Air21 is about to close separate trade deals with Barangay Ginebra and San Miguel Beer, making its core lineup a mix of Ateneans and La Sallites with new acquisitions in Mike Cortez, Rich Alvarez and Doug Kramer.

The Lina Group ball club is to get Cortez from San Miguel for Alex Cabagnot and acquire Alvarez and Kramer from Ginebra for Yancy de Ocampo.

Air21 team manager Lito Alvarez said he’s likely to close the deals with the SMC group by tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Alaska coach Tim Cone said they have signed up Diamon Simpson as their import for the coming PBA Fiesta Conference.

Simpson, a product of Saint Mary’s U who’s fresh from a stint with the LA Defenders in the NBA D-League, arrives in the country today.

Alvarez resumed negotiation with the SMC management for their transactions upon their return from Dubai where the Air21 Express finished third in a four-team invitational tourney also featuring the Coca-Cola Tigers.

Alvarez said import Leroy Hickerson made good impression in the tourney where they placed second behind the UAE national team.

"The import we’ve got and the new players we’re about to get make me really excited about the coming tourney," said Alvarez.

"Doug (Kramer) has played for us and I like his work ethic. I also like Rich Alvarez. The two are college teammates," Alvarez added.

Kramer and Alvarez will be reunited in a team where they will be allied with former varsity rivals Cortez and Renren Ritualo. Air21 gave up De Ocampo without a single official game since his recent transfer from Talk n Text.

The 6-foot-9 De Ocampo was part of the Air21-Talk n Text trade also involving Renren Ritualo, JR Quinahan, Mark Yee and Aaron Aban.

"Definitely, Renren Ritualo will stay with us. Renren and Ronjay Buenafe will be our main men at off-guard spot," said Alvarez.

Cabagnot, meanwhile, was able to play a few games with Burger King (now Air21) before finding himself being traded once again.

San Miguel will be Cabagnot’s fourth team after Sta. Lucia, Coca-Cola and Burger King. - www.philstar.com

Leading Purefoods to its eighth crown since joining the Philippine Basketball Association in 1988, coach Ryan Gregorio now wants to guide the Giants to new heights starting with the coming Fiesta Cup.

Now in a good position of sweeping the titles in the pro-league's second tournament of the 35th season, following their All-Filipino Cup title conquest at the expense of the Alaska Aces in four games, Grerorio and his overachieving Giants have set their eyes in accomplishing a feat only three teams - the legendary Crispa, San Miguel Beer and the Alaska Aces themselves - have so far succeeded.

The Redmanizers - who did the trick twice - the Beermen and the Aces, though, took theirs in a three-conference season format.

"We've gotten 50 percent of accomplishing a sort of grandslam so it's but natural that we set our sight on that and hopefully attaining the rare honor," said Gregorio, who became the franchise's winningest mentor after winning three of Purefoods eight titles so far.

"We have the talents, the system and players who are capable of doing everything to achieve a goal, so I believe we can do it," said Gregori, who added that succeeding would depend largely on the kind of import the team will be acquiring.

To this, team manager Alvin Patrimonio, himself a former King Giant, butted in saying," I have been instructed by Mr. Pardo to get the best import possible for our campaign in the next conference. I have been in constant touch with our agent in the U.S. for that purpose."

Gregorio cautioned though that a tournament laced with import can be very tricky

"A reinforcement, you see, is supposed to play the entire 48-minute regulation game and because of that, I have to bump off at least one or two players from the lineup," he explained. "So in deciding who will be bumped off I would have to think deeply so as not to break the team chemistry that had been successful in our All-Filipino campaign. "

Gregorio and the Giants actually have several missions to accomplish in the coming Fiesta Cup to complete their back-to-back title bid. If he and his boys collect a ninth title, they stand to overtake sister team Barangay Ginebra as the fifth winningest club in the PBA' 35-year history.

Top gunner James Yap, who had just gotten his first best player of the conference trophy, will lead the Giants' bid of winning two in-a-row and will also have his own goal of winning a second most valuable player (MVP) award.

A ninth title would allow the Giants to join the now-defunct Toyota in fourth place behind the 13 each of the Beermen's and the Redmanizers, and the Aces' 12.

Gregorio would also break his tie with SMB coach Siot Tanquincen and the now-retired Arturo Valenzona in the list of PBA mentors with more than one title victory. He, Tanquincen and Valenzona have three each behind Baby Dalupan's 15, Tim Cone's 12, and Norman Black's 10.

Other coaches with two or more title victories are Jong Uichico (8), Tommy Manotoc, Dante Silverio, Yeng Guiao and Chot Reyes (5 each) each, and Robert Jaworski and the late Ed Ocampo (4 each). - GMANews.TV

Purefoods Tender Juicy completed only the 3rd sweep in finals history with a masterful 86-76 win in Game 4, clinching the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup crown in front of more than 17,000 fans Wednesday night at the Araneta Coliseum.

James Yap proved why he's the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the conference as he carried the Giants anew to their 8th title overall and 5th All-Filipino crown. Purefoods thus tied Crispa Redmanizers with most number of All-Filipino titles.

Yap scored 18 points including a back-breaking trey that sealed the victory for Purefoods.

Purefoods joined Swift (1992 Third Conference vs. Seven-Up) and Northern Consolidated Cement (1985 Reinforced Conference vs. Manila Beer) as the only teams that registered a 4-0 sweep in a best-of-7 finals series.

"Masayang-masaya ako at nakuha namin ito. Para sa Purefoods fans ito," said Yap, who was also named the Handy Flex Finals MVP by the PBA Press Corps.

Roger Yap added 16 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists while Kerby Raymundo contributed 13.

Rookie Rico Maierhofer scored all of his 12 points in the second half, 9 in the third where he helped the Giants to get some cushion after a 40-all halftime score.

"Chapter closed, destination reached, mission accomplished. Now we can celebrate," said Giants head coach Ryan Gregorio, who bagged his third PBA crown. He is the first Purefoods coach to win two All-Filipino titles.

"It's not easy at all. The first 3 games could have gone either way. But we allotted extra motivation for tonight's game," Gregorio added.

The Giants came out firing in the game as they erected a 35-22 lead before Alaska unloaded an 18-5 bubble to tie the count at 40-all by the end of the first half.

The Aces even took a 44-40 lead early in the third before Maierhofer spearheaded a 17-4 exchange for a 57-48 lead.

Alaska kept on coming back and last threatened at 65-68, before James Yap and Roger Yap joined hands for a crucial 7-0 bomb for a 75-65 spread with 4:55 left in the game.

Willie Miller tried to ignite a late rally for Alaska as he buried a triple to slice the lead at 76-81, but James Yap answered with his own trey to seal the win, 84-76, 1:48 remaining.

Sonny Thoss had his best game in the series for Alaska with 19 points and 12 rebounds but his efforts were not enough to extend the series into another game.

Miller had 17 points but was 6-of-17 from the field. LA Tenorio contributed 11 markers. - www.abs-cbnnews.com

Scores:

Purefoods 86 - Yap, J. 18, Yap, R. 16, Raymundo 13, Maierhofer 12, Pingris 9, Simon 5, Reavis 5, Canaleta 3, Artadi 3, Salvador 2, Allado 0.

Alaska 76 - Thoss 19, Miller 17, Tenorio 11, Hugnatan 9, Cariaso 5, De Vance 4, Fonacier 4, Dela Cruz 4, Ferriols 2, Cablay 1, Borboran 0.

Quarters: 21-15, 40-40, 65-58, 86-76.

"Miller Time" has been a familiar refrain for Alaska ace Willie Miller during the first half of the KFC-Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup. But it was Purefoods star James Yap who stepped up big time during the more important playoffs.

For this, Yap secured his first Best Player of the Conference (BPC) award, becoming the first Purefoods player to win the award since Rey Evangelista in the 2002 Governors Cup.

Purefoods' James Yap, right, receives the Best Player of the Conference award from PBA Commissioner Sonny Barrios Wednesday right before Game 4 of the PBA Philippine Cup finals at the Araneta Coliseum. GMANews.TV
The 6'3 forward from Escalante, Negros Occidental, won convincingly over Willie Miller and Sta. Lucia's do-it-all forward Kelly Williams.

Yap, the only player in Purefoods' current roster who won a Most Valuable Player award aside from four-time MVP and current team manager Alvin Patrimonio, garnered 221 statistical points, 591 media votes, 128 players' votes and 150 votes from television coveror for a total of 1,380 points.

"Masaya ako sa award and I would like to thank my teammates, coaching staff and management," said Yap. "Pero siyempre, mas masaya kung mag-champion kami."

Miller, a two-time MVP and a two-time winner of the BPC, came in second after accumulating 925 total points while Williams, who also won both an MVP and BPC award, placed third with 476.

Williams was No. 1 in the statistical points (SPs) average with 40.6 despite his team missing the playoffs.

Yap dedicated the honor to his late mother-in-law, former President Cory Aquino. - GMANews.TV