1987 Ginebra San Miguel season

The 1987 Ginebra San Miguel season was the 9th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Key dates

• March 24: Trailing by 18 points early in the fourth period, Ginebra rallied to beat Formula Shell, 100-99 in overtime, to opened the title defense of the crown they won last year.
• May 24: Formally enters the semifinals, ousting Hills Bros, 97-95, dropping a 16–0 bomb, from an 81–95 deficit.
• July 12: defeated Open Conference champion Tanduay Rhum, 109-100, at the start of the All-Filipino Conference.
• August 6: eliminated arch rivals Tanduay Rhum, 106-103 on the last day of the eliminations and clinch the All-Filipino semifinals with a 4–4 slate.
• November 8: Billy Ray Bates surpass his personal best of 69 point output by tallying 71 points in Ginebra' 118–106 win over Shell at the start of the Reinforced Conference semifinals.
• November 29: forces a knockout game against Hills Bros, by defeating the Coffee Kings, 90-85.

Draft picks

Roster

Ginebra San Miguel roster v t e
Players	Coaches
Pos. # POB Name Ht. Wt. College 6.0 !C 00 USA ! Hackett, Michael (I) 78 !6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) – 4.0 !F 2 USA ! Bates, Billy Ray (I) 75 !6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) – 1.5 !G 5 PHI ! Advani, Mukesh 71 !5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 155 lb (70 kg) San Beda 5.5 !F/C 6 PHI ! Ampalayo, Dondon 75 !6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 176 lb (80 kg) San Jose Recoletos 1.5 !G 7 PHI ! Jaworski, Robert 73 !6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) UE 1.5 !G 9 PHI ! Isaac, Leo 73 !6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Mapua 6.0 !C 10 PHI ! Ducut, Ed 77 !6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Letran 4.0 !F 12 PHI ! Gonzalgo, Dante 74 !6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Lyceum 4.0 !F 13 PHI ! Saldaña, Terry 75 !6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Letran 2.5 !G/F 14 PHI ! Loyzaga, Joey 72 !6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 179 lb (81 kg) San Beda 4.0 !F 23 PHI ! Latoza, Zaldy 74 !6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 150 lb (68 kg) Trinity 2.5 !G/F 41 PHI ! Loyzaga, Chito 74 !6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 200 lb (91 kg) San Beda 5.5 !F/C 50 PHI ! Codiñera, Harmon (R) 76 !6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) – FEU 1.5 !G 17 PHI ! Distrito, Rudy 71 !5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) – UE 4.0 !F 18 PHI ! Carbonilla, Dennis (R) 76 !6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) – 5.5 !F/C 15 PHI ! Mendoza, Anthony (R) 76 !6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Visayas	Head coach Robert Jaworski (UE) Assistant coach(es) Rino Salazar Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (IN) Inactive (S) Suspended (I) = Import Injured

Season Summary

Open Conference

• Defending Open Conference champion Ginebra San Miguel, with import Michael Hackett returning to the team, opened its defense of the crown with a come-from-behind 100-99 overtime win over Formula Shell, at the end of the first round of eliminations, the Ginebras had an even 3-3 card, dropped their first three matches in the 2nd round to go down at 3-6 but won the next three for a 6-win, 6-loss slate, swept all of their quarterfinal games for a six-game winning streak, formally enters the semifinals with a 97-95 win over Hills Bros, which saw the team lose forward Terry Saldana on a freak knee injury during the 3rd quarter, Saldana will be out for the rest of the season, In the semifinal round, Ginebra nip Great Taste, 119-118 and beat Tanduay, 110-102 as the win-streak reach to 8 games, however, the Norman Black led-Magnolia Ice Cream had success over Ginebra, and snapped their winning run with a 112-105 win, the Ginebras sank deeper in the finals race following a 134-130 double-overtime loss to Magnolia, and was ousted by arch rival Tanduay, 122-104 on the final playdate of the semifinals, down by 20 points at halftime and never came close to cut the deficit, Ginebra places 4th, losing 1-4 to Magnolia in the best-of-seven series for third place.

All-Filipino Conference

• Ginebra signed up veteran guard Rudy Distrito, who returned to the amateurs for one conference when there are no takers at the start of the season, and rookie Dennis Carbonilla, gone with the team is fellow rookie Anthony Mendoza, who left unnoticed, Ginebra defeated Tanduay, 109-100 at the start of the All-Filipino conference with playing-coach Sonny Jaworski out of the country, and assistant Rino Salazar taking over, the Ginebras made it to the semifinals winning their last two games for a 4-4 slate and eliminating defending champion Tanduay, 106-103. In the semis despite the return of the Big J, injuries to key players hounded the team all throughout, settled for 4th place again after a 3-0 sweep by Magnolia over them in the best-of-five series for third place.

Reinforced Conference

• With the black superman, Billy Ray Bates back in action for the Reinforced Conference and putting in a league-best 54.9 ppg average, Ginebra continued to struggle, winning and losing one game after another, finishing with a 5-5 win-loss slate after the two-round eliminations, Ginebra lost a crucial semifinals game to Great Taste but forces a knockout game against Hills Bros for a finals berth and the right to play San Miguel Beer in the championship with a 90-85 win. On December 1, Hills Bros defeated Ginebra, 89-87 on Coffee kings import Jose Slaughter's follow-up shot with 2 seconds left, spoiling what could have been an exciting San Miguel-Ginebra finale and ending Billy Ray Bates' streak of 3 out of 3 PBA titles, the Ginebras tried to put the game under protest even as the crowd threw all sorts of debris on the court at the final buzzer. Ginebra placed third with a 4-0 sweep over Shell Azocord.

Awards

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Transactions

Trades

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Free Agents

Additions

Subtractions

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References

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