1996 Alaska Milkmen season

The 1996 Alaska Milkmen season is the 11th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Notable Achievements

• Alaska Milk won all three conferences of the 1996 season to capture the Grandslam, the fourth time in PBA history, joining the 1976 and 1983 Crispa Redmanizers, and the 1989 San Miguel Beermen.
• Johnny Abarrientos bag the Most Valuable Player (MVP) trophy.
• Sean Chambers won the Governor's Cup Best Import Award.
• Edward Juinio was the season's Most Improved Player.
• Three players of Alaska, MVP Awardee Johnny Abarrientos, Rene "Bong" Hawkins and Jojo Lastimosa all made it to the Mythical Selection first five.

Season Recap

• All-Filipino: Alaska Milk finished on top of the two-round eliminations with a 10-4 card, lost its first four games in the semifinals but recovered on time, to beat Ginebra San Miguel in a playoff match, 96-83 on May 14, for the right to faced Purefoods in the finals. Alaska won the series 4 games to 1.
• Commissioners Cup: With last year's reinforcement Derek Hamilton back, Alaska was unbeaten in six starts, before losing to Ken Redfield led-Shell Turbo chargers, The Milkmen top the eliminations anew with an 8-2 record, midway in the semifinals, import Derek Hamilton was tested positive on traces of Marijuana, and was banned by the PBA, resident import Sean Chambers fielded in for Hamilton, and Alaska made it first to the finals, leaving Ginebra and Shell to dispute the second slot where the turbochargers prevailed by three points, 89-86 on Redfield's buzzer-beating triple, Alaska defeated Shell in seven hard-fought games.
• Governors Cup: Alaska dropped three of its first four games in the eliminations, then rode to a seven-game win streak to top the standings at 8 win-3 loss, the winning streak reaches to 10, on a three-game sweep over Shell in the best-of-five semis, Alaska went up 3-0 over Ginebra in the finals series for a 13-game winning run, with just one win away from the Grandslam, Alaska lost Game 4, 97-96 with Ginebras parading a new import Derrick Rucker, Alaska Milk finishes the job in Game 5 with a 91-83 win, to become the fourth team in PBA history to capture the Grandslam.

Roster

References