| 2018 MPBL season | |
| League: | Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League |
| Sport: | Basketball |
| Duration: | Regular season: January 25 – March 17, 2018 Playoffs: March 20 – April 10, 2018 Finals: April 12–19, 2018 |
| No Of Games: | 45 (regular season) 19 (playoffs) |
| No Of Teams: | 10 |
| Tv: | ABS-CBN Sports (S+A) |
| Season: | Regular season |
| Top Seed: | Batangas City Athletics |
| Playoffs: | Playoffs |
| Playoffs Link: | 2018 MPBL playoffs |
| Conf1: | North Division |
| Finals: | Finals |
| Finals Link: | 2018 MPBL finals |
| Finals Champ: | Batangas City Athletics |
| Finals Runner-Up: | Muntinlupa Cagers |
| Finals Mvp: | Val Acuña (Batangas City) |
| Finals Mvp Link: | MPBL Finals Most Valuable Player award |
| Seasonslist: | List of MPBL seasons |
| Seasonslistnames: | MPBL |
| Nextseason Link: | 2018–19 MPBL season |
| Nextseason Year: | 2018–19 |
The 2018 MPBL season, also known as the MPBL Rajah Cup or the MPBL Anta–Rajah Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the inaugural season of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League. The regular season began on January 25, 2018 and ended on March 17, 2018. The playoffs began on March 20, 2018 and ended on April 19, 2018. The inaugural season featured ten teams, all based in Luzon, making it the only season to not have divisions nor feature teams from Visayas or Mindanao.
The opening ceremony took place at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, followed by the inaugural game between the Parañaque Patriots and the Caloocan Supremos.[1] This season featured 10 teams, the smallest the league has been since.
The Batangas City Athletics were crowned the 2018 MPBL champions, after defeating the Muntinlupa Cagers in the 2018 MPBL Rajah Cup finals, three games to one.
The inaugural season featured ten teams, all based in Luzon, with no division alignment.
| Team | Arena | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bataan People's Center | 4,000 | ||
| Batangas City Sports Coliseum | 4,000 | ||
| Bulacan Capitol Gymnasium | 5,000 | ||
| 3,000 | |||
| Imus City Sports Complex | 1,000 | ||
| Muntinlupa Sports Center | 3,000 | ||
| Navotas Sports Complex | 1,000 | ||
| 3,500 | |||
| JCSGO Seed Dome | 1,000 | ||
| Valenzuela Astrodome | 3,000 | ||
| 25,000 |
Since the MPBL was a semi-professional league at the time, its initial set of roster regulations are made to help promote local talents:
On January 25, 2018, the league held the opening ceremonies at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. It featured the inaugural game which saw the Parañaque Patriots beating the Caloocan Supremos with a score of 70–60. Daniel San Juan de Guzman of the Parañaque Patriots made the league's first basket in that game.
The ten teams played in a single round-robin format, playing one game against all other teams in the league. In each gameday, a series of games is played in a designated home arena, with the home team usually playing in the final game.
The top eight teams overall advanced to a three-round, single-elimination playoffs, playing in best-of-three series in the quarterfinals and semifinals, and a best-of-five series in the finals, with homecourt advantage alternating between the higher seeds of each series (excluding the finals). [2]
Bold indicates home game; Italics indicate away game
Not all games are in home–away format. Each team plays every team once. Number of asterisks after each score denotes number of overtimes played.
See main article: 2018 MPBL playoffs.
Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its division, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. Teams with home court advantage, the higher seeded team, are shown in italics.
In the quarterfinals, the first- and second-seeded teams host games 1 and 3, while the third- and fourth-seeded teams host game 2.
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In the semifinals, the highest seeded team hosts games 1 and 3, while the second-highest seeded team hosts game 2.
Due to Batangas City advancing after game 2, Muntinlupa instead hosted game 3.
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See main article: 2018 MPBL finals. In the MPBL finals, the higher-seeded team hosts games 1, 2, and 5, while the lower-seeded team hosts games 3 and 4.
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| Category | Player | Team | Statistic | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points per game | Gary David | Bataan Defenders | 34.4 | |
| Rebounds per game | Felix Apreku | Muntinlupa Cagers | 11.1 | |
| Assists per game | Allan Mangahas | Muntinlupa Cagers | 5.3 | |
| Steals per game | Allan Mangahas | Muntinlupa Cagers | 1.78 | |
| Blocks per game | Jay Collado | Quezon City Capitals | 1.92 | |
| Turnovers per game | Chestern Ian Melencio | Imus Bandera | 3.44 | |
| Fouls per game | Daniel De Guzman | Parañaque Patriots | 3.64 | |
| Minutes per game | Harold Miguel Arboleda | Parañaque Patriots | 33.2 | |
| FG% | Mark San Jose | Parañaque Patriots | 100.0% | |
| FT% | 10 tied | Multiple Teams | 100.0% | |
| 3FG% | 2 tied | Multiple Teams | 100.0% | |
| Double-doubles | Felix Apreku | Muntinlupa Cagers | 6 | |
| Harold Miguel Arboleda | Parañaque Patriots | |||
| Triple-doubles | Andrew Estrella | Quezon City Capitals | 1 |
| Category | Player | Team | Statistic | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 29 | |||
| Rebounds | Gian Abrigo | 20 | ||
| Assists | 14 | |||
| Steals | 6 tied | Multiple Teams | 4 | |
| Blocks | Jayson Grimaldo | 5 | ||
| Jeff Morillo | Quezon City Capitals | |||
| Three-pointers | 7 |
| Category | Team | Statistic | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Points per game | 83.6 | ||
| Rebounds per game | 49.0 | ||
| Assists per game | 22.2 | ||
| Steals per game | 9.0 | ||
| Blocks per game | 6.6 | ||
| Turnovers per game | 18.4 | ||
| Fouls per game | 20.8 | ||
| FG% | 45.39% | ||
| FT% | 70.63% | ||
| 3FG% | 35.07% | ||
| +/− | +8.3 |
This season marked the first of three years of ABS-CBN's broadcast rights with the league. Games were aired on the S+A channel in both SD and HD quality.[3]