- Laguna Lakers
Infobox Basketball club
color1 =White
color2 =Purple
name =Laguna Lakers
logo =
imagesize =
leagues =Metropolitan Basketball Association
founded =1998
history =1998-2001
arena =San Luis Sports Complex
location =Laguna,Philippines
colors =Purple and white
president =
coach =
championships =
website =The Laguna Lakers (or the FedEx-Laguna Lakers) was a former professional basketball team in the now-defunctMetropolitan Basketball Association from1998 -2001 . The team was owned by Bert Lina, owner of theFederal Express franchise in the Philippines. The team monicker was taken as a reference for the province's numerous lakes, a similar action taken by the then-Minneapolis Lakers of theNational Basketball Association . The team played its home games at the San Luis Sports Complex.History
In 1998, the Metropolitan Basketball Association was formed as a regional-based professional league which also challenged the commercial
Philippine Basketball Association . The Lakers were paraded by formerUniversity of Manila stars Biboy Simon and Jovy Sese, Manuel Luis Quezon University standout Wynne Arboleda and the high-flying Mike Garcia, known for wearing different shoe colors and his dunks.The Lakers went 14-8 in the inaugural year but failed to enter the Northern Conference Finals. Simon recorded an MBA record 54 points in one game, which remained until the league's closure. In 1999, the Lakers went 16-14 in the elimination round and made the playoffs for the second straight year. The team added fil-Americans Cris Clay and Rudy Hatfield to bolster their lineup. However, Laguna was eliminated by the
Pampanga Dragons , in a hard-fought three-game Wildcard series which saw Dragons point guard Roel Bravo hitting a three-pointer to give Pampanga the win.In 2000, Laguna made its only MBA finals appearance in the Crossover Conference tournament, losing to the
San Juan Knights in the finals. The Lakers made it to the National Playoffs, only to be eliminated by the same Knights team, 2-0. Jeff Flowers joined the team to power the Lakers frontline.Laguna was renamed as the FedEx-Laguna Lakers for the 2001 season but lost to San Juan in the playoffs for the third-straight time.
Departure
In
2001 , the PBA'sTanduay Rhum Masters sold its team to the MBA's FedEx-Laguna franchise for a reported 60-75 million pesos. The development led to the Lina group's departure from the MBA to concentrate on their new PBA squad, which was named as the FedEx Express, and later, Air21 Express.The MBA, as a result, lost its Laguna franchise and one of its biggest sponsors, FedEx, before closing shop at the middle of the 2002 season.
Notable players
* Biboy Simon
* Jovy Sese
* Mike Garcia
* Wynne Arboleda
* Cris Clay
* Rudy Hatfield
* Jeff Flowers
* Chris Nicdao
* Don King Sasuman
* Ryan Bernardo
* Jasper OcampoTrivia
*The Lakers are so named because Laguna encloses
Laguna de Bay , a lake. In addition, "Laguna" came from Spanish word "lago", which means "lake."ee also
*
Metropolitan Basketball Association
*Air21 Express
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