The 2022 MPBL playoffs was the postseason tournament of the

Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) is a men's regional professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of 30 teams. Founded in 2017 by eight-division boxing world champion and then-Senator Manny Pacquiao, the MPBL is ...

's 2022 season, the league's fourth overall, and the third under the 16-team format. The postseason tournament began on October 15, 2022, two days after the end of the regular season on October 13, 2022, and concluded on December 12, 2022, following the conclusion of the

2022 MPBL finals The 2022 MPBL finals was the championship series of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League's (MPBL) 2022 season and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. In the best-of-five playoff, the North Division champion Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguard ...

. The finals saw North Division champions

Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards The Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards (shortened as NERV) are a Filipino professional basketball team based in Palayan, Nueva Ecija. The team competes in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) as a member of the league's North Division. The ...

face against South Division champions

Zamboanga Family's Brand Sardines The Zamboanga Sikat (stylized as Zamboanga SiKAT), alternatively known as Sikat Zamboanga, is a Filipino professional basketball team based in Zamboanga City. The team currently competes in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) as a ...

. Nueva Ecija beat Zamboanga in four games to win the championship series. Byron Villarias was crowned MPBL Finals MVP. For sponsorship reasons, this playoff series was also known as the 2022 OKBet-MPBL Playoffs presented by Xtreme Appliances.

Overview

* The

entered the playoffs for the first time in franchise history and also clinched the best record in the league for the first time. * The

entered the playoffs for the third consecutive season and clinched the best record in the South Division for the first time. * The

Bataan Risers The 1Bataan Risers, more commonly known as the Bataan Risers, are a Filipino professional basketball team based in the province of Bataan. The team competes in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) as a member of the league's North ...

and

Batangas City Embassy Chill The Batangas City Tanduay Rum Masters are a professional basketball team based in Batangas City, Batangas. The team competes in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) as a member of the league's South Division. The team splits its h ...

entered the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season, tied for the longest playoff streak in the MPBL at the time. * The

Bacoor City Strikers The Bacoor City Strikers were a Filipino professional basketball team, based in Bacoor, Cavite. The team last competed in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) and played their home games at Strike Gymnasium. The Strikers also prev ...

GenSan Warriors The GenSan Warriors are a Filipino professional basketball team based in General Santos. The team competes in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) as a member of the league's South Division. The team most recently played their home ...

, and

San Juan Knights The San Juan Knights (also abbreviated as SJK) are a Filipino professional basketball team based in San Juan. The team competes in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) as a member of the league's North Division. The team plays its ...

entered the playoffs for the third consecutive season. * The

Pampanga Giant Lanterns The Pampanga Giant Lanterns (shortened as PGL and also known as Pampanga Giant Lanterns – AMG3 Construction for sponsorship reasons) are a Filipino professional basketball team based in San Fernando, Pampanga. The team competes in the Maha ...

and

Pasig City MCW Sports The Pasig City MPBL team is a Philippines, Filipino professional basketball team based in Pasig. The team competes in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) as a member of the league's North Division (MPBL), North Division. The team ...

entered the playoffs for the second consecutive season. * The Bacolod Bingo Plus,

Marikina Shoemasters The Marikina Shoemasters are a Filipino professional basketball team based in Marikina. The team competes in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) as a member of the league's North Division. The team most recently played its home g ...

Rizal Golden Coolers The Rizal Golden Coolers (also known as the Rizal Xentromall Golden Coolers for sponsorship reasons) are a Filipino professional basketball team based in the province of Rizal (province), Rizal. The team competes in the Maharlika Pilipinas Bask ...

, and

Sarangani Marlins The Sarangani Gripper Motorcycle Tire (also shortened as Sarangani Gripper) is a Filipino professional basketball team based in Alabel, Sarangani. The team competes in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) as a member of the league's ...

entered the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. * The

Muntinlupa Cagers The Muntinlupa Cagers (also known as Muntinlupa Cagers – Lakan. for sponsorship reasons) are a Filipino professional basketball team based in Muntinlupa. The team competes in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) as a member of the ...

and Quezon City MG entered the playoffs for the first time since

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. * The Valenzuela XUR Homes Realty Inc. entered the playoffs for the first time since

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

. * The

Makati × MNL Kingpin The Makati Super Crunch was a Filipino professional basketball team based in Makati. The team last competed in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) from 2018 to 2023 and played its home games at Makati Coliseum. The team began pla ...

and Manila Stars missed the playoffs for the first time in their franchises' history, both having made the postseason since 2019. * Due to their departures from the league: ** Bicol,

Bulacan Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan (; ; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon Regions of the Philippines, region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan was established on ...

Davao Occidental Davao Occidental (; ), officially the Province of Davao Occidental (; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Davao Region in Mindanao. Its capital is the municipality of Malita, the most populous town in the province. To the east lies ...

, and

Iloilo Iloilo ( ; ), officially the Province of Iloilo (; ; ; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital and largest city is Iloilo City, the regional center of Western Visayas and politically independen ...

also missed the playoffs for the first time their franchises' history. Bicol and Iloilo made the postseason last season, while Bulacan and Davao Occidental made the playoffs since 2018 and 2019, respectively. **

Basilan Basilan, officially the Province of Basilan (; ; ; ), is an island province of the Philippines located primarily in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region. Basilan Island is the largest and northernmost of the major islands of the Sulu Archipelago ...

and

Pasay Pasay, officially the City of Pasay (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 Philippine census, 2020 census, it has a ...

also missed the playoffs after making the postseason last season. * The Laguna Heroes missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season, which was the longest playoff drought in the MPBL at the time. ** Including non-playing seasons,

Parañaque Parañaque, officially the City of Parañaque (, ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of ...

also missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season, tying Laguna's playoff drought.

Format

The top eight teams from each division advanced to the playoffs. Seeding was changed in this season, in that teams are seeded by wins and not winning percentage. Tiebreaker rules were applied with teams that have the same record. The single-elimination bracket consisted of four rounds with no reseeding. The first three rounds were

best-of-three There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...

series and the national finals was a

best-of-five There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...

series. During the first two rounds, two games within the same division were played in a gameday, with

homecourt advantage In team sports, the term home advantage – also called home ground, home field, home-field advantage, home court, home-court advantage, defender's advantage or home-ice advantage – describes the benefit that the home team is said to gai ...

alternating between the higher-seeded teams of each series. A traditional homecourt format was then used for the last two rounds, with the division finals using a 1-1-1 format and the national finals using a 2-2-1 format. The designated home team may not be able to play within its home locality. Should it occur, the gameday may take place elsewhere.

Division standings

North Division South Division

Bracket

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.

First round

Northern Division

(1) Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards vs. (8) Marikina Shoemasters

This is the first playoff meeting between the Rice Vanguards and the Shoemasters.

(2) Pasig City MCW Sports vs. (8) Quezon City MG

This is the first playoff meeting between Pasig City and Quezon City MG.

(3) San Juan Knights vs. (8) Valenzuela XUR Homes Realty Inc.

This is the first playoff meeting between the Knights and Valenzuela.

(4) Pampanga Giant Lanterns vs. (5) Bataan Risers

This is the second playoff meeting between the Giant Lanterns and Risers with the Giant Lanterns winning the first one in the 2020–21 playoffs.

Southern Division

(1) Zamboanga Family's Brand Sardines vs. (8) Muntinlupa Cagers

This is the second playoff meeting between Zamboanga and the Cagers with Zamboanga winning the first one in the 2019 playoffs.

(2) Batangas City Embassy Chill vs. (7) Bacoor City Strikers

This is the first playoff meeting between Batangas City and the Strikers.

(3) Sarangani Marlins vs. (6) Rizal EMKAI Xentromall

This is the first playoff meeting between the Marlins and Rizal.

(4) GenSan Warriors vs. (5) Bacolod Bingo Plus

This is the first playoff meeting between the Warriors and Bacolod.

Division semifinals

Northern Division

(1) Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards vs. (4) Pampanga Giant Lanterns

This is the first playoff meeting between the Rice Vanguards and the Giant Lanterns.

(2) Pasig City MCW Sports vs. (3) San Juan Knights

This is the first playoff meeting between Pasig City and the Knights.

Southern Division

(1) Zamboanga Family's Brand Sardines vs. (5) Bacolod Bingo Plus

This is the first playoff meeting between Zamboanga and Bacolod.

(2) Batangas City Embassy Chill vs. (6) Rizal Golden Coolers Xentromall

This is the first playoff meeting between Batangas City and the Golden Coolers.

Division finals

Northern Division

(1) Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards vs. (3) San Juan Knights

This is the first playoff meeting between the Rice Vanguards and the Knights.

Southern Division

(1) Zamboanga Family's Brand Sardines vs. (2) Batangas City Embassy Chill

This is the second playoff meeting between Zamboanga and Batangas City with Zamboanga winning the first one in the 2020–21 playoffs.

2022 MPBL finals: (N1) Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards vs. (S1) Zamboanga Family's Brand Sardines

The Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards and the Zamboanga Family's Brand Sardines competed in the MPBL finals to determine the fourth MPBL champion. This was the first championship meeting between the Rice Vanguards and Zamboanga.

References

{{2022 MPBL season by team

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

MPBL playoffs 2022 in Philippine sport