The 2018 MPBL season, also known as the MPBL Rajah Cup or the MPBL Anta–Rajah Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the inaugural season of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League. The regular season began on January 25, 2018 with the opening ceremonies at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, and ended on March 17. The playoffs began on March 20 and ended on April 19 when the Batangas City Athletics defeated the Muntinlupa Cagers in four games in the 2018 MPBL finals.
The inaugural season featured ten teams, all based in Luzon, making it the only season to not have divisions nor feature teams from Visayas or Mindanao. It is also, to date, the smallest season in terms of size.
Teams The inaugural season featured ten teams, all based in Luzon, with no division alignment.
Arenas
Team Arena Capacity Bataan Defenders Bataan People's Center 4,000 Batangas City Athletics Batangas City Sports Coliseum 4,000 Bulacan Kuyas Bulacan Capitol Gymnasium 5,000 Caloocan Supremos Caloocan Sports Complex 3,000 Imus Bandera Imus City Sports Complex 1,000 Muntinlupa Cagers Muntinlupa Sports Center 3,000 Navotas Clutch Navotas Sports Complex 1,000 Parañaque Patriots Olivarez College Gymnasium 3,500 Quezon City Capitals JCSGO Seed Dome 1,000 Valenzuela Classic Valenzuela Astrodome 3,000 Smart Araneta Coliseum 25,000
Roster regulations Since the MPBL was a semi-professional league at the time, its initial set of roster regulations are made to help promote local talents: Teams are required to sign three homegrown players into the roster. These players must be native to the locality in which the team is based in. A limit of five ex-professional (or ex-pro) players is placed on each team. Any player who has had experience in professional basketball is considered an ex-professional player.
Regular season
Opening ceremony The regular season began on January 25, 2018 with the opening ceremony at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. It featured the inaugural game which saw the Parañaque Patriots beating the Caloocan Supremos with a score of 70–60. Daniel San Juan de Guzman of the Parañaque Patriots made the league's first basket in that game.
Format The ten teams played in a single round-robin format, playing one game against all other teams in the league. In each gameday, a series of games is played in a designated home arena, with the home team usually playing in the final game.
The top eight teams overall advanced to a three-round, single-elimination playoffs, playing in best-of-three series in the quarterfinals and semifinals, and a best-of-five series in the finals, with homecourt advantage alternating between the higher seeds of each series (excluding the finals).
Standings
Schedule Bold indicates home game; Italics indicate away game
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.
Quarterfinals
In the quarterfinals, the first- and second-seeded teams host games 1 and 3, while the third- and fourth-seeded teams host game 2.
Semifinals
In the semifinals, the highest seeded team hosts games 1 and 3, while the second-highest seeded team hosts game 2.
Due to Batangas City advancing after game 2, Muntinlupa instead hosted game 3.
Finals
In the MPBL finals, the higher-seeded team hosts games 1, 2, and 5, while the lower-seeded team hosts games 3 and 4.
Records On February 20, 2018, The Muntinlupa Cagers became the first team in league history to score at least 100 points in a single game, doing so against the Quezon City Capitals. It was also the only such occurrence throughout the entire season.
Statistics
Individual statistic leaders CategoryPlayerTeamStatisticPoints per gameGary DavidBataan Defenders34.4Rebounds per gameFelix AprekuMuntinlupa Cagers11.1Assists per gameAllan MangahasMuntinlupa Cagers5.3Steals per gameAllan MangahasMuntinlupa Cagers1.78Blocks per gameJay ColladoQuezon City Capitals1.92Turnovers per gameChestern Ian MelencioImus Bandera3.44Fouls per gameDaniel De GuzmanParañaque Patriots3.64Minutes per gameHarold Miguel ArboledaParañaque Patriots33.2FG%Mark San JoseParañaque Patriots100.0%FT% ten players100.0%3FG% two players100.0%Double-doublesFelix AprekuMuntinlupa Cagers6Harold Miguel ArboledaParañaque PatriotsTriple-doublesAndrew EstrellaQuezon City Capitals1
Individual game highs Category Player Team Statistic Points Gary David Bataan Defenders 29 Rebounds Gian Abrigo Quezon City Capitals 20 Assists Paolo Hubalde Valenzuela Classic 14 Steals six players 4Blocks Jayson Grimaldo Batangas City Athletics 5 Jeff Morillo Quezon City Capitals Three-pointers Val Acuña Batangas City Athletics 7
Team statistic leaders (regular season) Category Team Statistic Points per game Bulacan Kuyas 83.6 Rebounds per game Quezon City Capitals 49.0 Assists per game Bulacan Kuyas 22.2 Steals per game Muntinlupa Cagers 9.0 Blocks per game Bulacan Kuyas 6.6 Turnovers per game Bataan Defenders 18.4 Fouls per game Imus Bandera 20.8 FG% Bulacan Kuyas 45.39% FT% Batangas City Athletics 70.63% 3FG% Valenzuela Classic 35.07% +/− Batangas City Athletics +8.3
Media This season marked the first of three years of ABS-CBN's broadcast rights with the league. Games were aired on the S+A channel in both SD and HD quality.
References
External links MPBL Official Website