The Philippine Basketball Association will have a new set of rule changes to be implemented for Season 44 as part of the league's thrust at making PBA game faster and more exciting.
"We're looking forward to an exciting PBA Season 44 with all the changes and improvement in team lineups, and the changes and improvement in our rules to make the game more exciting," said PBA chairman Ricky Vargas.
"We took into consideration many things in coming up with this, foremost is to make the game better for the better appreciation of our fans," said PBA commissioner Willie Marcial.
Three key rule changes are: 1.) Goal-tend review for the duration of the match. 2.) Adopting of the FIBA rule on traveling violation and 3.) Allowing verbal calls of the coaches on player timeouts.
"Pwede na ngayon pag tumawag ng timeout ang coaches. Hindi na gesture lang," said Marcial.
Sponsored content: Tournament format for the Philippine Cup is the same as last year where the 12 teams figure in a single-round-robin elims.
The top eight teams advance to the quarterfinals, with the ninth to 12th placers being eliminated.
The top seed and No. 2 will enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage against No. 8 and No. 7, respectively, while No. 3 clashes with No. 6 and No. 4 slugs it out with No. 5 in a pair of best-of-three quarters.
The semifinals will be a pair of best-of-seven series. Finals will also be best-of-seven. (SB)
