1987 Tanduay Rhum Makers season

1987 Tanduay Rhum Makers season
Head coach	Arturo Valenzona Ely Capacio
Owner(s)	Elizalde & Co.
Open Conference Results
Record	18–9 (.667)
Place	1st
Playoff finish	Finals
All-Filipino Conference Results
Record	2–6 (.250)
Place	6th
Playoff finish	N/A
Reinforced Conference Results
Record	2–8 (.200)
Place	6th
Playoff finish	N/A
Stats @ PBA-Online.net
Tanduay Rhum Makers seasons
1986

The 1987 Tanduay Rhum Makers Season was the 13th and final season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA)

Off-season transactions

TRANSACTIONS
Cayetano Salazar (Rookie) Drafted Rookie
Angelito Esguerra Acquired from Defunct Manila Beer Brewmasters
Ed Cordero Acquired from Defunct Manila Beer Brewmasters
Romulo Mamaril Acquired from Ginebra San Miguel
Steve Watson Acquired from Great Taste Coffee Makers

Notable dates

• March 22: In a classic, come-from-behind win ushering the 13th season opening, Tanduay overturned Great Taste on import David Thirdkill's shot in the last three seconds to escape with a 105-104 protested victory. The Rhum Makers rallied from 16 points down in the final quarter. Thirdkill intentionally missed his free throw off a foul by Michael Young; the ball didn't hit the rim and the referees failed to see the violation resulting in Great Taste's Ricardo Brown muffing a hurried three-point attempt at the final buzzer.
• April 12: David Thirdkill scored 61 points as Tanduay needed two overtimes to prevail over Ginebra San Miguel, 129-124, in the first meeting of the season between the two arch rivals.
• April 21: Tanduay repeated over Great Taste, 121-120 at the start of the second round of eliminations, on Willie Generalao's off-balanced desperation shot at the buzzer.
• June 2: David Thirdkill scored his personal-best and conference-high 72 points to power the Rhum makers past Great Taste, 136-124.
• June 9: Tanduay overwhelmed Ginebra San Miguel, 122-104, to arrange a second finals showdown with Great Taste Coffee.
• October 6: Freeman Williams, after scoring only 11 points in his debut, hit 10 three-point shots and finished with a season-high 82 points to lift Tanduay to a 129-122 victory over Hills Bros.Coffee, now mentored by their former coach Arturo Valenzona. Williams' 82 point output was the league's all-time fourth-best at that time, behind Michael Hackett's 103 in 1985, Larry McNeil's 88 in 1983 and Lew Massey's 85 in 1982.

Championship

The Tanduay Rhum makers won its third title in the last four conferences, winning the Open Conference crown over Great Taste Coffee, 4-1.

Main article: 1987 PBA Open Conference Finals

Occurrences

• Head coach Arturo Valenzona was sacked and replaced by assistant coach Ely Capacio after Tanduay performed poorly in the All-Filipino Conference, winning only twice in eight games and were eliminated from the semifinal round. The Rhum Makers ended up last place again in the Third Conference and bowed out in a humiliating 127-145 blowout loss to Ginebra San Miguel on November 3.
• Tanduay Rhum Makers, one of the only three original founding members of the league, announced that it is taking a leave of absence the following season.

Roster

Tanduay Rhum roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY-MM-DD) From 4.0 !F 3 Cordero, Edgardo 75 !6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) – 1959-11-29 UST 1.5 !G 9 Dela Cruz, Onchie 71 !5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) – 1960-11-27 Philippine Christian University 4.0 !F 16 Esguerra, Angelito 75 !6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) – 1959-08-02 Letran College 6.0 !C 19 Fernandez, Ramon 76 !6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) – 1953-10-03 University of San Carlos 1.5 !G 42 Generalao, Willie 69 !5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) – 1956-08-29 University of Visayas 2.5 !G/F 10 Hubalde, Freddie 73 !6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) – 1953-09-14 Mapua Tech 4.0 !F 17 Israel, Federico 74 !6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) – 1956-09-02 Ateneo 6.0 !C 33 Mamaril, Romulo 78 !6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) – 1956-04-12 Mapua Tech 6.0 !C 11 Salazar, Cayetano 77 !6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) – 1965-08-07 Letran College 4.0 !F 12 Sanchez, Victor 75 !6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) – 1955-10-30 Mapua Tech 1.5 !G 7 Torrente, Tony 73 !6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) – 1954-12-07 2.5 !G/F 5 Watson, Steve 74 !6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) – 1957-09-22 Ateneo 4.0 !F 24 Yango, Jayvee 75 !6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) – 1958-08-17 San Beda College 6.0 !C 22 Thirdkill, David (O) 78 !6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) – 1960-04-12 Bradley University 4.0 !F 20 Williams, Freeman (R) 75 !6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) – 1956-05-15 Portland State University	Head coach Arturo Valenzona Ely Capacio Assistant coach(es) Egay Gomez Legend (C) Team captain (I) Import (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (IN) Inactive (S) Suspended (O) - Open Import (R) - Reinforced Import Injured

^{Team Manager: Eddie Rivera}

References

• "Tanduay subdues Great Taste". Manila Standard. 
• "Tanduay, Gins bounce back". Manila Standard.