cebu Coliseum)

5:15 p.m.—Meralco vs Talk ‘N Text

(In Davao)

5:15 p.m.—Rain or Shine vs Alaska

A game in each of the country’s three major islands to be played simultaneously on Nov. 17 will usher in the 39th season of the Philippine Basketball Association.

Glitzy opening rites featuring the six teams that will be left in Manila formally gets the tournament  going at Smart Araneta Coliseum at 2 p.m. before San Mig Coffee slugs it out with Barangay Ginebra.

Meralco and defending champion Talk ‘N Text will collide in a clash of sister teams at  5:15 p.m. in Cebu while Rain or Shine and Alaska tangle in Davao at about the same time in the Mindanao end of the opening bill.

The opening-day schedule reflects the major changes in the scheduling of the games this season.

From the usual three doubleheaders a week, the PBA has added Saturday as the fourth playing day to be able to compress the schedule and address the concerns of finishing on time for the Fiba World Championship in Spain where Gilas-Pilipinas will be represented by pro stars in August.

An “equalizer” system will also be put in place for the import spiced Commissioner’s Cup—the second conference—where the two eliminated teams in the Philippine Cup will be allowed to tap imports who are two inches taller than the 6-foot-9 limit.

Alaska is the defending Commissioner’s Cup champion and should the Aces want to bring Robert Dozier back, they would have to ask their import to be measured and fit in as 6-foot-9.

Marqus Blakely, if he fails to make it to the National Basketball Association, will again spearhead San Mig Coffee in the season-ending Governors’ Cup, the second “sprint” tournament of the season.

“I told him (during the championship celebration) that the only thing that can keep us from taking him back (this season) is if he makes an NBA team,” San Mig board representative Rene Pardo told sportswriters at the posh Westin Sydney here on Wednesday.

The Philippine Cup will, as usual, be the longest among the conferences, with each team to play a minimum of 14 games in the eliminations using the inter-intra format and the bottom two teams getting the boot.

Also, broadcast of the games will be on TV5 with opening-day coverage to start with the 2 p.m. parade of teams and their muses and then the game before airing of the live feed from Davao.

The Meralco-Talk ‘N Text match will be aired at 10 p.m.

The PBA board ended its planning session on Wednesday . They plane back in on Nov. 2 before rejoining their teams for the Annual Draft the day after at Robinson’s Place in Manila.

In a related development, Globalport and Petron Blaze agreed on a one-on-one trade that sent Chris Ross to the Boosters for Denok Miranda.