WITH a longer time to plot its course, the PBA reverted back to its old format for the season opening Philippine Cup.
The top eight still advances to the quarterfinals, with the no. 1 and no. 2 teams holding a twice-to-beat advantages against the no. 8 and no. 7 ranked squads.
Meanwhile, no. 3 seed team faces no. 6, and no. 4 goes up against no. 5 in a best-of-three series.
Top four teams will then play in a best-of-seven semifinals, with the two remaining survivors disputing the title in a similar best-of-seven finals.
Also to fast-track the eliminations, triple headers will be played every game days of Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays and double headers on Saturdays prior to the start of the inaugural 3x3 tournament.
Sponsored content: Last year during the bubble season, the league tried to compress the all-Filipino Cup schedule under a two-month stretch.
While it retained the single round robin format in the eliminations, during the playoffs the set-up was tweaked a little bit, with the Top 4 teams at the end of the eliminations enjoying a twice-to-beat edge against the nos. 5 to 8 teams, respectively.
The semifinals meanwhile, was shortened to a best-of-five series, but retained the best-of-seven series format in the finals.
Barangay Ginebra won the championship by beating TnT Tropang Giga in the title series, 4-1. (RG)
