2003 PBA Invitational Championship

2003 PBA Invitational Championship
Duration	July 27 – August 23, 2003
TV partner(s)	NBN/IBC
Finals
Champions	Alaska Aces
Runners-up	Coca Cola Tigers
PBA Invitational Championship chronology
< 1984
PBA conference chronology
< 2003 All-Filipino 2003 Reinforced >

The 2003 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Samsung-Invitational Championship, was the second conference of the 2003 PBA season. It started on July 27 and ended on August 23, 2003. The tournament features three guest foreign teams from Korea, China and Yugoslavia along with the Philippine national team.

The Alaska Aces captured their 11th PBA title by beating the Coca Cola Tigers, 2-1, in their best-of-three finals series.^[1]

Brandon Cablay won on his first Finals MVP in Invitational Cup Championship.

Qualification[]

PBA Philippine Cup[]

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

Pos	Team v t	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

Samsung-PBA Mabuhay Cup[]

The Samsung PBA-Mabuhay Cup was the one-round robin between the five lower seeded teams based on their won-loss records in the elimination round of the All-Filipino Cup to determine the sixth and last qualifying team for the PBA second conference Invitationals.

The Alaska Aces made it as the sixth entry by defeating Barangay Ginebra Kings on July 20 at the Cuneta Astrodome for a perfect 4-0 slate.^[2]

Pos	Team v t	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

Elimination round[]

Group A[]

Red Bull gained the last slot in the crossover semis on August 13 at the Cuneta Astrodome in a bizarre ending, Talk 'N Text, which won 88-87, needed to win 8 points, went to the extent of shooting to the Red Bull's goal while enjoying the lead in the closing seconds to possibly force an overtime.^[3]

Pos	Team v t	W	L	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	FedEx Express	3	1	.750[a]	—	Qualify to 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

Group B[]

Pos	Team v t	W	L	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	Alaska Aces	4	0	1.000	—	Qualify to 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

Bracket[]

	Semifinals (One-game playoff)					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

Semifinals[]

Third place playoff[]

Finals[]

Brandon Lee Cablay held the Aces together with timely hits then sparked a fiery Alaska windup as the Tigers came back from 16 points down to even lead twice early in the last quarter. Cablay nailed a three-pointer that tied the count for the final time at 70-all and added back-to-back baskets that finally doomed the Tigers, 84-74, with 2:24 left in the game. The 6-foot Cablay was adjudged as the first rookie Finals MVP since Danny Seigle with San Miguel back in 1999.^[4]

References[]

External links[]

• PBA.ph