The

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...

(PBA)

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

-Invitational Championship, was the second conference of the

2003 PBA season The 2003 PBA season was the 29th season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Board of governors Executive committee * Jose Emmanuel M. Eala (Commissioner) * Casiano Cabalan Jr. (Chairman, representing Barangay Ginebra Kings) * Manue ...

. 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 The Powerade Tigers were a professional basketball team that played in the Philippine Basketball Association from 2002 to 2012. The franchise was owned by Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc. (CCBPI) when the company acquired Cosmos Bottling Co ...

, 2-1, in their best-of-three finals series. 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

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 A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolitan ...

on July 20 at the Cuneta Astrodome for a perfect 4-0 slate.

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.

Group B

Bracket

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.

References

External links

PBA.ph
{{DEFAULTSORT:PBA Invitational Cup Invitational Cup Invitational Cup 2003–04 in Serbian basketball 2003–04 in Chinese basketball 2003–04 in South Korean basketball