Security will be ultra-tight when the Ok-Bet-Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League 4th Season holds its National Finals starting Friday with heavy favorite Nueva Ecija battling gutsy Zamboanga at the Nueva Ecija Coliseum in Palayan City.
MPBL commissioner Kenneth Duremdes said during the weekly Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday that the two squads have been briefed about the matter as the league aims to stage a trouble-free title series.
“We keep on reminding them (players and officials) that you are the role models,” Duremdes said in the face-to-face session backed by San Miguel Corporation, MILO, Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympics Committee and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.
“We tell them to keep their cool,” he said when reminded about what happened in the National Collegiate Athletic Association where a player went on a punching spree.
Still, Duremdes said the two teams don’t have players who resemble the attitude of the Jose Rizal University cager who ran wild.
“I don’t think we have players on these two teams who are like that player.”
Duremdes said he is a lot more concerned about the crowd that is expected to troop to the venues every game day.
“The (MPBL) crowd is uncontrollable, wild,” he added, noting that the venues cannot accommodate those who would like to attend.
Duremdes said the league and the local government unit will work hard to maintain peace and order during game days.
Nueva Ecija, known as The Rice Vanguards, are heavily favored to run roughshod over Zamboanga in their best-of-five titular showdown.
Being the top seed after a show of force in the preliminaries, Nueva Ecija got the homecourt advantage in Games 1 and 2 before letting Zamboanga have its way in Games 3 and 4.
If the series goes the full route, Nueva Ecija hosts Game 5, a playdate that is seen as very unlikely given the Rice Vanguards’ sheer edge in every aspect of the game.
But Zamboanga head coach Vic Ycasiano swears the conditions are different in a championship series.
“Our goal is to win one on the road,” Ycasiano said, stressing that the team is ripe and ready for the tough grind.
“We were made for this (finals). We will be coming (into the finals) with our (big) heart and our balls.”
Nueva Ecija coach Jerson Cabiltes swears they will be facing a different Zamboanga team this time.
“It’s a different animal. Every team, every player is going to play much better to win a title.”
The champion teams get to take a three-kilogram golden trophy that is worth millions of pesos, according to MPBL coordinator Joe Ramos, adding that championship rings made of solid gold worth P100,000 will also be given to the members of the team.
Game 2 will be held on 5 December at the same Nueva Ecija venue, while Game 3 on 9 December and Game 4 on 12 December will be staged at the Vitaliano D. Agan Coliseum in Zamboanga City.
If needed, a Game 5 will be played in Nueva Ecija on 12 December.
The games will be shown on ONE Sports.
