The 2006–07 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup or known as the 2006–07 Talk 'N Text PBA Philippine Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the first conference of the 2006–07 PBA season. It started on September 28, 2006, in Guam and ended on February 7, 2007.
Format
Double-round robin eliminations; 18 games per team; Teams are then seeded by basis on win–loss records. Ties are broken among points differences of the tied teams. Teams seeded #6, #7, #8 and #9 play in a single-round robin wildcard playoffs for the final berth in the quarterfinals. Records from the elimination round are carried over; the team that emerges at the top of the standings advances to the quarterfinals. If a team wins all of its games but still does not emerge at the top of the group, a one-game playoff will be held between the unbeaten team and the top team. #3, #4 and #5 teams automatically advance to the best of five quarterfinals: #3 team vs. winner of wildcard playoffs #4 vs. #5 teams #1 and #2 teams automatically advance to the best of seven semifinals: Winner of first quarterfinal vs. #1 Winner of second quarterfinal vs. #2 The winners in the semifinals advance to the best of seven Finals. The losers dispute the third-place trophy in a one-game playoff.
Elimination round
Team standings
Fifth-seed playoff
On January 3, the Purefoods Chunkee Giants defeated the Sta. Lucia Realtors, 92–78, at the Cuneta Astrodome. Purefoods advances to the quarterfinals, while Sta. Lucia has to go through the wildcard phase.
Wildcard phase
Quarterfinals berth playoff
With Air21 sweeping the wildcard phase, and Sta. Lucia emerging on top of the wildcard standings, an elimination game was played to determine which team will advance to the quarterfinals.
Bracket
Quarterfinals
(3) Red Bull vs. (6) Sta. Lucia
Playing all of the available game dates, the Realtors were seen to be tired going into Game One, while the Barakos had their last game a month earlier, receiving a bye up to the quarterfinal round.
The Realtors were tired, head coach Alfrancis Chua said, of losing, at the post-game press conference after their victory at the Araneta Coliseum. On Game 2, Sta. Lucia failed to capitalize on their last-second possessions as the Bulls upended them in overtime. With the series tied, and perhaps the long list of games they've played catching up on them, the Realtors were blown out by Red Bull on the third game at the Yñares Center at Antipolo, where they're beaten only once.
On the fourth game, Sta. Lucia kept up with the Barakos but were outlasted at the fourth quarter to drop out of contention; Red Bull now has four straight semifinals appearances.
(4) Talk 'N Text vs. (5) Purefoods
Defeating the Realtors on the fifth-seed game, the Giants availed themselves of a week's rest to prepare for the Phone Pals. With the elimination round series split at 1–1, with the last game needing three overtimes to finish, the series was seen as opposites with Purefoods having a deliberate-type of offense while Talk 'N Text going for the uptempo style of play.
In the first game of the series, Marc Pingris of Purefoods top-scored with 19 points to draw first blood. However, Pingris himself suffered a broken nose as the Giants were routed. At the dying moments of the game, Purefoods' Paul Artadi and Jimmy Alapag of the Phone Pals had an altercation, and both were ejected from the game; Alapag himself was suspended for Game 3 for punching Artadi in the face. In the third game however, with Pingris wearing a face mask, he was again injured in the second quarter, this time in the left ankle. He did not return, and the Giants were routed by the Phone Pals to lead 2–1.
The Phone Pals dethrone the Giants as Purefoods ran out of gas in Game 4. Talk 'N Text would face first-seed Barangay Ginebra, a team they've beaten twice in two meetings at the semifinals.
Semifinals
(1) Barangay Ginebra vs. (4) Talk 'N Text
Ginebra was seen as one of the preseason bets to win the championship as they've revamped their lineup, taking in trades from Coca-Cola and Air21. Ginebra finished with a 13–5 record, tied for the first seed, taking a bye up to the semifinals. Talk 'N Text, on the other hand, actually beat the Kings in their elimination round meetings.
Ginebra, despite having a month's rest, was dealt with a blow when team captain Eric Menk was injured in a bar brawl. Menk would not be able to play in the semifinals.