# 2021 PBA 3x3 season

The 2021 PBA 3x3 season was the inaugural season of the PBA 3x3, the 3x3 basketball league of the Philippine Basketball Association.

## Postponement

The inaugural season was supposed to be held in 2020, with all 12 franchise teams of the main PBA to field their own teams. Mighty Sports and Dunkin Donuts reportedly were interesting in also fielding teams in the PBA 3x3. The inaugural season was supposed to start with the 3×3 Philippine Cup in March 2020, but was postponed to 2021 by June 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic with the PBA preoccupied with plans to resume the season of its main league during that time.
The PBA 3x3 inaugural season was initially scheduled to be held in parallel with the 2021 PBA season, which opened on April 11, 2021, but was further postponed. The inaugural PBA 3x3 season commenced on November 20, 2021.

## Teams

All 12 franchise teams of the main 5-a-side Philippine Basketball Association are eligible to field a 3x3 team for the 2021 PBA 3x3 season. The Alaska Aces and Blackwater Bossing decided not to field a team, while three guest teams (Pioneer, Platinum, and Zamboanga) participated. Another guest team, Master Sardines, joined before the second conference to become the 14th team of the tournament. The Zamboanga Valientes took a leave of absence during the second conference, but returned during the third conference.
Four of the participating franchising teams Magnolia Hotshots, NLEX Road Warriors, Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters and Rain or Shine Elasto Painters announced in November they would be competing in the PBA 3x3 under different team names; Purefoods TJ Titans, Cavitex Braves, Limitless Appmasters, and Sista Super Sealers respectively.
| Team | Company | Coach |
| Barangay Ginebra San Miguel | Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. | Kirk Collier |
| Cavitex Braves | Metro Pacific Investments Corporation | Borgie Hermenda Emman Monfort |
| Limitless Appmasters | Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc. | Willy Wilson |
| Master Sardines Fishing Champs | Universal Canning, Inc. | Victor Ycasiano |
| Meralco Bolts 3x3 | Manila Electric Company | Patrick Fran |
| NorthPort Batang Pier | Sultan 900 Capital, Inc. | Alfredo Jarencio II |
| Pioneer Pro Tibay | Pioneer Epoxy Adhesives Inc. | Lester Del Rosario |
| Platinum Karaoke | Vismay International Corporation | Anton Altamirano |
| Purefoods TJ Titans | San Miguel Food and Beverage, Inc. | Tonyboy Espinosa |
| San Miguel Beermen | San Miguel Brewery, Inc. | Boycie Zamar |
| Sista Super Sealers | Asian Coatings Philippines, Inc. | Juven Formancil |
| Terrafirma 3x3 | Terrafirma Realty Development Corporation | Raymond Tiongco James Tolentino |
| TNT Tropang Giga | Smart Communications | Mau Belen |
| Zamboanga Valientes | MLV Group | |

## Format

The inaugural PBA 3x3 season had three tournaments or conference. Each conference had six two-day legs and a grand final. The 13 teams were divided into three pools, with pool A having five teams while pools B and C having four each. Teams within their pools play in a single round-robin format. The top three teams of pool A and the top two teams of pools B and C directly qualify for the quarterfinals. The third-best teams of pools B and C played in a knockout game prior to the quarterfinals. The knockout stage is a single-elimination tournament and a third place game is also held. The winner of each leg gets ₱100,000, the runner-up gets ₱50,000, while the third placed team gets ₱30,000. The seedings and pool compositions for each leg are based on the results of the preceding leg. For the third conference, there were 14 teams divided into four pools, with pools A and C having four teams while pools B and D having three each. The top two teams of each pool advanced to the quarterfinals.
After six legs, the cumulative standings were calculated and the top four teams directly qualified for the quarterfinals of the Grand Finals. The fifth to tenth-placed teams qualified for the preliminary round of the Grand Finals. The bottom teams were not qualified for the Grand Finals. The Grand Champion gets ₱750,000, the runner-up gets ₱250,000, while the third placed team gets ₱100,000.

## Transactions
### Coaching changes

Coaching changes :
| Team | In-season | In-season |
| Second Conference ||||
| Master Sardines Fishing Champs | Victor Ycasiano | Hubert De Los Santos |
| Terrafirma 3x3 | Raymond Tiongco | Joe Lipa |

## First conference

The conference started on November 20, 2021, and ended on December 29.

### Legs summary

| Pos | Team | 1st leg | 2nd leg | 3rd leg | 4th leg | 5th leg | 6th leg | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Meralco Bolts 3x3 | 2nd | 1st | 5th | 2nd | 4th | 5th | 420 | Qualification to Grand Finals quarterfinal round |
| 2 | TNT Tropang Giga | 1st | 3rd | 9th | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd | 420 | Qualification to Grand Finals quarterfinal round |
| 3 | Limitless Appmasters | 11th | 4th | 7th | 6th | 1st | 1st | 361 | Qualification to Grand Finals quarterfinal round |
| 4 | Platinum Karaoke | 4th | 2nd | 6th | 4th | 6th | 3rd | 360 | Qualification to Grand Finals quarterfinal round |
| 5 | Terrafirma 3x3 | 5th | 6th | 3rd | 5th | 3rd | 7th | 325 | Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round |
| 6 | Purefoods TJ Titans | 3rd | 9th | 4th | 1st | 5th | 11th | 316 | Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round |
| 7 | Pioneer Pro Tibay | 10th | 7th | 2nd | 7th | 7th | 8th | 253 | Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round |
| 8 | Sista Super Sealers | 12th | 5th | 1st | 10th | 10th | 10th | 218 | Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round |
| 9 | San Miguel Beermen | 7th | 8th | 11th | 9th | 8th | 4th | 206 | Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round |
| 10 | Barangay Ginebra San Miguel | 8th | 11th | 8th | 11th | 9th | 6th | 167 | Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round |
| 11 | Cavitex Braves | 6th | 10th | 12th | 8th | 12th | 12th | 140 | |
| 12 | NorthPort Batang Pier | 9th | 13th | 10th | 12th | 11th | 9th | 100 | |
| 13 | Zamboanga Valientes | 13th | 12th | 13th | 13th | 13th | 13th | 74 | |
Source: PBA 3x3

### Grand Finals
#### Preliminary round
##### Pool A

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | PCT | Qualification |
| 1 | San Miguel Beermen | 2 | 1 | 1 | 38 | 36 | +2 | .500 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Terrafirma 3x3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 35 | 35 | 0 | .500 | Quarterfinals |
| 3 | Sista Super Sealers | 2 | 1 | 1 | 33 | 35 | −2 | .500 | |
* 1 2 3 San Miguel Beermen 19.0 avg. points; Terrafirma 3x3 17.5 avg. points; Sista Super Sealers 16.5 avg. points

##### Pool B

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | PCT | Qualification |
| 1 | Pioneer Pro Tibay | 2 | 2 | 0 | 43 | 36 | +7 | 1.000 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Purefoods TJ Titans | 2 | 1 | 1 | 41 | 31 | +10 | .500 | Quarterfinals |
| 3 | Barangay Ginebra San Miguel | 2 | 0 | 2 | 25 | 42 | −17 | .000 | |

#### Knockout stage
##### Bracket

Seed refers to the position of the team after six legs. Letter and number inside parentheses denotes the pool letter and pool position of the team, respectively, after the preliminary round of the Grand Finals.
| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| 1 | Meralco Bolts 3x3 | 15 | | | | | | |
| 5 (A2) | Terrafirma 3x3 | 19 | | | | | | |
| 5 (A2) | Terrafirma 3x3 | 19 | 5 (A2) | Terrafirma 3x3 | 10 | | | |
| | | | 4 | Platinum Karaoke | 21 | | | |
| 7 (B1) | Pioneer Pro Tibay | 15 | 4 | Platinum Karaoke | 21 | | | |
| 4 | Platinum Karaoke | 21 | | | | | | |
| 4 | Platinum Karaoke | 21 | | | | 4 | Platinum Karaoke | 16 |
| | | | | | | 3 | Limitless Appmasters | 18 |
| 3 | Limitless Appmasters | 21 | | | | | | | 3 | Limitless Appmasters | 18 |
| 9 (A1) | San Miguel Beermen | 15 | | | |
| 9 (A1) | San Miguel Beermen | 15 | 3 | Limitless Appmasters | 21 | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | 2 | TNT Tropang Giga | 16 |
| 6 (B2) | Purefoods TJ Titans | 13 | 2 | TNT Tropang Giga | 16 | 5 (A2) | Terrafirma 3x3 | 14 |
| 2 | TNT Tropang Giga | 18 | | | | 2 | TNT Tropang Giga | 22 |

## Second conference

The second conference was originally scheduled to start on January 8, 2022, but was suspended after Metro Manila was put on Alert Level 3 due to the rising COVID-19 cases. The conference started on February 19 and ended on April 27.

### Legs summary

| Pos | Team | 1st leg | 2nd leg | 3rd leg | 4th leg | 5th leg | 6th leg | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Limitless Appmasters | 4th | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 7th | 450 | Qualification to Grand Finals quarterfinal round |
| 2 | TNT Tropang Giga | 1st | 6th | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | 4th | 435 | Qualification to Grand Finals quarterfinal round |
| 3 | Meralco Bolts 3x3 | 2nd | 5th | 3rd | 1st | 6th | 5th | 395 | Qualification to Grand Finals quarterfinal round |
| 4 | San Miguel Beermen | 6th | 1st | 7th | 4th | 8th | 1st | 380 | Qualification to Grand Finals quarterfinal round |
| 5 | Pioneer Pro Tibay | 13th | 4th | 8th | 7th | 5th | 2nd | 277 | Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round |
| 6 | Barangay Ginebra San Miguel | 3rd | 2nd | 9th | 5th | 13th | 8th | 267 | Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round |
| 7 | Platinum Karaoke | 5th | 7th | 11th | 6th | 3rd | 6th | 266 | Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round |
| 8 | Purefoods TJ Titans | 8th | 8th | 10th | 9th | 4th | 3rd | 238 | Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round |
| 9 | Sista Super Sealers | 7th | 10th | 5th | 11th | 7th | 11th | 180 | Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round |
| 10 | Terrafirma 3x3 | 11th | 12th | 4th | 10th | 11th | 13th | 136 | Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round |
| 11 | Cavitex Braves | 9th | 11th | 6th | 12th | 10th | 9th | 133 |
| 12 | Master Sardines Fishing Champs | 12th | 13th | 12th | 8th | 9th | 12th | 109 |
| 13 | NorthPort Batang Pier | 10th | 9th | 13th | 13th | 12th | 10th | 94 |
Source: PBA 3x3

### Grand Finals
#### Preliminary round
##### Pool A

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Qualification |
| 1 | Sista Super Sealers | 2 | 2 | 0 | 39 | 36 | +3 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Pioneer Pro Tibay | 2 | 1 | 1 | 38 | 35 | +3 | Quarterfinals |
| 3 | Purefoods TJ Titans | 2 | 0 | 2 | 35 | 41 | −6 | |

##### Pool B

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Qualification |
| 1 | Barangay Ginebra San Miguel | 2 | 2 | 0 | 44 | 37 | +7 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Terrafirma 3x3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 39 | 41 | −2 | Quarterfinals |
| 3 | Platinum Karaoke | 2 | 0 | 2 | 38 | 43 | −5 | |

#### Knockout stage
##### Bracket

Seed refers to the position of the team after six legs. Letter and number inside parentheses denotes the pool letter and pool position of the team, respectively, after the preliminary round of the Grand Finals.
| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| 1 | Limitless Appmasters | 14 | | | | | | |
| 5 (A2) | Pioneer Pro Tibay | 16 | | | | | | |
| 5 (A2) | Pioneer Pro Tibay | 16 | 5 (A2) | Pioneer Pro Tibay | 16 | | | |
| | | | 6 (B1) | Barangay Ginebra San Miguel | 14 | | | |
| 6 (B1) | Barangay Ginebra San Miguel | 21 | 6 (B1) | Barangay Ginebra San Miguel | 14 | | | |
| 4 | San Miguel Beermen | 12 | | | | | | |
| 4 | San Miguel Beermen | 12 | | | | 5 (A2) | Pioneer Pro Tibay | 12 |
| | | | | | | 9 (A1) | Sista Super Sealers | 10 |
| 3 | Meralco Bolts 3x3 | 15 | | | | | | | 9 (A1) | Sista Super Sealers | 10 |
| 9 (A1) | Sista Super Sealers | 16 | | | |
| 9 (A1) | Sista Super Sealers | 16 | 9 (A1) | Sista Super Sealers | 13 | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | 2 | TNT Tropang Giga | 12 |
| 10 (B2) | Terrafirma 3x3 | 17 | 2 | TNT Tropang Giga | 12 | 6 (B1) | Barangay Ginebra San Miguel | 21 |
| 2 | TNT Tropang Giga | 18 | | | | 2 | TNT Tropang Giga | 16 |

## Third conference

The conference started on May 21, 2022, and ended on July 3.

### Legs summary

| Pos | Team | 1st leg | 2nd leg | 3rd leg | 4th leg | 5th leg | 6th leg | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | TNT Tropang Giga | 1st | 7th | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | 500 | Qualification to Grand Finals quarterfinal round |
| 2 | Meralco Bolts 3x3 | 4th | 1st | 4th | 8th | 5th | 3rd | 375 | Qualification to Grand Finals quarterfinal round |
| 3 | Purefoods TJ Titans | 3rd | 5th | 2nd | 12th | 7th | 1st | 354 | Qualification to Grand Finals quarterfinal round |
| 4 | San Miguel Beermen | 7th | 10th | 7th | 3rd | 1st | 5th | 318 | Qualification to Grand Finals quarterfinal round |
| 5 | Cavitex Braves | 6th | 2nd | 10th | 5th | 3rd | 8th | 298 | Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round |
| 6 | Platinum Karaoke | 5th | 6th | 3rd | 6th | 6th | 7th | 295 | Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round |
| 7 | Terrafirma 3x3 | 9th | 4th | 13th | 2nd | 4th | 13th | 244 | Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round |
| 8 | Limitless Appmasters | 10th | 8th | 5th | 4th | 9th | 4th | 243 | Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round |
| 9 | Barangay Ginebra San Miguel | 2nd | 3rd | 14th | 10th | 8th | 11th | 230 | Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round |
| 10 | Sista Super Sealers | 8th | 13th | 6th | 9th | 12th | 6th | 171 | Qualification to Grand Finals preliminary round |
| 11 | Pioneer Pro Tibay | 11th | 11th | 9th | 7th | 14th | 12th | 117 |
| 12 | Master Sardines Fishing Champs | 13th | 12th | 8th | 13th | 13th | 9th | 105 |
| 13 | NorthPort Batang Pier | 14th | 9th | 12th | 11th | 11th | 10th | 95 |
| 14 | Zamboanga Valientes | 12th | 14th | 11th | 14th | 10th | 14th | 81 |
Source: PBA 3x3

### Grand Finals
#### Preliminary round
##### Pool A

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | PCT | Qualification |
| 1 | Limitless Appmasters | 2 | 2 | 0 | 42 | 35 | +7 | 1.000 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Barangay Ginebra San Miguel | 2 | 1 | 1 | 37 | 36 | +1 | .500 | Quarterfinals |
| 3 | Cavitex Braves | 2 | 0 | 2 | 35 | 43 | −8 | .000 | |

##### Pool B

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | PCT | Qualification |
| 1 | Platinum Karaoke | 2 | 2 | 0 | 38 | 22 | +16 | 1.000 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Sista Super Sealers | 2 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 27 | +2 | .500 | Quarterfinals |
| 3 | Terrafirma 3x3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 36 | −18 | .000 | |

#### Knockout stage
##### Bracket

Seed refers to the position of the team after six legs. Letter and number inside parentheses denotes the pool letter and pool position of the team, respectively, after the preliminary round of the Grand Finals.
| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| 1 | TNT Tropang Giga | 21 | | | | | | |
| 9 (A2) | Barangay Ginebra San Miguel | 14 | | | | | | |
| 9 (A2) | Barangay Ginebra San Miguel | 14 | 1 | TNT Tropang Giga | 21 | | | |
| | | | 4 | San Miguel Beermen | 15 | | | |
| 6 (B1) | Platinum Karaoke | 8 | 4 | San Miguel Beermen | 15 | | | |
| 4 | San Miguel Beermen | 10 | | | | | | |
| 4 | San Miguel Beermen | 10 | | | | 1 | TNT Tropang Giga | 21 |
| | | | | | | 3 | Purefoods TJ Titans | 19 |
| 3 | Purefoods TJ Titans | 18 | | | | | | | 3 | Purefoods TJ Titans | 19 |
| 8 (A1) | Limitless Appmasters | 16 | | | |
| 8 (A1) | Limitless Appmasters | 16 | 3 | Purefoods TJ Titans | 21 | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | 10 (B2) | Sista Super Sealers | 19 |
| 10 (B2) | Sista Super Sealers | 18 | 10 (B2) | Sista Super Sealers | 19 | 4 | San Miguel Beermen | 20 |
| 2 | Meralco Bolts 3x3 | 12 | | | | 10 (B2) | Sista Super Sealers | 21 |