2007 PBA Fiesta Conference
The 2007 Philippine Basketball Association Fiesta Conference or known as the 2007 Talk 'N Text PBA Fiesta Conference for sponsorship reasons, is the second conference of the 2006-07 season of the Philippine Basketball Association. Teams are allowed to pick an import with a maximum height-limit of 6-feet, 6-inches tall.
The tournament began on March 4 and finished on July 20. The schedule will be shortened due to the league's commitment to the Philippine national basketball team while 12 players selected by national team head coach Chot Reyes will not play for their mother teams.
Red Bull Barako is the defending champions of the tournament.
Talk 'N Text, a product of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, was the main sponsor of the tournament. They also sponsored the 2006-07 PBA Philippine Cup that ended a month before the tournament.
List of imports
The following is the list of imports, which had played for their respective teams at least once, with the returning imports in italics. Highlighted are the imports who stayed with their respective teams for the whole conference.# | Name | Team | Debuted |
1 | Alex Compton | Welcoat Dragons | March 4 vs. Coca-Cola |
2 | Charles Clark III | Welcoat Dragons | March 4 vs. Coca-Cola |
3 | Anthony Johnson | Coca-Cola Tigers | March 4 vs. Welcoat |
4 | Jesse King | Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants | March 4 vs. Red Bull |
5 | James Penny | Red Bull Barako | March 4 vs. Purefoods |
6 | Shawn Daniels | Air21 Express | March 7 vs. Sta. Lucia |
7 | Marcellus Christian | Air 21 Express | March7 vs. Barangay Ginebra |
8 | Rosell Ellis | Alaska Aces | March 7 vs. Talk 'N Text |
9 | Rock Winston | Sta. Lucia Realtors | March 7 vs. Air21 |
10 | James Sullinger | Talk 'N Text Phone Pals | March 7 vs. Alaska |
11 | Vidal Massiah | San Miguel Beermen | March 9 vs. Red Bull |
12 | Rod Nealy | Barangay Ginebra Kings | March 11 vs. Alaska |
13 | Paul McMillan | San Miguel Beermen | March 17 vs. Coca-Cola |
14 | Marquin Chandler | Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants | March 21 vs. San Miguel |
15 | Galen Young | San Miguel Beermen | April 11 vs. Alaska |
16 | Rob Sanders | Welcoat Dragons | April 15 vs. San Miguel |
17 | Jeff Varem | Coca-Cola Tigers | April 20 vs. Barangay Ginebra |
18 | Wayland White | Welcoat Dragons | May 2 vs. Barangay Ginebra |
19 | Jamaal Williams | Sta. Lucia Realtors | May 2 vs. Air21 |
20 | Rashad Bell | Coca-Cola Tigers | May 30 vs. Red Bull |
Welcoat was allowed to have two imports. Compton, is an American citizen was born in the Philippines and was a member of the several local teams playing as a local.
Tournament format
- Double round eliminations. Worst team would be eliminated.
- Sixth- to ninth-best teams figure in the one-game wildcard playoffs.
- *Sixth seed vs. Ninth seed
- *Seventh seed vs. Eighth seed
- *Winners will figure in a playoff to advance to the quarterfinals.
- Third- to fifth-best teams, and the winner of the wildcards advance to the best-of-three quarterfinals.
- *Third seed vs. winner of wildcards.
- *Fourth seed vs. fifth seed.
- The two best teams and the winners of the quarterfinals advance to the best-of-seven semifinals.
- *First seed vs. winner of the third seed/wildcard winner quarterfinal series
- *Second seed vs. winner of the fourth seed/fifth seed quarterfinal series
- The winners of the semifinals advance to the best-of-seven Finals; the losers figure in a one-game third-place playoff.
Elimination round
Team standings
Seeding playoffs
Ties were held for the second and fifth seeds; since the ties were at critical positions, classification games will be held to determine which team will clinch the higher seed, and the privileges that go along with it.Bracket
Quarterfinals
Barangay Ginebra-San Miguel series
Talk 'N Text-Air21 series
Semifinals
Red Bull-Talk 'N Text series
Alaska-San Miguel series
Third-place playoff
Finals
Prior to Game 1, Sandwich performed "Laban kung Laban," the TV theme song of the PBA.Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
Game 4
Game 5
Game 6
Game 7
On Game 1, the Phone Pals raced into a twenty-point lead at the first quarter but the Aces chipped in to lead by a point by halftime. The Phone Pals lost steam as the Aces won the first game. The Phone Pals reversed the roles as the Aces themselves lost steam at the ends of Games 2 and 3 for a Phone Pals 2-1 series lead.With a 1–3 deficit looming, newly crowned MVP Willie Miller stepped up his performance as he tied his conference-high 29 points to lead the Aces into victory on Game 4. Conference Best Player Mark Cardona blew the Phone Pals chances' when he turned the ball over with 4 seconds with a 2-point deficit to lead a Rosell Ellis tip-in from a Sonny Thoss missed lay-up.
On Game 5, Willie Miller turned cold when the Phone Pals started pulling away. The Piltel franchise notched win #3 to assure a twice-to-beat advantage. Miller, who was severely criticized by a lackluster performance by the MVP, answered his critics with a 37-point output to lead the Aces to a Game 6 win and to force a Game 7.