1986 Ginebra San Miguel season

The 1986 Ginebra San Miguel season was the 8th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Open Conference Championship

After 8 years since joining the league in 1979, the La Tondena franchise won their first PBA championship by winning the Open Crown over Manila Beer, 4-1. On the memorable night of December 11, 1986, Ginebra San Miguel clinch the title with a 130-120 victory in Game Five, The Living Legend, Robert Jaworski became the first playing coach to steered a team to a PBA championship. Also see: 1986 PBA Open Conference Finals

Notable Achievements

• Dondon Ampalayo won Rookie of the Year Honors
• Robert Jaworski made it to the Mythical first five selection

Events

• Signed rookie free agent Leo Isaac,(drafted by Great Taste the previous year) starting the All-Filipino tourney.
• PBA pioneer Francis Arnaiz, the league's "Mr.Clutch" retired from active playing, after a few games during the Third Conference.

Year Highlights

• December 9: Game 4 of the Open Conference finals, Playing coach Robert Jaworski, Billy Ray Bates and Michael Hackett played a total of 58 minutes in a 145-135 double-overtime victory over Manila Beer.

Season Recap

• Ginebra San Miguel actually started the year, losing their first four games in the Reinforced Conference, the team paraded Terry Duerod and Anthony Hunter as their imports, Ginebra registered its first victory in a 122-103 win over Manila Beer in a battle of winless teams, they change their other import from Anthony Hunter to Clinton Wheeler and finally Keith Gray, the Ginebras were on a winning streak from 0-4 to 5-4 before losing their last elimination round game to Great Taste Coffee, Ginebra won its first three games in the semifinals, going into their game against Tanduay, which is also 3-0 in the semis, the Gins lost a very close match, 122-119. a crucial defeat to Alaska Milk on their next game ousted them from the final race, Ginebra San Miguel settled for third place in the first conference.
• With playing coach Jaworski missing a couple of games in the All-Filipino, having his yearly check-up in the States during the middle of the season, Ginebra San Miguel could only show 2 wins and 4 losses in the eliminations, When Big J came back, the Ginebras soon began winning, On August 21, Ginebra reached the finals for the fourth time in franchise history and the first since Robert Jaworski became playing coach, by defeating Shell Helix, 91-83. The birth of what has become a bitter rivalry since the Crispa-Toyota days took place in the All-Filipino championship, for the first time since Toyota disbanded in 1983, former teammates Ramon Fernandez and Robert Jaworski will play on opposite sides in the finals, adding color to the rivalry was Tanduay coach Arturo Valenzona, who previously led Ginebra (then Gilbey's Gin) to three finals appearance, and the same coach replaced by the Big J on the Ginebra bench starting in 1985. Ginebra won Game One, 90-86 but lost the next three games in a bitter defeat as Tanduay Rhum captured its second championship of the season, winning Game Four, 93-92 on two free throws by Freddie Hubalde.
• Still reeling from the finals loss to arch rival Tanduay, the Ginebras vowed with a vengeance in the Third Conference, a week later, word was out that Playing Coach Jaworski was able to convince the famous import, who led the famed Crispa Redmanizers to a Grandslam in 1983, Billy Ray Bates to come back and teamed up with last year's Ginebra reinforcement and best import Michael Hackett in an explosive combination, the duo captured the fascination and excitement of PBA fans from the moment it made headlines on sports pages, and can't wait to see the two playing together on one team, the crowd-favorites was already dubbed as the team to beat for the Open Conference, September 25, Ginebra's first game against Alaska Milk, led by former imports as well, Norman Black and Donnie Ray Koonce before a jampacked crowd on hand, Ginebra won, 122-115 with Bates topscoring with 47 points and Hackett with 41. the Ginebras remain unbeaten in four starts, scoring a come-from-behind 113-109 win over erstwhile unbeaten Manila Beer on October 7, where Bates and Hackett were challenge by the equally explosive import-tandem of Manila Beer, Michael Young and Harold Keeling, the Ginebras suffered their first loss to Tanduay, with best import returnee Rob Williams and Andy Thompson, 114-109 in the highly-anticipated grudge rematch on October 12, Ginebra finished with a 9-3 slate at the end of the two-round eliminations and an outright semifinals berth along with Manila Beer, the two teams headed for a championship showdown as they easily dominated the other two semifinalists, Tanduay and Great Taste in the four-team, two-round semis, Ginebra won bigtime over their arch rival Tanduay in the semifinals, leaned on a fourth-quarter assault in a 137-110 win on November 23, and four days after ended the Rhummakers' Grandslam hopes as early as the first half, leading by 44 points at halftime (83-39) and coast to an easy 151-130 victory.

Roster

References