The 2006 PBA Philippine Cup Finals were the championship series of the 2005-06 PBA season's 2006 PBA Philippine Cup of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The series was a best-of-seven affair and was the 91st championship disputed in the league. The teams competing are the first-seeded Purefoods Chunkee Giants and the third-seeded Red Bull Barako in a rematch of the finals of the previous conference.

Qualification

• Purefoods Chunkee Giants
  • The top seed qualified for the best-of-seven semifinals outright.
  • Came back from a 1–3 series deficit against the Alaska Aces and won the semifinal series, four games to three.
• Red Bull Barako
  • Finished third after the elimination round.
  • Defeated Barangay Ginebra Kings in the quarterfinal series, 3–2
  • Won semifinals against San Miguel Beermen, 4-3

Rosters

Purefoods Chunkee Giants roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. G 3 Billones, Egay 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Centro Escolar Las Piñas G 4 Artadi, Paul 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) UE F/C 5 Salvador, Jondan 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) St. Benilde F 7 Evangelista, Rey 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) UST G 8 Simon, Peter June 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Mindanao F/C 9 Limpot, Jun 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) De La Salle F 12 Camaso, Don 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Metro Manila Colleges G 13 Yap, Roger 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) USJ–R F 15 Pingris, Marc 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) PSBA G/F 18 Yap, James 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) UE C 21 Raymundo, Kerby 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Letran F 28 Yee, Richard 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) UST F 33 Tejada, Eugene 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Chabot F/C 34 Gamboa, Arnold 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Far Eastern G 40 Castillo, Noy 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) The Citadel	Head coach Ryan Gregorio Assistant coach(es) Ronnie Magsanoc Legend (C) Team captain Injured

Red Bull Barako roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. G 1 Cruz, Celino 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Far Eastern G 4 Ybañez, Warren 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) PSBA PG 5 Robinson, Topex 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) San Sebastian F/C 7 Pennisi, Mick 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) Eastern Michigan G/F 8 Baguio, Cyrus 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) UST F 10 Valenzuela, Junthy 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) SCSIT F 11 Alvarez, Rich 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Ateneo G 12 Fonacier, Larry 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Ateneo F/C 14 Villanueva, Enrico 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Ateneo F 15 Tugade, Lordy 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) National-U F 20 Najorda, Leo 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) San Sebastian F/C 21 Bugia, Paolo 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Ateneo C 35 Feihl, Edward Joseph 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) Adamson F Hrabak, Mike 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Central Arizona	Head coach Yeng Guiao Assistant coach(es) Roehl Nadurata Gee Abanilla Andy Jao Legend (C) Team captain Injured

Series scoring summary

The following scoring summary is written in a line score format, except that the quarter numbers are replaced by game numbers.

† denotes the number of overtimes

Games summary

Kerby Raymundo scored a career-high 30 points, while Yee added 12 points, including five crucial free throws, in the last two minutes. Purefoods pummeled Red Bull with a 60.9 percent field-goal shooting in the second quarter, and the Giants, nursing a 23–22 edge at the end of the opening period, zoomed to a 53–34 spread at halftime. The Bulls had a fiery chase in the third quarter. They were ahead 97–94 but went scoreless in the last 1:55 of play. Yee canned in two charities off a foul by Villanueva to tie the count at 97-all, and then Raymundo scored on a 15-foot jumper as the Giants surged ahead, 99-97, with time down to 30.9 seconds.

The Giants were off to a great start in the first quarter by taking a 12-point lead. Red Bull bounced back behind Lordy Tugade and the rest of the team to take a 48-39 halftime lead. Richard Yee put in another sterling performance by banging all of his 17 points in the second half, while Marc Pingris pumped in a career-high 21 points, most of them in the shaded area, to help the Giants pull away.^[1]

Celino Cruz and Lordy Tugade fired all of Red Bull's seven three-pointers, most of them done in a fashion that riled the Giants while putting up a tough and gritty defense. Enrico Villanueva, Junthy Valenzuela, and Cyrus Baguio also had their sparkling moments that helped the Bulls pull away in the third period.^[2]

Purefoods started hot from the get-go, with key games from newly crowned MVP James Yap and Most Improved Player Marc Pingris. The Giants led by as many as 34 points, and the Bulls never looked back.^[3]

The Bulls came back from 15 points down. After Celino Cruz tied the count at 90-all with a triple and Enrico Villanueva and Larry Fonacier went to work, the Giants suddenly got cold feet. Season MVP James Yap muffed his last seven attempts from three-point range, while Kerby Raymundo missed a couple of point-blank attempts.^[4]

References

External links

• Philippine Basketball Association official website