Philippine Sports News and Updates

MANILA -- The 35th Season of the Philippine Basketball Association will open this coming Sunday as the league unveils several rule changes that aims to make the games more competitive and entertaining.

Among the changes are allowing players to monkey ride (hanging on the rim after a dunk) and the extension of the 3-point line from 20.6 feet to 22 feet, which is the original PBA line.

“Ang laro natin is sports entertainment, hindi lang sports competition. It has to be entertaining to the fans, a combination of both,” said PBA commissioner Renauld “Sonny” Barrios during the league’s pre-season press conference at the Diamond Hotel in Manila.
The changes also covered rules on landing spot, pushing, flopping, 24-second violation and backboards (out of bounds) among others.

Barrios said the new rules were based on the deliberations made by a competition committee composed of representatives from PBA, coaches and basketball managers.

“’Yong mga ibang rules diyan, admittedly, came about from the observation of Powerade-Team Pilipinas coach Yeng Guiao in particular sa international exposure niya,” said the PBA commissioner.

The press conference was attended by PBA vice chairman Rene Pardo of Purefoods, treasurer Atty. Mamerto Mondragon of Rain or Shine and representatives from Solar Sports and sponsors KFC and Molten.

"We've done some changes. That's the easy part. The hard part is the execution. But with the support of the Commissioner's Office and the PBA board, our confidence is very high another banner season is in the offing," said Alvarez.

"The league has become a lot more balanced. Any team can beat anybody in any given night. This will be an exciting season," said Pardo.

The 35th PBA Season will open with an explosive match up between Burger King and Purefoods at 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

The lone game will begin after simple opening rites, which will be highlighted by a tribute to the late league chairman Tony Chua of Barako Bull who perished at the height of Tropical Storm "Ondoy."

Chua was leading the preparations for the PBA's Hall of Fame at the time of his passing.

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