1991 Shell Rimula X season

The 1991 Shell Rimula X season was the 7th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Draft picks

Off-season transactions

Summary

The defending champions in the First Conference with 5-time best import Bobby Parks back anew, defeated the Pepsi Hotshots, 120-113 in overtime, in the first game of the season. The Turbo Chargers as expected finish on top of the eliminations with an 8-3 won-loss card. Shell clinch the first finals berth on April 23 with its 12th win in 16 outings, a 141-124 victory over Diet Sarsi. The Turbo Chargers dropped their last three semifinal matches entering the championship rematch with Ginebra San Miguel. Shell won Game 1, halting the Ginebras' seven-game win streak in the semifinals and the first four games of the title-series went the same pattern as last year with the Turbo Chargers winning Games 3 and 4 to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. In Game 5, Shell was leading 85-80 in the first four minutes of the final quarter when Ginebra unleashed a 30-0 bomb to win going away and with the momentum on Ginebra's side, Shell lost Game 6 and the final game of the series.

Shell lost their first four games in the All-Filipino Conference before picking up their first win against Ginebra, 101-90 on July 2. The Turbo Chargers went down to one victory and six losses and coach Arlene Rodriguez' contract was not renewed. ^[1] The team's trainer Hercules Callanta took over from Rodriguez and Shell won three straight games against Alaska, 105-96 on July 11, ^[2] Tivoli Milk, 116-106 on July 14, and Ginebra, 111-102 on July 18. The Turbo Chargers were eliminated by Tivoli Milk in their last game in the eliminations.

Ginebra assistant coach Rino Salazar accepted the offer of Shell to become their new head coach beginning the Third Conference. Shell brought in Luther Burks as their import. After losing their first three games, the Turbo Chargers finally gave their new coach his first win, a 104-92 victory over Alaska on September 29. After seven games, Shell could only show two wins and Burks was replace by Michael Morrison, who was actually Shell's original choice but was unavailable before the conference started, with four games left in the eliminations. The Turbo Chargers lost to Purefoods on Morrison's debut but scored two impressive wins against Ginebra, 126-120 on October 20, ^[3] and Swift, 127-122 on October 22, which give them hope of creating a tie with Tivoli Milk for the fifth and last semifinals seat. The hot-streaking Pepsi Hotshots ended Shell's chances of advancing to the next round with a 117-107 win.

Roster

_{Assistant coaches: Herc Callanta / Manuel Pineda Team Manager: Charlie Favis}

References