Laguna Lakers
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The Laguna Lakers (or the FedEx Laguna Lakers) was a former professional basketball team in the now-defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association from 1998-2001. The team was owned by Bert Lina, owner of the Federal Express franchise in the Philippines. The team monicker was taken as a reference for the province's numerous lakes, a similar action taken by the then-Minneapolis Lakers of the National Basketball Association. The team played its home games at the San Luis Sports Complex.
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[edit] History
In 1998, the Metropolitan Basketball Association was formed as a regional-based professional league which also challenged the commercial Philippine Basketball Association. The Lakers were paraded by former University of Manila stars Biboy Simon and Jovy Sese, Manuel Luis Quezon University standout Wynne Arboleda and the high-flying Mike Garcia, known for wearing different shoe colors and his dunks.
The Lakers went 14-8 in the inagural year but failed to enter the Northern Conference Finals. Simon recorded an MBA record 54 points in one game, which remained until the league's closure. In 1999, the Lakers went 16-14 in the elimination round and made the playoffs for the second straight year. The team added fil-americans Cris Clay and Rudy Hatfield to bolster their lineup. However, Laguna was eliminated by the Pampanga Dragons, in a hard-fought three-game Wildcard series which saw Dragons point guard Roel Bravo hitting a three-pointer to give Pampanga the win.
In 2000, Laguna made its only MBA finals appearance in the Crossover Conference tournament, losing to the San Juan Knights in the finals. The Lakers made it to the National Playoffs, only to be eliminated by the same Knights team, 2-0. Jeff Flowers joined the team to power the Lakers frontline.
Laguna was renamed as the FedEx Laguna Lakers for the 2001 season but lost to San Juan in the playoffs for the third-straight time.
[edit] Departure
In 2001, the PBA's Tanduay Rhum Masters sold its team to the FedEx for a reported 60-75 million peso deal. The development led to the Lina group's departure from the MBA to concentrate on their new PBA squad, which was named as the FedEx Express.
The league lost its Laguna franchise and one of its biggest sponsors, FedEx, before closing shop at the middle of the 2002 season.
[edit] Notable players
- Biboy Simon
- Jovy Sese
- Mike Garcia
- Wynne Arboleda
- Cris Clay
- Rudy Hatfield
- Jeff Flowers
[edit] Trivia
- The Lakers are so named because Laguna encloses Laguna de Bay, a lake. In addition, "Laguna" came from Spanish word lago, which means "lake."
