1996 Alaska Milkmen season
| 1996 Alaska Milkmen season | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Head coach | Tim Cone | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1996 Alaska Milkmen season was the 11th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
Notable achievements
- The Alaska Milkmen won all three conferences in the season to become the fourth team in league history to capture the Grandslam, joining the 1976 and 1983 Crispa Redmanizers and 1989 San Miguel Beermen.
- Johnny Abarrientos was the season's Most Valuable Player (MVP).
- Sean Chambers was voted the Governor's Cup Best Import.
- Edward Juinio was the season's Most Improved Player.
- Two other Alaska players; Rene Hawkins and Jojo Lastimosa, along with MVP winner Johnny Abarrientos, were chosen in the Mythical first team selection.
Summary
During the off-season, the Milkmen lost only two players from their roster; Alejandro Araneta and Dondon Ampalayo, who both retired from active playing, the only new player from their lineup is Kevin Ramas, who was acquired from Pepsi when Alaska gave up their first round pick in the rookie draft. In the All-Filipino Cup, the Milkmen had a 4-3 won-loss slate in the first round of eliminations, they won six of their seven games in the second round to finish on top of the standings with 10 wins and 4 losses. In the semifinal round, Alaska lost their first four games but bounced back to win three of their last four outings, defeated Ginebra San Miguel in a playoff match, 96-83 on May 14, for the right to face Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs in the finals series. The Alaska Milkmen won, 4 games to 1, for their second straight championship and fourth overall, becoming the 9th team to win the All-Filipino Cup crown.
Last year's reinforcement Derrek Hamilton, who led the Milkmen to a runner-up finish, return as Alaska's import for the Commissioner's Cup. The Milkmen were unbeaten in six starts [1] before losing to Formula Shell, 79-82 on July 12. Alaska were on top of the standings at 8 wins and 2 losses and two games ahead of second placers Ginebra and Sta.Lucia, both with 6 wins and 4 losses after the elimination round. During the first round of semifinals, import Derrek Hamilton was tested positive on traces of Marijuana on a drug test conducted by the PBA and was not allowed to play by league officials, [2] luckily for Alaska, they won their next game against Sta.Lucia playing without an import. [3] The PBA suspended Hamilton and was permanently banned from playing in the league, resident import Sean Chambers was around and replaced Hamilton, the Milkmen won their next three games and clinch the first finals seat with a come-from-behind 102-98 victory over Ginebra on August 20. [4] Alaska battled surprise finalist Formula Shell in the best-of-seven championship series, and with Shell import Kenny Redfield enjoying a height advantage over his smaller counterpart Sean Chambers, the Zoom Masters took a 2-1 series lead but the Milkmen fought back and won in seven hard-fought games, taking the deciding match, 83-77, to win their fifth PBA title.
Alaska lost three of their first four games in the Governor's Cup before the Milkmen rolled to a seven-game winning streak and on top of the standings at 8 wins and 3 losses, [5] they advance in the best-of-five semifinal series outright along with Ginebra San Miguel. The Milkmen's winning streak reaches to 10 games, following a 3-0 sweep over Formula Shell in their semifinals duel and enters into the championship round. Alaska went on to play crowd-favorite Ginebra San Miguel in the finals. The Milkmen were up three games to none and on a threshold of a four-game sweep, but Ginebra decided to change their import Fred Cofield in favor of Derek Rucker in a hope of winning one game in the series. In the fourth game, the Milkmen's 13-game winning run was halted when Ginebra prevailed, 97-96. Alaska bounces back to win Game five, 91-83, and makes history by becoming the fourth team to win the coveted Grandslam.
Roster
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Team Manager: Joaquin Trillo
References
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