THE PBA Commissioner’s Cup will open on November 27 at the Philsports Arena with a new guest team, a Christmas Day playdate, and games played five days a week.
PBA commissioner Willie Marcial looks forward to another busy conference that will begin shortly after the FIBA international window where Gilas Pilipinas will face New Zealand on November 21 and Hong Kong on November 24.
Guest team Hong Kong Eastern joins the 12 regular teams in the chase of the championship, with the team also known as the Eastern Sports Club looking to duplicate the success of the Bay Area Dragons, who reached the 2022-23 Commissioner’s Cup Finals before losing to Barangay Ginebra.
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Marcial also said the PBA will schedule another Christmas doubleheader to be played at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum - the fourth straight to be held by the league after San Miguel defeated Phoenix, and Barangay Ginebra won over TNT in 2023.
The opening day games, Christmas Day matches and the full schedule of games will be released soon.
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Over the course of the conference, Marcial said the PBA will mostly play five days a week, but there would be some weeks where the league will have slate of games for six days, similar to the Governors’ Cup.
Marcial said the heavy week of games is another move by the PBA to give way to Gilas Pilipinas as it is scheduled to play in the February window against Chinese Taipei on the 20th and New Zealand on the 23rd.
San Miguel enters the next conference as the defending champion, having beaten the Magnolia Chicken Timplados last season with Bennie Boatwright as their import.
The PBA reverts back to the usual Commissioner’s Cup format where the 13 teams will play a round-robin elimination round, with the top eight teams advancing to the quarterfinals where the top four will enjoy twice-to-beat advantage.
The semifinals will be a best-of-five, and the finals will be a best-of-seven series.
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