Jul 04, 2020

Alaska grand slam highlight of Cariaso's PBA career

WITHOUT batting an eyelash, Jeff Cariaso considers the 1996 grand slam of Alaska as the summit of his PBA playing career.
Cariaso was only in his sophomore year when the Aces achieved the rare feat or just one season after being selected in the first round and no. 6 overall by the franchise in the 1995 draft.

And for someone so young to earn the trust of esteemed coach Tim Cone and become an integral part of a unit anchored on such greats as Jojo Lastimosa, Bong Hawkins, and Johnny Abarrientos, was truly special for him.

"It's up there. Honestly that grand slam year as a player is really the pinnacle in regards to my greatest memory," said Cariaso, now head coach of Alaska. "It's there. It's top. No question on that."

What made the run even more memorable was the fact the 47-year-old Fil-Am had been in the finals for all six conferences during his first two years with the franchise.

In his own words, he was actually 'spoiled' early in his pro career.
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"Imagine making the finals all six times the first two years in the PBA? What a ride," declared Cariaso in a reunion with fellow Alaska grand slammers Poch Juinio and import Sean Chambers in a recent guesting in the Power&Play radio program of former commissioner Noli Eala.

"That was the start of a career that I cannot complain about. It's up there memory-wise," he added.

The Aces actually strung up four straight championships from the season-ending Governors Cup in 1995 all the way to the grand slam season the year after.

Entering the 1996 season, the team hardly talked about completing a sweep of all three conferences, according to Cariaso. The motivation was just to win the franchise's first ever Philippine Cup title as a fitting follow-up to its Governors Cup championship.

"That has not happened yet," he pointed out about Alaska still in search of an All-Filipino crown back then.
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Cariaso somehow helped the team achieved the goal when he canned two decisive free throws with six-tenths of a second left in overtime of Game 5 to dispatch Purefoods, 4-1, and win the so-called crown jewel of the league.

Instead of slowing down as the usual tendencies of teams coming off a championship, the Aces continued to step on the gas pedal come the Commissioner's Cup, which Alaska won in seven grueling games against Formula Shell despite parading a small import in Chambers, a late replacement for original choice Derrick Hamilton.

"That was the only time when the thought was there, or the conversation started. Wasn't a lot of conversation, but that's when the thought came in that ok, maybe we go for the grand slam," recalled Cariaso.

The Aces weren't denied as Chambers carried them in defeating crowd favorite Ginebra San Miguel in five games to retain the Governors Cup title and complete just the fourth grand slam in league history.

Cariaso left Alaska the season after, but eventually went full circle when he returned to the franchise in 2004, won two more championships, and then finally retiring in 2010.

In hindsight, Cariaso learned one major thing during that dominant Alaska championship run in the 90s.

"You can imagine the dedication this team had just being able to practice hard each and every day, preparing ourselves each and every day, and playing conference after conference. Imagine the mindset there," he stressed.

"The mindset I think is beyond extraordinary with a lot of the guys, and again it has a lot of something to do with the culture we have at Alaska." (RG)