2019 MPBL Season

The 2018–19 MPBL Datu Cup was the second tournament of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League and the first full season with a national scope. The tournament is patterned after the current format of the National Basketball Association of the United States and the now-defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association in the Philippines, which it is divided into two divisions: The Northern and the Southern Divisions. A record of 26 teams played in the conference, which ran for over 10 months, according to league commissioner Kenneth Duremdes. The almost year-long conference opened on June 12, 2018, which coincided with the Philippine Independence Day at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City and ended with the final game of the MPBL Finals on April 25, 2019 where San Juan Knights prevailed over the Davao Occidental Tigers, 3 games to 2.

Format

The format for the cup was:

* All 26 teams will be divided into two conferences or groups: the North and South Divisions, which consist 13 teams each.
* In the regular season, teams will play in a single round-robin format, with each team playing 25 games, in a home-and-away basis. Though divided into two groups, teams will still play in a round-robin.
* At the end of the regular season, the top eight teams in each conference will qualify for the playoffs. The top four teams in each conference will earn home-court advantage through the division playoffs. Additionally, the team with the league's best record will hold home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, including the national finals (if they can make it as far as there).
* For the playoffs, the first round, division semifinals, and the division finals will be a best-of-3 series, while the MPBL Finals will be a best-of-5 series.
* For the first round, the following will be the home-and-away format: 1 & 2 Seeds - home - neutral - home (if necessary), 3 & 4 Seeds - neutral - home - neutral (if necessary), 5 & 6 Seeds - neutral - away - neutral (if necessary), and 7 & 8 Seeds - away - neutral - away (if necessary).

Transactions

Coaching changes

Team changes

New teams

Sixteen (16) new teams joined for this cup:

* Bacoor Strikers
* Basilan Steel
* Cebu City Sharks
* Davao Occidental Tigers
* General Santos Warriors
* Laguna Heroes
* Makati Skyscrapers
* Mandaluyong El Tigre
* Manila Stars
* Marikina Shoemasters
* Pampanga Lanterns
* Pasig Pirates
* Pasay Voyagers
* Rizal Crusaders
* San Juan Knights
* Zamboanga Valientes

Name changes

* The Bataan Defenders changed their team name to Bataan Risers before the start of the season.
* The Valenzuela Classics changed their team name to Valenzuela Idol Cheesedogs in July 2018.
* The Makati Skyscrapers changed their team name to Makati Super Crunch in November 2018.
* The Valenzuela Idol Cheesedogs reverted to their original team name, the Valenzuela Classic in November 2018.

Regular season

Northern Division

Southern Division

Results

Not all games are in home–away format. Each team plays every team once. Number of asterisks after each score denotes number of overtimes played.

Playoffs

Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its division, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. Teams with home court advantage, the higher seeded team, are shown in italics and are marked in asterisks.

Division 1st Round

The first round is a best-of-three series, with the higher seeded team hosting Game 1, and 3, if necessary.

North Division

South Division

Division 2nd Round

North Division

South Division

Division Finals

North Division Finals

South Division Finals

MPBL Finals

The Davao Occidental Tigers held the homecourt advantage for the title series, as they have defeated the San Juan Knights in their regular-season matchup. But San Juan Knights eventually won the championship in 5 games.

Awards

Statistics

Individual statistic leaders

Individual game highs

Team statistic leaders

MPBL All Star Game

* On March 2, 2019, the league held its first ever MPBL All-Star Game at the Mall of Asia Arena where the Southern All-Stars prevailed over the Northern All-Stars, 109–84. Jeff Viernes of the Batangas City Athletics was named as the first ever MPBL All-Star Game MVP.

Awards

The individual league awards was given before the Game 4 of the 2019 MPBL Datu Cup National Finals at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 MPBL Datu Cup
2019 MPBL season
2019 in Philippine sport