B-Meg Llamados Team History

The B-Meg Llamados is a professional basketball team of the Philippine Basketball Association owned by the San Miguel-Purefoods Company, Inc., a company of the San Miguel Corporation. Its head coach is Jorge Gallent.[1]


The Purefoods Corporation, once part of the Ayala Group of Companies, bought the Tanduay franchise prior to the 1988 PBA season.

Purefoods-Hormel Corporation was later bought by SMC in 2001 with the team retaining their colors. The team had used the product Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs for much of their history, deviating with the Coney Island Ice Cream Stars during the All-Filipino conferences of the 1993 and 1994 seasons, Purefoods Oodles (a type of instant noodles) in 1993, and their various monikers to match their corned beef brand such as the Corned Beef Cowboys, Carne Norte Beefies from 1997 to 1998, and as the Purefoods Chunkee Giants from 2005 to 2007. From 2007 to 2010, the team was known as the Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants. It is considered as one of the two most popular teams in the PBA.[2]

Arguably, the most popular Purefoods player is Alvin Patrimonio, who led the franchise to six championships in the 1990s and early 2000s, and was named Most Valuable Player four times. Patrimonio retired in 2004 to concentrate more on his duties as team manager for his team.

Their main rivals are the Alaska Aces and their sister team Barangay Ginebra Kings.

History

PABL days

Prior to joining the PBA in 1988, Purefoods was a member of the Philippine Amateur Basketball League (PABL, now the Philippine Basketball League) and was one of the strongest teams during their tenure with the amateur league.

Tanduay Rhum Masters

The original Tanduay team won three PBA titles from 1975 to 1987 - those three championships were captured during the '86 and '87 seasons with coach Turo Valenzona, league MVP Ramon Fernandez, Freddie Hubalde, Padim Israel and import David Thirdkill.

After the 1987 season, in an emotional press conference, Tanduay announced that it was leaving the PBA. The franchise rights were then sold to Purefoods before the 1988 season.

The lineage of the first Tanduay squad and Purefoods was removed after the sale, and the two are considered different entities.
Under the Ayala Corporation

1988-1989: Early years
Inaugural Season Roster (1988)
Ramon Fernandez (Player/Coach)
Alfredo Hubalde
Wilfredo Generalao
Ramon dela Cruz
Federico Israel
Jose Bernardo Yango
Al Solis
Artemio Marquez, Jr.
Jerry Codiñera
Jojo Lastimosa
Glenn Capacio
Edgar Tanuan
Alvin Patrimonio*
David Thirdkill - Import
*started playing in the 2nd conference

As part of the deal to join the league, Purefoods was allowed to take some amateur players from the PABL and the national team. Purefoods then drafted Alvin Patrimonio, Jojo Lastimosa, Jerry Codiñera, Glenn Capacio, and Jack Tanuan. They also added Al Solis and Totoy Marquez from Shell.

However, there was a surrounding controversy on the case of Patrimonio, as his PABL team Swift denied Patrimonio's release. However, before the All-Filipino Conference, the issue was settled and Patrimonio joined the team.

Purefoods also took Fernandez, Hubalde, Israel, and Onchie dela Cruz from the Tanduay squad. David Thirdkill was hired as Purefoods' import for the Open Conference and Fernandez was the team's playing coach during this time.

In their first conference, Purefoods made a historic run to the Finals against the Norman Black-led San Miguel Beermen in seven games.

In the next conference, Cris Calilan replaced Fernandez as head coach after the first round of the eliminations. They met crowd favorite Añejo Rhum in the Finals. Purefoods lost the series 3-1 against a veteran and rugged team of playing coach Robert Jaworski. Controversy arose during the series as Fernandez was ordered to be benched by then-Purefoods chairman Rene Buhain amid rumors of game-fixing. This issue led to Fernandez's transfer to San Miguel Beer for Abet Guidaben late in the season. Lastimosa was named as the 1988 Rookie of the Year at the end of the season.

In 1989, Purefoods lost in six games to San Miguel in the All-Filipino Cup. An incident also happened during the 2nd round of the eliminations of that conference when Samboy Lim nearly suffered a career-ending injury when he drove over Jojo Lastimosa causing him to fall off-balance and hit head first on the parquet floor. This happened on July 18, 1989, with Purefoods winning 125-115. There was a huge public outcry after that game with many fans decrying Lastimosa's actions as dirty.

1990-1994: Glory days

In the season ending 1990 Third Conference, Purefoods took on Alaska Air Force for the title. This conference featured two imports and Purefoods tapped the services of Daren Queenan and Rob Rose.

The Air Force took a 2-0 lead with a win away to clinch the best of five series. However, the team of legendary coach Baby Dalupan led a stunning comeback to win the series 3-2, giving the franchise its first PBA title.

The championship was Dalupan's last but it made him the first coach in PBA history to win PBA championships in three different decades. The other coach who achieved this feat was Norman Black.

During the offseason, Purefoods traded Lastimosa to Alaska for Boy Cabahug and Al Solis to Sarsi for Jun Tan. They also signed Elmer Reyes.

In 1991, Patrimonio was offered a 5-year, 25 million peso deal by Pepsi Cola, which was matched by Purefoods. With the development, he became the highest paid player in the league. With this, Purefoods was able to beat Sarsi to win the 1991 All-Filipino Conference under head coach Eli Capacio.

Patrimonio won the 1991 Most Valuable Player, the first of a record-tying four MVPs he had won.

Purefoods failed to defend the crown in 1992, losing in seven games to San Miguel Beer.

In 1993, Purefoods renamed their team as the Coney Island Ice Cream Stars, an ice cream brand introduced by the Ayala corporation. They drafted 4 rookies that year - Dwight Lago, Benny Cheng, Freddie Abuda, and Olsen Racela; and acquired veteran forward Abe King from the disbanded Presto team. The Stars won the 1993 All-Filipino Conference defeating San Miguel Beer, 4-2. Their head coach was Chot Reyes, who achieved a milestone for winning the title in his first conference as coach.

Coney Island reverted back to Purefoods in the Commissioner's Cup. It was then called the Purefoods Oodles and was bannered by mainstays Alvin Patrimonio, Jerry Codiñera, and Dindo Pumaren. Glenn Capacio, Elmer Cabahug, Abe King, and Olsen Racela completed the supporting cast. For their reinforcement, they hired Ronnie Grandison who was able to take them straight to the finals. They were defeated by Swift in six games for the crown of the said tournament.

Alvin Patrimonio won his second Most Valuable Player award after the season.

The team went back to the Coney Island moniker for the 1994 All-Filipino Conference and drafted 3 rookies - Rey Evangelista, Vince Hizon, and Peter Naron. The Stars also added another rookie in Richie Ticzon whom they acquired through a draft-day trade that sent veteran point guard Dindo Pumaren and Dwight Lago to Pepsi Mega. To add experience to the roster, Coney Island raded incoming sophomore Benny Cheng to Ginebra for veteran Manny Victorino and acquired 1992 Rookie of the Year Bong Ravena from San Miguel Beer in exchange for Kevin Ramas. The league gave an incentive to the champion of the said conference to have the honor of representing the country in the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, Japan. But Coney Island lost in six games to San Miguel for the All-Filipino Cup title, thus forfeiting the opportunity. Nonetheless, when the Beermen line-up was decimated with several injuries to their key players, they had to reinforce with Purefoods' Patrimonio, Codiñera, and rookie Rey Evangelista. Johnny Abarrientos of Alaska was also included in the team that placed fourth in the Asian Games.

In the Commissioner's Cup, with Kenny Redfield as import, Purefoods won the title in a hard-fought series against the formidable Alaska Milkmen. Patrimonio won the Best Player of the Conference award, becoming only the second player (after teammate Jerry Codiñera who won it previously in the All-Filipino Cup) in PBA history to win the citation. Their reinforcement, Ken Redfield took home the Best Import of the conference honors. It was also during this tournament that he was dubbed "Triple-Double Artist" by the media, as a testament to his all-around skills.

Patrimonio won his second consecutive MVP and third overall. Evangelista was a prime candidate to win the Rookie of the Year award but lost to Swift's Boybits Victoria. Another disappointment for Evangelista was that he was not included in the All-Defensive Team, contrary to what was expected by most, especially the Purefoods fans.

1995-2000: Ups and downs

In 1995, Purefoods failed to enter the championship of the three conferences alloted, showing only two fourth place finishes in the All-Filipino and the Commissioner's Cup. It was the first time in the team's eight-year history that they failed to make it to the All-Filipino Finals. It was also the first time that they didn't make any finals appearance in a single season.

During the offseason, Purefoods retooled its lineup by drafting Rodney Santos and reacquiring former Purefoods players Dindo Pumaren and Jack Tanuan through trades conducted with Pepsi and Sta. Lucia respectively.

The TJ Hotdogs met Alaska in the finals of the All-Filipino Conference in 1996 PBA season but was defeated in five games by the eventual grand slam winning Milkmen.

In the Governor's Cup, Purefoods struggled as they fielded in several imports in hopes of reversing their misfortunes. After the season, Chot Reyes left the Purefoods team to become the head coach of the Sta. Lucia Realtors.

In 1997 PBA season, rookie coach Eric Altamirano took over as coach of the Purefoods Corned Beef Cowboys. In his very first conference, Purefoods won the All-Filipino Cup defeating the Gordon's Gin Boars in six games for their first title in three years.

After a sorry performance in the Commissioner's Cup, the newly-christened Purefoods Carne Norte Beefies lost in the finals of the Governor's Cup to Alaska, 4-1. Their import was the talented Mike Jones who lost in a battle for Best Import honors.

Alvin Patrimonio won his fourth and final Most Valuable Player Award, tying former teammate and idol Ramon Fernandez for the most number of MVP awards won.

After getting booted out of the semi-finals of the 1998 All-Filipino Cup, Altamirano left Purefoods to join the Mobiline Phone Pals. Chito Narvasa became his replacement but failed to lead Purefoods to a finals appearance.
Purefoods TJ Hotdogs logo.png

Purefoods struggled in the 1999 PBA season All-Filipino Cup despite acquiring Filipino-American Al Segova and a new Head Coach in Derrick Pumaren. During the Commissioner's Cup, Jerry Codiñera was traded to Mobiline for Andy Seigle. The trade ended the long-time partnership of Patrimonio and Codiñera, who was known as the "Defense Minister." Segova was later banished after he was proven to be a fake Filipino-American. Purefoods failed to get past the quarterfinals of the first two conferences. They were ousted by Alaska Milk in a 3 game sweep despite finishing first at the end of the elimination round with a 7-1 card and lost their last 4 games after winning 6 in a row (8-1 record after the quarterfinals) in the season ending Governor's Cup. Derrick "The Flight" Brown led all imports in scoring and rebounding but was edged out By San Miguel import Lamont Strothers in the balloting for best import honors.

In the 2000 All-Filipino Cup, a forfeiture of games won by Tanduay during the semifinals series (for fielding fake Filipino-American Sonny Alvarado in Games 2 and 3 won by the Rhum Masters) set the stage for Boyet Fernandez' buzzer beating shot in over time of game 4. That shot catapulted the Hotdogs to the Finals, which they lost to Alaska.

Derrick Brown won Best Import honors after leading the Hotdogs to the Finals of the Governor's Cup, which they lost to the San Miguel Beermen. It was the second time that a Purefoods import won the said award. (Brown would go on to win a second one in 2002 in the same conference). Also, Patrimonio found his way back to the Mythical Five selection.

Under the San Miguel Corporation

Derrick Pumaren left Purefoods after the 2000 season and signed up with the Tanduay Rhum Masters. Replacing him was the returning Eric Altamirano for his second tour of duty with Purefoods.

A distraction affected the team off the court when the Ayala Group sold Purefoods-Hormel to food and beverage giant San Miguel Corporation. The problem with this development was that SMC already had two PBA ballclubs in San Miguel and Ginebra, and it was not allowed by the league for a company to own three teams in the league. This meant that either the Ayala group had to retain their team under a new banner or for SMC to disband the team after the season. Eventually, the PBA Board of Governors adjusted the rule and allowed Purefoods to stay in the league.

The TJ Hotdogs lost to the Red Bull Thunder 2-3 in a best of 5 semi-finals series. Despite their unexpected good showing in the Commissioner's Cup, they struggled in the last conference of the season, and never made it past the elimination round.

Noy Castillo was named Most Improved Player of the 2001 season after leading the Hotdogs in scoring throughout the year.

Ryan Gregorio

Altamirano concentrated his duties with the National team in 2002 as an assistant coach. Taking over for a while was his assistant, Ryan Gregorio. Gregorio led Purefoods to a successful championship run in the Governor's Cup defeating Alaska in seven games after trailing 0-2. It marked the second time they've beaten Alaska in a finals series despite dropping the first two games.

Kerby Raymundo, acquired from Red Bull prior to the start of the tournament, was the Finals MVP. Derrick Brown was the conference Best Import while Rey Evangelista was the Best Player of the Conference.

However, Purefoods became a mediocre team in the Commissioner's Cup and the All-Filipino Conference finishing dead last in the succeeding conferences of the season.

After the season, Ronnie Magsanoc won the Comeback Player of the Year Award and announced his retirement after he received the award. Gregorio and Coca-Cola Tigers mentor Chot Reyes was named co-winners of the Coach of the Year Award.

In 2003, Gregorio was named as the head coach of the team as Altamirano was reassigned to the traveling SMC All-Stars (composed of former PBA all-stars). Purefoods each failed to enter the quarterfinals of the three conferences. In the Reinforced Conference, they had former NBA protege Lenny Cooke, but Cooke later suffered an injury, causing the Hotdogs not to qualify for the quarterfinals. It was the first season that Purefoods failed to make the 20 win mark with a dismal 9-27 win loss card (a franchise low).

Rebuilding

In 2002, they got Kerby Raymundo from Red Bull as the new main man for the team. They also got a great sidekick for Raymundo, University of the East star and UAAP MVP James Yap as the second overall pick in the 2004 PBA Draft. Paul Artadi, Yap's teammate at UE and the PBL's Welcoat Paintasters, was chosen by the team in the second round. Then they acquired Peter June Simon, a star player from the University of Mindanao who excelled in the MBA and the PBL, and was drafted by the Realtors in 2001.

Patrimonio's retirement

During Patrimonio's birthday celebration on November 26, 2004 (Patrimonio's birthday was on November 17), he announced his retirement in an emotional speech, ending his illustrious 16 year career to concentrate his role as team manager.

His number was retired in December, becoming the first Purefoods player to have his jersey retired. Purefoods was the only team Patrimonio played for in the PBA.

The rebuilding process began for Purefoods despite a dismal showing in the 2004 PBA Fiesta Conference. In the 2004-05 Philippine Cup, Purefoods was eliminated by the Shell Turbo Chargers in the quarterfinals. Same can be said in the 2005 Fiesta Conference, when Shell eliminated them in the same predicament.

Purefoods Chunkee Giants

Prior to the start of the 2005-06 Fiesta Conference, Purefoods replaced their TJ Hotdogs moniker with the Chunkee Giants. The Chunkee Giants was a reference to the company's new chunky corned beef product Purefoods Chunkee Corned Beef. Purefoods selected PBL MVP Jondan Salvador with the fourth pick in the first round of the draft. To further strengthen its line-up, the team traded future draft picks to the Air21 Express to acquire Marc Pingris and Egay Billones. They also hired Marquin Chandler as import and went on to record a 10-6 first place finish in the classification phase, earning them an outright semis berth.

The Giants beat the up and coming Air21 Express in six games of the semi-finals. They lost in the finals of the tournament to Red Bull in six games. But their runner-up finish was the best since winning the 2002 Governor's Cup. Chandler won Best Import honors while Kerby Raymundo lost to Enrico Villanueva for Best Player of the Conference honors.

In the 2006 PBA Philippine Cup, the Chunkee Giants finished with a 12-4 record and a first-place finish in the classification phase, earning them an outright semi-finals berth for the second consecutive time. However, on May 14, in a game against Red Bull Barako, Eugene Tejada suffered a freak injury, which resulted to his paralyzation. In the semifinals, Purefoods won the series in seven games after trailing the Alaska Aces 1-3, becoming only the second team since the 1991 Ginebra San Miguel team to come back from a 1-3 deficit in a PBA best-of-seven series. In six games, the Chunkee Giants won the 2006 Philippine Cup, 4-2, over Red Bull. It was Purefoods' first title since the 2002 Governor's Cup, and the first All-Filipino Cup title since 1997. Marc Pingris was named as the Finals Most Valuable Player.

James Yap became the second Purefoods player to win season MVP award and was included in the Mythical Team. Kerby Raymundo and Roger Yap were also named to the mythical team

In the succeeding 2006-07 season, Purefoods managed to end up with a 10-8 win-loss record. In a playoff game for the second outright quarterfinals berth, the Giants came-from-behind to beat Sta. Lucia to avoid going further down to the grueling wild-card phase.

In the best-of-five quarterfinals, the Chunkee Giants lost to the Talk 'N Text Phone Pals, 3-1. After Marc Pingris got injured in game 2, Purefoods lost the next three games, thus failing to repeat as champions of the Philippine Cup.

Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants

Purefoods has renamed its team to the Tender Juicy Giants for the 2007 PBA Fiesta Conference. However, the team paraded with a depleted line-up. Forward-centers Kerby Raymundo and Marc Pingris were loaned to the national team and placed on injured list, respectively. James Yap was also facing issues regarding his marital problems with wife Kris and being snubbed from the National Team. Although Marquin Chandler returned for a second tour of duty with Purefoods, the team had a badly depleted front line that saw them only Richard Yee and Arnold Gamboa manning the slot. Although James Yap successfully removed the distractions affecting his game following the birth of his first son James Jr., the Giants decided to get the next big man available in the PBA to help the team. As a result, they acquired Rommel Adducul from the San Miguel Beermen through a three-team trade with the Red Bull Barako which also saw Enrico Villanueva donning a Beermen jersey. Reserve Don Camaso was the casualty of the trade as he was sent to Red Bull. Some PBA teams denounced the trade transaction because of the "restricted player" trade rule in which only top players could be traded for one another to avoid imbalance in the league. But the protests quickly subsided after the PBA approved the said trade after learning that Villanueva was removed from the restricted list and Adducul was finally allowed to play for the Giants.

Purefoods was able to escape early elimination after beating the Welcoat Dragons in the last elimination round game. "Big Game" James Yap scored 41 points to lead the Giants to the wildcard phase, only to be knocked out by the Coca-Cola Tigers where he scored 40 points, which equaled former PBA player Nelson Asaytono's record of scoring 40+ points in back-to-back games, but failed to deliver the win for the team. For his efforts, Yap was picked by Chot Reyes to be part of the national team to play for the FIBA Asia Championship 2007 in Tokushima, Japan where the Philippines finished ninth out of the 16 teams.

With no picks in the 2007 PBA Draft, the TJ Giants welcomed back Raymundo and Pingris to the team, while trading Paul Artadi to the Air21 Express for virtually nothing after a feud with the coaches (Artadi ended up playing in Ginebra). The Giants then had a 7-0 start at the 2007-08 PBA Philippine Cup with Yap having a banner conference. Despite losing the Christmas Day game against the Barangay Ginebra Kings, the Giants clinched the semifinals berth and the #1 seed on their next game thanks to a win against the Tigers. In the semifinals, they were up against Red Bull, the winner over the Magnolia Beverage Masters in the quarterfinals series. The Giants drew first blood in the semifinals by routing Red Bull but needed to win the 7th game to finally clinch their 12th AFC finals stint (the most by any team in history) against Sta. Lucia.

Purefoods Lost a controversial 7 game series with Yap serving a suspension in game 5 after the Giants had come back a 0-2 deficit to tie the series at 2-2. They managed to level the series at 3-3 thanks to a classic fourth quarter performance by James Yap, nailing 5 of 6 three point attempts and scoring 20 points in the fourth quarter. Game 7 was almost a carbon copy of game number 6. Purefoods struggled in the third quarter with key players in foul trouble, and in the end it was Sta. Lucia who made the crucial shots down the stretch and won the game 100-88.

Before the start of the succeeding Fiesta Conference, Rommel Adducul was diagnosed with cancer and had to take a leave of absence. Lacking a starting center, Purefoods was forced to make a deal for Enrico Villanueva and sacrifice Marc Pingris, who went to the Magnolia Beverage Masters in a four-team, multi-player transaction. For their reinforcement, they tapped the services of 6'11" Darius Rice. Rice was a prolific scorer but was not able to lead the team to enough wins for the Giants to keep him. He was replaced by Moroccan Reda Rhalimi, who was decent enough on both ends of the floor, but was also unable to lead the Giants to an impressive finish. They ended up with a 7-11 win-loss card in the classification phase.

Notoriety

The knockout wildcard match-up against Talk 'N Text accentuated the frustrations that have marked the Giants' campaign. With the team trailing by 16 points halfway through the fourth, Jondan Salvador got involved in an altercation against the Phone Pals' import Terrence Leather. After the import threw the ball at Salvador, James Yap retaliated with a kick, which in turn caused players from both benches to join the fray. With the situation almost resulting in a disastrous brawl, cooler heads eventually prevailed, penalties were given and the game came to an end---as well as the Giants' season.

The controversial blow-out loss at the Ynares center turned out to be the last game of Noy Castillo and Rey Evangelista as professional basketball players. Castillo retired while Evangelista joined the Giants' coaching staff. Evangelista played his entire career with the Purefoods franchise that drafted him second overall in 1994. He won four championships with Purefoods and was known as a solid defender and rebounder. Castillo, on the other hand, was dreaded for his clutch baskets and was a consistent marksman throughout his career. He won a championship with the team in 2006 PBA Philippine Cup.

Before the start of the 2008-2009 KFC PBA Philippine Cup, the TJ Giants and their fans once again got into trouble with the Singapore Slingers audience during an exhibition game. The Giants lost to the Slingers in that heated match, but ironically, they signed Slinger Al Vergara for a single conference contract in the 2009 Motolite PBA Fiesta Conference.

In the off-season, Purefoods overhauled its roster by bringing in rookies Beau Belga, Jonathan Fernandez, and Richard Alonzo. They also acquired veterans Topex Robinson and Paolo Bugia from Red Bull and Aaron Aban from Alaska. These moves, however, were all futile attempts at establishing team chemistry as the team failed to excel at the classification phase, even after acquiring Rich Alvarez in mid-conference and having Rommel Adducul back from cancer treatment.

Having to play in yet another wildcard phase, the Giants continued their struggle in the 2008-2009 Philippine Cup. During a timeout in a knockout game against Air21, James Yap and Purefoods assistant coach Koy Banal exchanged harsh words which caused a stir in the team's huddle. Moments later, Kerby Raymundo rushed to the other side of the court to confront Air21 fans. The Express went on to win the game, ending the Purefoods campaign.

The Long Road Back to Glory

To settle the issue between James Yap and Koy Banal, the team's officials called for an emergency meeting right after the loss to Air21. The whole team stayed up late to talk things over, and the two eventually reconciled.

Before the start of the 2009 Motolite PBA Fiesta Conference, the team made a move in a three-way trade with Ginebra and Burger King, they let go of the young players remaining in their roster---Beau Belga, Richard Alonzo, and Chico Lanete. In return, they got grizzled veterans Don Allado and Niño Canaleta. They also signed free agent Al Vergara of the Singapore Slingers for a one-conference contract.

With resident import Marquin Chandler still playing in Korea, the Giants brought in Brian Hamilton, who led them to an impressive 2-0 start but was eventually replaced by Jhamar Thorpe after a mediocre showing. Thorpe also turned out to be sub-par and was thus replaced by the original choice Chandler, who led the team to three straight victories upon his return, only to see it lose the next three.

Just before the All-Star break, the management continued to tinker with the team's roster. In another transaction involving the Gin Kings and the Whoppers, the Giants acquired veteran point guard Celino Cruz and gave up Aaron Aban. To make room for Cruz in its roster, the team released Al Vergara from his duties.

During the All-Star break, James Yap won the three-point shootout. Niño Canaleta, who won the Slam Dunk competition three times when he was with Air21, failed to get back the title. Kerby Raymundo and James Yap were key performers for the Powerade-Team Pilipinas in their three-game exhibition match with the PBA All-stars. Enrico Villanueva and Peter June Simon played for the North and South All-Stars respectively.

With a 7-7 win-loss card, the Giants faced the Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters in a knockout wildcard duel. Even with Chandler fouling out in the fourth quarter, the Giants' local crew kept the game close, trailing by only three points, 97-100, with seven seconds left. Kerby Raymundo was fouled while shooting a desperation three-pointer that tied the game at 100-all, but he missed the potential game-winning free throw with 1.7 seconds left. In the extension period, Purefoods appeared to have sealed the victory with Roger Yap sinking two free throws to increase their lead to twelve, 114-102, with less than two minutes remaining. But Mark Cardona and Ren-Ren Ritualo made four consecutive triples for the Tropang Texters to force another overtime. The Giants, however resilient the Tropang Texters were, prevailed at the end behind the heroics of James Yap and Roger Yap. The victory earned Purefoods the last ticket to the quarterfinals against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.

With tired players, Purefoods lost to the Elasto Painters in game 1 of the quarterfinals. In game 2, they came back strong, leading by as much as 24 points late in the third. Nonetheless, Rain or Shine did not readily gave up, shutting the Giants' offense down and eventually tying the game with 22 seconds to go. Jai Lewis missed the possible go-ahead free throw, giving the Giants a chance to score the winning basket with the shot clock turned off. Marquin Chandler drove to the basket, got fouled, and drained two free throws with 1.2 seconds left. Off the timeout, Rob Wainwright missed the jumper and the Giants tied the series.

Game 3 saw the Giants leading most of the second half, behind Peter June Simon's high scoring game. Import Marquin Chandler was benched after letting his emotions get the best of him in the first half. He never saw action again in the second half, where Rain or Shine kept the game close. This paved the way for TY Tang to sink the go-ahead three-pointer with 31.2 seconds left. With the loss, the Giants were denied a slot in the semifinals and their long off-season began.

Looking Towards a Bright Future

After a dismal performance in the 34th PBA season, the Giants geared up for a promising 35th by figuring in big transactions in the off-season. First, they re-acquired the services of 2006 Finals MVP Marc Pingris by giving up future picks to Burger King. The Whoppers earlier acquired Pingris from San Miguel in the Arwind Santos trade. Within the next two days, Pingris was eventually shipped back to Purefoods on the said follow-up deal in exchage for a draft pick.

Another cause for optimism in the Purefoods organization is having the second overall pick of the 2009 PBA draft. Amid rumors of giving up marquee players to Burger King to get top prospect Japeth Aguilar first overall, the Giants eventually called the negotiations off and settled for no. 2 at the draft. Thus, Aguilar went to the Whoppers, while the Giants picked former De La Salle University Archer Rico Maierhofer.

In an effort to solve the duplications in several positions, the Giants engaged in a multi-player deal with sister team Barangay Ginebra. Burger King was willing to act as the conduit for this intra-company exchange, and thus the player carousel began. The Gin Kings bulked up their frontline by acquiring Enrico Villanueva, Paolo Bugia, and Rich Alvarez from Purefoods. They also deepened their backcourt rotation by taking Celino Cruz from the Giants and Pocholo Villanueva from the Whoppers. The Giants got Rafi Reavis, Paul Artadi, Chris Timberlake. The Whoppers also landed rookie Orlando Daroya who was the Gin Kings' first round choice.

The 2009-2010 Philippine Cup Championship Run

Early Struggle

Despite the roster build-up in the offseason, the Giants had a roller coaster ride in the first round of the Classification Phase of the 2009-2010 KFC PBA Philippine Cup. They struggled to win back-to-back games even with its balanced line-up and an impressive performance by the rookie Rico Maierhofer. They won the season opener (October 11) against Burger King, but lost some games in dismal fashion, including an upset by the Asi Taulava-less Coke Tigers just before the Halloween break. They ended the first round with a mediocre 5-4 record, capped by a win over Sta. Lucia in an out-of-town game.

Establishing Chemistry

The Giants, whom many people dubbed as one of the teams to beat for the said tournament, finally scored back-to-back wins on December 2 against the Coca Cola Tigers. During the same gameday, Purefoods-Hormel celebrated 10 years of partnership. The event saw the unveiling of TJ, the new team mascot, a halftime show for the kids, and the Giants wearing commemorative jerseys. Purefoods strung up two more wins against Brgy. Ginebra and Barako Bull to extend its winning streak to four.

Powerhouse San Miguel Beermen put an end to the Giants' streak in mid-December. As it was the second time the Beermeen dominated the Giants, and the league-leading Alaska Aces also defeated the team in the first round, doubts were raised whether Purefoods could really hold its own against the contenders. The team also lost to the Talk N' Text Tropang Texters just before the Christmas break, dampening its hopes of securing one of the two outright semifinal slots.

Post-Holiday Rampage

Purefoods bounced back from its consecutive losses by beating Burger King on Christmas Day. They followed it up with a no-bearing win against the guest team, Smart Gilas to start the New Year. Purefoods also swept the rest of its schedule, with the streak highlighted by a convincing win over the league-leading Alaska Aces on January 15. Because Alaska and San Miguel did well in the first round of the Eliminations, the Giants failed to steal an outright semifinal slot from the Aces, who needed to win their last scheduled game to avoid a tie breaker with Purefoods. The Giants ended the Classification Phase with a record of 12-6, third overall in the standings, which gave them an outright Quarterfinal slot. In the Quarterfinals, the Giants extended their win streak to six by winning the first two games of their series with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.

The Rain or Shine Scare

The Elasto Painters came back strong to win games 3 and 4 and force a do-or-die game 5. Purefoods had a hard time guarding outside snipers like Jeff Chan and Mike Hrabak in game 3. In game 4, the Giants rallied to overcome a 16-point 4th Quarter deficit, to snatch the lead with a minute to go. But Eddie Laure hit a well-defended three-pointer to put Rain or Shine back on top, and the Giants failed to score another point. The struggle continued through the first half of game 5, before the Giants eventually realized they are the better team, and put the series away for good.

Underdogs Prevail

After a near-death experience with the Elasto Painters, the Giants found themselves on a collision course with the second seed San Miguel Beermen for a best-of-seven Semifinal series. The Beermen took game 1 with ease, but the Giants adjusted well in game 2 to even the series. In game 3, the Beermen once again won by a huge margin, causing everyone to think that they had already taken control of the series. Little did they know that the Giants, led by Roger Yap's and James Yap's POW performances would win the next three games en route to their 13th All-Filipino finals appearance in franchise history.

Colorful Sweep

Sweeps are usually uneventful match-ups, with a superior team bullying the other into lopsided games. This was not the case in the Purefoods-Alaska series wherein Purefoods led by no more than 3 points in its first three wins. In game 2, a controversial call occurred when Kerby Raymundo got Joe DeVance to bite into his shot fake causing a slight contact with 1.7 seconds left and the game tied. Arguments were raised whether the contact was enough to merit a call, but the referees eventually decided on a foul and awarded Raymundo two free throws, the first of which he made; the second he intentionally missed. In game 3, Willie Miller of Alaska had a chance to steal the victory in the dying seconds, but missed a possible game-winner at the buzzer. With their tough defense and a deeper rotation, the Giants cruised to a convincing game 4 victory, sealing the series and claiming their 8th title. It was also their 5th All-Filipino title, tying the Crispa Redmanizers for most number of championships in that prestigious tournament.

Just before the game, James Yap was awarded the Best Player of the Conference plaque. Later that night, he also took home the Finals MVP award.

B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados

Purefoods TJ Giants will now be called as the B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados starting 2010 Fiesta Conference. B-Meg Derby Ace is produced by San Miguel Foods Inc., a subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation.

B-Meg Llamados

B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados will now be called as the B-Meg Llamados starting 2011 PBA Governors Cup.

Getting Joe Devance

On June 1, B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados offer Air21 Express a 2-on-1 deal; it will be Jondan Salvador and multi-titled slam dunk champion KG Canaleta for top 2008 PBA Draftee Joe Devance. Joe Devance, a former University of Texas-El Paso stalwart, was shipped by the Alaska Aces to the Air21 Express for Jay-R Reyes on May 28, 2011.

On June 3, 2011, PBA commissioner Salud approves Devance trade to B-Meg Llamados. After two days of studying the trade transaction, Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) commissioner Atty. Chito Salud approved the two-team, three-player deal. "Two big men in exchange for Devance? I think that's fair enough," Salud told GMA News. "But it took me two days before I finally made a decision because I wanted to carefully study the trade. In the end, I felt the trade is fair enough for both squads."