# 2014–15 PBA Philippine Cup finals

The 2014–15 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup finals was the best-of-7 championship series of the 2014–15 PBA Philippine Cup, and the conclusion of the conference's playoffs. The San Miguel Beermen and the Alaska Aces competed for the 37th All-Filipino championship and the 113th overall championship contested by the league.

## Background
### Road to the finals

| San Miguel | San Miguel | Alaska | Alaska |
| Finished 9–2 (0.818): Tied with Rain or Shine at 1st place | Elimination round | Elimination round | Finished 8–3 (0.727): Tied with Talk 'N Text at 3rd place |
| 1.101 (1st place) | Tiebreaker* | Tiebreaker* | 1.020 (3rd place) |
| bye | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | First phase: Def. NLEX in one game Second phase: Def. Meralco, 87–69 |
| Def. Talk 'N Text, 4–0 (best-of-seven) | Semifinals | Semifinals | Def. Rain or Shine, 4–2 (best-of-seven) |

### Head-to-head matchup

* November 4, 2014
* recap
* Smart Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City

## Series summary

| Team | Game 1* | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 | Game 5 | Game 6 | Game 7 | Wins |
| San Miguel | 82 | 100 | 70 | 88 | 93 | 76 | 80 | 4 |
| Alaska | 88 | 86 | 78 | 70 | 88 | 87 | 78 | 3 |
| Venue | Araneta | Araneta | Araneta | Araneta | Araneta | Araneta | Araneta | |
*overtime

### Game 1

* TV5
* January 7 7:00pm
* boxscore
San Miguel Beermen 82, Alaska Aces 88 (OT) :
| Scoring by quarter: 27–5, 18–26, 9–18, 20–25, Overtime: 8–14 |||
| Pts: Lutz 24 Rebs: Fajardo 17 Asts: Ross 7 | Pts: Abueva 22 Rebs: Abueva 10 Asts: Banchero, Thoss 3 |
| Alaska leads series, 1–0 |||
* Smart Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Referees: J. Mariano, E. Aquino, N. Guevarra
In the first quarter of Game One the San Miguel manage to have a double digit 27–5, but then on the second half of the game Alaska's Abueva and Hontiveros makes a scoring run to make a comeback. Then in overtime Alaska outscored the Beermen to steal Game One 88–82.

### Game 2

* TV5
* January 9 7:00pm
* boxscore
San Miguel Beermen 100, Alaska Aces 86 :
| Scoring by quarter: 32–28, 19–20, 21–22, 28–16 |||
| Pts: Santos 22 Rebs: Fajardo 12 Asts: Lutz, Ross 5 | Pts: Thoss 16 Rebs: Abueva 9 Asts: Casio 3 |
| Series tied, 1–1 |||
* Smart Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Referees: A. Herrera, P. Balao, R. Gruta
This is the physical game of the series featuring two Kapampangan superstars Arwind santos and Calvin Abueva. In the game Abueva elbowed Santos on the rebound, due to Santos blood he was forced to rest before coming back late in the third quarter to lead the Beermen to a scoring run and avoid Alaska's possible comeback.

### Game 3

* TV5
* January 11 5:00pm
* boxscore
San Miguel Beermen 70, Alaska Aces 78 :
| Scoring by quarter: 8–13, 27–14, 29–19, 6–32 |||
| Pts: Santos 20 Rebs: Santos 11 Asts: Cabagnot 4 | Pts: Abueva 16 Rebs: Abueva 15 Asts: Abueva 5 |
| Alaska leads series, 2–1 |||
* Smart Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: 13,785 Referees: N. Quillingen, E. Aquino, E. Tangkion
On Game Three SMB manage once again to manage big 20 or more points on three quarters, but the Aces prove again their resiliency to comeback outscoring the Beermen in fourth quarter 32–6.

### Game 4

* TV5
* January 14 7:00pm
* boxscore
San Miguel Beermen 88, Alaska Aces 70 :
| Scoring by quarter: 33–16, 16–10, 24–23, 15–21 |||
| Pts: Cabagnot 22 Rebs: Santos 14 Asts: Lutz 7 | Pts: Abueva 22 Rebs: Abueva 7 Asts: Exciminiano, Casio 3 |
| Series tied, 2–2 |||
* Smart Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Referees: A. Herrera, N. Quillingen, N. Guevarra
Prior to the start of Game Four June Mar Fajardo received his second straight Best Player of the Conference in Philippine Cup. Alex Cabagnot finally break his silence in the series tallying team high 22 points and gave the Beermen a dominant game once again.

### Game 5

* TV5
* January 16 7:00pm
* boxscore
San Miguel Beermen 93, Alaska Aces 88 :
| Scoring by quarter: 21–23, 20–18, 30–30, 22–17 |||
| Pts: Fajardo, Santos 19 Rebs: Fajardo 13 Asts: Cabagnot 8 | Pts: Abueva 24 Rebs: Abueva 12 Asts: Banchero, Abueva 3 |
| San Miguel leads series, 3–2 |||
* Smart Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: A. Herrera, P. Balao, E. Tankion
This game of this series was proved to be the closest scoring since the last four games, it was a see-saw battle the score was being tied after all three quarters. But on the fourth quarter the Beermen relied on their bench to make an opening scoring run on fourth quarter and win the game after great performances of Arwind Santos and June Mar Fajardo combining for 38 points and 10 blocks(19 points each and 5 blocks each). This also served as the first time the Beermen leads the series for pivotal 3–2 lead.

### Game 6

* TV5
* January 18 7:30pm
* boxscore
San Miguel Beermen 76, Alaska Aces 87 :
| Scoring by quarter: 23–17, 13–25, 20–21, 20–24 |||
| Pts: Santos 22 Rebs: Fajardo 13 Asts: Cabagnot 5 | Pts: Hontiveros 18 Rebs: Thoss 9 Asts: Thoss, Manuel, Jazul 3 |
| Series tied, 3–3 |||
* Smart Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: 14,259 Referees: A. Herrera, N. Quilingquen, E. Tangkion
The San Miguel once again manage to have double digit lead in the first quarter but then on the second to the fourth quarter the Alaska have controlled the whole behind a great performance from the former Beermen Dondon Hontiveros.

### Game 7

* TV5
* January 21 7:00pm
* boxscore
San Miguel Beermen 80, Alaska Aces 78 :
| Scoring by quarter: 21–12, 27–15, 14–32, 18–19 |||
| Pts: Santos 22 Rebs: Fajardo 25 Asts: Cabagnot 6 | Pts: Abueva 23 Rebs: Abueva 15 Asts: Abueva, Exciminiano, Jazul 2 |
| San Miguel wins series, 4–3 |||
* Smart Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: 22,511 Referees: N. Quilingen, P. Balao, E. Tankion
The San Miguel and Alaska battled for their third Game Seven of their other previous PBA finals meeting which Alaska winning twice of the two games seven meeting. This game was started in the first quarter by Fajardo's amazing euro step Sonny Thoss before the Beeremen lead the Aces a double digit point lead after great shooting from Arwind Santos. The San Miguel lead Alaska dominantly 48–27 at the half. But the Aces again proved their great comeback led by Calvin Abueva came close after third quarter 62–59, but on fourth quarter the Alaska steal the lead and lead as many as 6 points under 4 minutes remaining in the game 74–68. The Beeremen then make their own rally having 12–6 run then with one minute remaining in the game and the clock is winding down Arwind Santos makes a crucial three pointer with 43 seconds remaining in the game to push San Miguel lead back to one 79–78 then he grabbed also a crucial defensive rebound after Sonny Thoss missed a shot over Fajardo. In the one possession after Abueva missed a floater Ronald Tubid grabs a defensive rebound but call a time out that SMB doesn't have any more. Dondon Hontiveros then missed a crucial technical free throw, on the last play were San Miguel has the ball Chris Lutz inbound the ball to June Mar Fajardo who had been forced to a jumpball by Abueva. On the jumpball Abueva won the tip over Fajardo and the ball goes to Thoss who finds Jvee Casio for game winning three pointer but his shot missed before the buzzer sounded.

## Rosters

* $^a$ also serves as Alaska's board governor.

## Broadcast notes

All of the games were aired live on TV5, AksyonTV and Fox Sports, except for Game 5 that was delayed at TV5 and AksyonTV due to the News5 coverage of Pope Francis's visit to the Philippines.
| Game | Sports5 | Sports5 | Sports5 | Fox Sports | Fox Sports |
| Game | Play-by-play | Analyst(s) | Courtside reporters | Play-by-play | Analyst(s) |
| Game 1 | Magoo Marjon | Eric Reyes and Ali Peek | Rizza Diaz | Patricia Bermudez-Hizon | Charles Tiu |
| Game 2 | Mico Halili | Quinito Henson and Richard del Rosario | Apple David | Nikko Ramos | Ronnie Magsanoc |
| Game 3 | Charlie Cuna | Ryan Gregorio and Luigi Trillo | Erika Padilla | Mico Halili | Charles Tiu |
| Game 4 | James Velazquez | Dominic Uy and Ronnie Magsanoc | Sel Guevara | Patricia Bermudez-Hizon | Vince Hizon |
| Game 5 | Magoo Marjon | Andy Jao and Luigi Trillo | Rizza Diaz | Mico Halili | Kirk Long |
| Game 6 | Mico Halili | Eric Reyes and Richard del Rosario | Sel Guevara | Nikko Ramos | Charles Tiu |
| Game 7 | Magoo Marjon | Quinito Henson and Ronnie Magsanoc | Erika Padilla | Patricia Bermudez-Hizon | Vince Hizon |
* Additional Game 7 crew:
** Trophy presentation: Nikko Ramos
** Dugout celebration interviewer: Sel Guevara