1987 PBA Open Conference Finals

The 1987 PBA Open Conference Finals was the best-of-7 series basketball championship of the 1987 PBA Open Conference, and the conclusion of the conference playoffs. The Tanduay Rhum Makers and Great Taste Coffee Makers played for the 36th championship contested by the league.^[1]

Tanduay Rhum Makers captured their third PBA title with a 4-1 series victory over Great Taste Coffee Makers.^[2]

Qualification

Series scoring summary

Games summary

Game 1

The Rhum Makers trailed by 16 points, 37-53, late in the second quarter, but were able to worked their way back into the game as import David Thirdkill exploded with 61 points, 37 of them in the final half as he outperformed his counterpart, Michael Young, who was limited to only 8 points in the 4th quarter, the Coffee Makers had a chance to tie the count with the score at 116-114 in favor of Tanduay, Thirdkill's two free throws off a foul by Philip Cezar with five seconds left sealed the ballgame.

Game 2

The Rhum Makers battled back from several 16-point deficits, rookie Allan Caidic's hot hands, finishing with a conference-best 48 points and an overtime period to break Great Taste's record of not being defeated twice in a row this season, Thirdkill had the chance of wrapping the game up for Tanduay in regulation but he missed the second of two free throw shots off Michael Young's fifth foul with eight seconds left, enabling Allan Caidic to force the game into overtime at 123-all with a fastbreak lay-up as the buzzer sounded. The Coffee Makers led, 132-129, with two minutes left in the extension period when Thirdkill scored four straight points as the Rhum Makers regain the upperhand, Freddie Hubalde, who scored 33 points, sink a jumper to give Tanduay a 135-132 edge with 29 seconds left, after a Great Taste timeout, a quick two points by Michael Young cut the deficit to just one, 134-135, but the Coffee Makers wasted so much time not fouling to stop the clock, with seven second left and Great Taste not yet in penalty situation, the Rhum Makers just dribbled the remaining seconds away.

Game 3

Great Taste took an early 33-11 lead behind the perimeter shooting of Allan Caidic, Ricardo Brown and import Michael Young, the Rhum Makers battled back and even took the half at 57-53. In the fourth quarter, The Coffee Makers went up, 115-108, with 2:10 remaining but David Thirdkill's pair of dunks closed the gap at 117-114. Ricardo Brown's three free throws, first from a technical foul on Thirdkill, and the last two on a chopping foul by Onchie Dela Cruz, sealed the win for Great Taste.

Game 4

Tanduay trailed 100-106 with barely six minutes remaining when David Thirdkill took charge, firing half of his team's next 12 points and Great Taste was limited to a solitary point as the Rhum Makers surge ahead, 112-107. Allan Caidic buried the last of his four triples to trimmed down Tanduay's deficit to two, 110-112, Thirdkill split his free throws off Michael Young's fifth foul to place the Rhum Makers ahead by three, 113-110, with nine seconds remaining. Michael Young came through with his own two free throws off a foul from Thirdkill with five seconds left, after converting his first bonus shot, Young intentionally miss his second free throw but the ball bounced high up and went in, after a Tanduay timeout, the Rhum Makers dribbled out the remaining seconds.

Game 5

Tanduay led 27-17 in the first quarter but the Coffee Makers came to within a point, 30-31, at the end of first 12 minutes of play. The Rhum Makers trailed, 60-65 at halftime, when a big 18-2 run in the first five minutes of the third quarter gave Tanduay a 78-67 advantage. The Rhum Makers answered every last-ditch effort by Great Taste in the final quarter and took a commanding 125-110 lead, the Tanduay fans began celebrating with still two minutes left in the final period on a well-preserved 14-point edge, with the predominantly Tanduay crowd singing the song "We Will Rock You" blasting through the loud speaker. The last five points of the Rhum Makers were highlighted by a triple from Ramon Fernandez and a dunk from David Thirdkill, there was still a second left when Great Taste players left the court as confettis rained the hardcourt celebrating the Elizalde ballclub's third championship in the last four conferences.

Rosters

Broadcast notes

References