The 2009 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Fiesta Conference or known as the 2009 Motolite PBA Fiesta Conference for sponsorship reasons, was the last conference of the 2008-09 PBA season. It started on February 28 and finished on July 17. The tournament was shortened to accommodate the training of the national basketball team for the FIBA Asia Championship 2009 qualifying tournament for the 2010 FIBA World Championship. The last conference had games on Thursdays and Saturdays. The tournament is an import-laden format, which allows an import or a non-Filipino player for each team and with a new height limit of 6-foot-6.

Two teams had new names before the start of the conference: the former Red Bull Barako was now known as the Barako Bull Energy Boosters, and the former Air21 Express were called as the Burger King Titans. However, with the failure of several business deals that would have changed the franchise's upper management, the Titans renamed into the Burger King Whoppers by their seventh game into the conference, retaining their old management headed by the Lina family.

Format The following format was observed for the duration of the conference:New PBA Format, Reuel Vidal, Manila Standard Today The teams were divided into 2 groups, based on their performance in the 2008–09 PBA Philippine Cup elimination round. Group A are teams that finished the Philippine Cup's elimination round in 1st, 4th, 5th, 8th and 9th positions, while Group B are the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th and 10th.

Group A: Alaska Aces Burger King Whoppers Coca-Cola Tigers Rain or Shine Elasto Painters Sta. Lucia Realtors

Group B: Barako Bull Energy Boosters Barangay Ginebra Kings Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants San Miguel Beermen Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters

Teams in a group will play against each other once and against teams in the other group twice; 14 games per team; Teams are then seeded by basis on win–loss records. Ties are broken among point differentials of the tied teams, except for ties for #2, #5 and #8. Standings will be determined in one league table; teams do not qualify by basis of groupings. Wildcard phase: WC1: #3 vs. #10, with #3 having the twice-to-beat advantage WC2: #4 vs. #9, with #4 having the twice-to-beat advantage WC3: #5 vs. #8 in a knockout game WC4: #6 vs. #7 in a knockout game Best-of-three quarterfinals: QF1: WC2 vs. WC3 QF2: WC1 vs. WC4 Best-of-seven semifinals: SF1: QF1 vs. #1 SF2: QF2 vs. #2 Third-place playoff: losers of the semifinals Best-of-seven Finals: winners of the semifinals This is basically same format used throughout the 2004-05 PBA season, save for WC3 and WC4 were conducted in a best-of-3 series.

Classification round The May 17 game between the Barangay Ginebra Kings and the Alaska Aces held at the Albay Astrodome in Legaspi was canceled when the playing court was judged as too slippery, with Ginebra leading 9–2, and 8:04 remaining in the first quarter. The game was stopped twice and the stoppages lasted two hours before the game was canceled. The game was restarted at the Araneta Coliseum on May 22.

Team standings

Results Results above and to the left of the gray boxes are first round games; those below and to the right are second round games.

Eighth seed playoff

Second seed playoff

Bracket

Wildcard phase (3) Rain or Shine vs. (10) Barako Bull Rain or Shine has the twice-to-beat advantage.

(4) Burger King vs. (9) Alaska Burger King has the twice-to-beat advantage.

(5) Sta. Lucia vs. (8) Coca-Cola This is a single-elimination game.

(6) Purefoods vs. (7) Talk 'N Text This is a single-elimination game.

Quarterfinals

(3) Rain or Shine vs. (6) Purefoods

(4) Burger King vs. (5) Sta. Lucia

Semifinals

(1) San Miguel vs (4) Burger King

(2) Barangay Ginebra vs (3) Rain or Shine

Third place playoff

Finals

Awards Fern-C Finals MVP: Jonas Villanueva Best Player of the Conference: Jayjay Helterbrand Best Import of the Conference: Gabe Freeman

Players of the Week Week Player(s)Player of the Week, PBA.ph Team(s)February 28–March 8 Jonas Villanueva San Miguel BeermenMarch 9–15 Marlou Aquino Sta. Lucia RealtorsMarch 16–22 Arwind Santos Burger King TitansMarch 23–29 Ronald Tubid Barangay Ginebra KingsApril 12–20 Eric Menk Barangay Ginebra KingsApril 27–May 3 Arwind Santos Burger King WhoppersMay 4–10 Jayjay Helterbrand Barangay Ginebra KingsMay 11–17 Jimmy Alapag Talk 'N Text Tropang TextersMay 18–24 Asi TaulavaRonald Tubid Coca-Cola TigersBarangay Ginebra KingsMay 25–31 Gabe NorwoodNelbert Omolon Rain or Shine Elasto PaintersSta. Lucia RealtorsJune 3 and 14 Arwind Santos Burger King WhoppersJune 15–21 Gabe Norwood Rain or Shine Elasto PaintersJune 22–28 Jayjay Helterbrand Barangay Ginebra Kings

Statistical leaders

Locals + Category Player Team Stat GP Points per game Arwind Santos Burger King Whoppers 19.36 14 Rebounds per game Asi Taulava Coca-Cola Tigers 12.08 13 Assists per game Jimmy Alapag Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters 6.07 14 Steals per game Warren Ybanez Barako Bull Energy Boosters 1.45 11Blocks per game Marlou Aquino* Sta. Lucia Realtors 2.43 14 Field goal percentage Ali Peek* Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters .667 14 Free throw percentage Jayjay Helterbrand* Barangay Ginebra Kings .877 13 Three-point field goal percentage Don Dulay* Rain or Shine Elasto Painters .457 14*refers that the local had a higher statistic than an import

Imports + Category Player Team Stat GP Points per game Rashad Bell Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters 32.50 2 Rebounds per game Jai Lewis Rain or Shine Elasto Painters 16.80 12 Assists per game David Noel Barangay Ginebra Kings 6.40 5 Steals per game David Noel Barangay Ginebra Kings 2.20 5Blocks per game Shawn Daniels Burger King Whoopers 2.40 14 Field goal percentage Jai Lewis Rain or Shine Elasto Painters .563 12 Free throw percentage Rashad Bell Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters .857 12 Three-point field goal percentage David Noel Barangay Ginebra Kings .438 5

Imports The following is the list of imports, which had played for their respective teams at least once, with the returning imports in italics. Highlighted are the imports who stayed with their respective teams for the whole conference. Name Team Debuted Last game Record Shawn Daniels Burger King Titans February 28 July 1 13–11 Anthony Johnson Sta. Lucia Realtors February 28 June 14 9–9 Charles Clark Rain or Shine Elasto Painters March 1 March 7 1–1 Scooter McFadgon Barako Bull Energy Boosters March 1 March 28 2–5 Tiras Wade Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters March 1 May 1 5–4 Brian Hamilton Purefoods TJ Giants March 1 March 15 2–2 Galen Young Alaska Aces March 4 March 12 0–3 JJ Sullinger Coca-Cola Tigers March 4 March 20 1–4 Rod Nealy Barangay Ginebra Kings March 4 April 3 2–5 Gabe Freeman San Miguel Beermen March 8 July 17 15–6 Jai Lewis Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (2) March 12 July 1 13–9 Rosell Ellis Alaska Aces (2) March 14 May 27 6–7 Jhamar Thorpe Purefoods TJ Giants (2) March 21 April 19 2–2 James Penny Coca-Cola Tigers (2) March 26 May 29 5–4 Jeff Varem barako Bull Energy Boosters (2) April 17 May 1 0–3 David Noel Barangay Ginebra Kings (2) April 20 July 17 14–6 Marquin Chandler Purefoods TJ Giants (3) April 29 June 14 5–4 Daryan Selvy Barako Bull Energy Boosters (3) May 3 May 15 0–3 Gary Forbes Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters (2) May 3 May 6 1–1 Rashad Bell Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters (3) May 13 May 29 1–2 Chris Williams San Miguel Beermen (2) May 17 May 22 1–1 Jamaal Williams Barako Bull Energy Boosters (4) May 27 May 27 0–1 All-Filipino line up San Miguel Beermen March 4 -- 1–0 All-Filipino line up Barangay Ginebra Kings April 17 -- 1–0 All-Filipino line up Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters May 1 -- 0–1

References

External links PBA.ph