| 2000 PBA All-Filipino Cup | |
|---|---|
| Duration | February 20 – June 11, 2000 |
| TV partner(s) | Viva TV (IBC) |
| Finals | |
| Champions | Alaska Milkmen |
| Runners-up | Purefoods TJ Hotdogs |
| Awards | |
| Best Player | Kenneth Duremdes (Alaska Milkmen) |
| Finals MVP | Poch Juinio (Alaska Milkmen) |
| PBA All-Filipino Cup chronology | |
| PBA conference chronology | |
The 2000 PBA All-Filipino Cup or known as the 2000 Alaxan PBA All-Filipino Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the first conference of the 2000 PBA season. It started on February 20 and ended on June 11, 2000. The tournament is an All-Filipino format, which doesn't require an import or a pure-foreign player for each team.
The following format will be observed for the duration of the conference:
Group A: | Group B:
|
| Pos | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tanduay Rhum Masters | 12 | 2 | .857 | — | Twice-to-beat in the quarterfinals |
| 2 | San Miguel Beermen | 10 | 4 | .714 [a] | 2 | |
| 3 | Alaska Milkmen | 10 | 4 | .714 [a] | 2 | |
| 4 | Purefoods TJ Hotdogs | 8 | 6 | .571 | 4 | |
| 5 | Sta. Lucia Realtors | 6 | 8 | .429 [b] | 6 | Twice-to-win in the quarterfinals |
| 6 | Pop Cola 800s | 6 | 8 | .429 [b] | 6 | |
| 7 | Mobiline Phone Pals | 5 | 9 | .357 [c] | 7 | |
| 8 | Barangay Ginebra Kings | 5 | 9 | .357 [c] | 7 | |
| 9 | Shell Velocity | 5 | 9 | .357 [c] | 7 | |
| 10 | Batang Red Bull Energizers [d] | 3 | 11 | .214 | 9 |
Mobiline had a better quotient on their games among Shell and Barangay Ginebra hence they were awarded with the #7 seed. [1]
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals (best-of-5) | Finals (best-of-7) | ||||||||||||
| #1 twice-to-beat | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Tanduay | 101 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Brgy. Ginebra | 78 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Tanduay | 1 | ||||||||||||
| #4 twice-to-beat | ||||||||||||||
| 4 | Purefoods | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Purefoods | 68 | 89 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Sta. Lucia | 93 | 79 | |||||||||||
| 4 | Purefoods | 1 | ||||||||||||
| #2 twice-to-beat | ||||||||||||||
| 3 | Alaska | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | San Miguel | 82 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Mobiline | 61 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | San Miguel | 1 | Third-place playoff | |||||||||||
| #3 twice-to-beat | ||||||||||||||
| 3 | Alaska | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Alaska | 81 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Tanduay | 103 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Pop Cola | 67 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | San Miguel | 92 | ||||||||||||
The day after Tanduay swept the series 3–0, the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) revoked Sonny Alvarado's Filipino citizenship as it uncovered that the player used fraudulent papers; consequently, the BID ordered Alvarado's deportation. This caused PBA commissioner Jun Bernardino to forfeit two of Tanduay's semifinal wins (Games 2 and 3) since Alvarado played in those games (he didn't play in the first game). The league earlier forfeited Batang Red Bull's wins when 18-year-old Kerby Raymundo was found to have deficient academic credentials. With the forfeitures, the series would have resumed on Game 4 with Purefoods leading the series 2–1; however, Tanduay secured a temporary restraining order (TRO) that prevented the league from staging Game 4 of their series. [2] The league suspended the Game 4 on the May 24 playdate, the first time a game has been suspended for a cause other than a typhoon, an earthquake, or a bomb threat. [3]
PBA legal counsel Butch Cleofe warned that Tanduay faced suspension from the league, a hefty fine and even expulsion when it fails to show up on the May 26 playdate. A P500,000 fine faced the franchise plus other penalties the commissioner may impose. [4] Prior to the game, Tanduay was able to secure an extension of the TRO hence Game 4 was suspended for a second time; this has been the first time a PBA game has been suspended via a court order. The league has already lost P600,000 on gate receipts and Viva TV lost about P2 million in TV commercials. [5] The league rejected Tanduay's offer of resetting the series with them leading 1–0, with the games that Alvarado played declared as "no contests"; the league insisted that the Rhum Masters play Game 4 with them trailing 1–2. [6] On May 30, Tanduay relented and agreed to play Game 4 with them trailing 1–2. Bernardino would deal with Tanduay's actions "accordingly with due process". To prevent such events from happening again, the PBA Board has decided that Filipino-Americans would have to secure clearances from the BID and the Department of Justice (DOJ; previously, only a BID clearance was sufficient). [7]
When Game 4 was finally played, the game went into overtime; Purefoods' Boyet Fernandez converted a three-point field goal with 0.2 of a second remaining to seal Purefoods' unlikely Finals qualification against 1990s rival Alaska. [8]
Alaska won the title on Game 5 despite trailing by six points late in the fourth quarter; Rodney Santos and Poch Juinio carried the scoring slack when Bong Hawkins and Johnny Abarrientos had bad starts. Abarrientos was able to make it up by hitting a jump-shot to give the Milkmen the lead 85–82. Noy Castillo converted both free-throws to cut the lead to one. Alaska missed four free-throws, including two intentional misses by James Wallkvist with 0.5 of a second remaining to clinch their first All-Filipino championship since 1998. Alvin Patrimonio had a series-best 22 points but went scoreless at the final quarter that helped Alaska to catch up.