1997–98 Philippine Basketball League season
| 1997–98 PBL season | |
|---|---|
| Duration | March 8, 1997 – January 17, 1998 |
| Number of teams | 7 |
| TV partner(s) | Vintage Sports (IBC) |
| Conferences | |
| Makati Mayor's Cup champions | Tanduay Gold Rhum Masters |
| Runners-up | Dazz Dishwashing Paste |
| All-Filipino Cup champions | Tanduay Gold Rhum Masters |
| Runners-up | Agfa HDC Film |
| Awards | |
| Season MVP | Rommel Adducul / Eric Menk |
| Seasons | |
| Qualified for semifinals |
The 1997–98 season of the Philippine Basketball League (PBL).
Under New Commissioner Joseller "Yeng" Guiao, the PBL games were now held at the newly built Makati Coliseum in Makati City and covered on primetime TV, produced by Vintage Sports and aired on IBC-13.
Tanduay Gold Rhum Masters gave their coach Alfrancis Chua his fifth PBL title and avenged their loss to Dazz coach Junel Baculi when the latter's team, then called Hapee Toothpaste, beat the former Stag Pale Pilsen, 3-1, in last year's Reinforced Conference. The Rhum Masters had their biggest lead of 22 points in Game four, 84-62, with 3:15 remaining. Dazz was handicapped with the absence of its best player Oscar Simon. Best import Marcus Timmons barely missed a triple-double of 22 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists for Tanduay, Jomer Rubi added 15 points while ex-pro Bobby Jose and Randy Alcantara had 13 each.
The PBL All-Filipino Cup opens on October 25, 1997, AMA Computer College and Springmaid didn't participate but a new ballclub Wilkins Distilled Water joined the five other teams. Red Bull decided to return to its former team name Agfa Films with Nat Canson replacing Jimmy Mariano as Agfa coach.
The top five teams enters the semifinal round. After 18 games, Tanduay Gold Rhum clinch the first finals berth with a 12-6 won-loss card, Welcoat and defending All-Filipino Cup champion Agfa were tied with 11 wins and 7 losses and will meet in a playoff to determine the Rhum Masters' opponent. Agfa Films went on to prevailed over the Paint Masters.
Tanduay came back from a 1-2 series deficit and win their 6th PBL title against Agfa HDC Films. In the deciding fifth game, Agfa was ahead, 60-53, with 8:42 left in the final quarter, but Randy Alcantara and Eric Menk scored successively to levelled the count at 66-all with 4:11 left. Agfa was a win away from retaining the All-Filipino Cup crown they won last season against this very same team after taking a 2-1 edge by winning Game three with Jimwell Torion scoring 37 points for the Film Makers.
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