1988-1990: Añejo Rhum 65
In 1988, Ginebra changed their name to Añejo Rhum with the team already gaining a rugged style of play. Añejo took on new team Purefoods in the Finals of the All-Filipino Conference. Añejo won the series 3-1 over the young Purefoods team led by Jerry Codinera and Jojo Lastimosa (who had a confrontation with Jaworski). At that time Ramon Fernandez was benched by Purefoods management for alleged game-fixing. In the final game, three Ginebra players scored 25 points or more - Joey Loyzaga, Dondon Ampalayo and Sonny Jaworski as the Gins didn't allow the then rookie-laden Purefoods team to gain confidence, winning by a comfortable 9 point margin. Of course, the game was close all throughout until the final 3 minutes of the game when Loyzaga and Jaworski uncorked timely 3 pointers that sealed the fate of Purefoods.[3]
In the season-ending Reinforced Conference wherein teams were allowed two imports each, Añejo again hired the great Billy Ray Bates and paired him with soon-to-be Boston Celtics starter Kevin Gamble. But at this time, Bates was fading and was clearly just a shadow of his old self. After only four games, PBA's "greatest import ever" was sent home for good. Añejo would finish the season with the exciting and high-scoring duo of "Jumpin'" Joe Ward and Tommy Davis as imports.
On the next season, Añejo lost in five games to the grand slam winning San Miguel Beer in the Third (Reinforced) Conference. In that Conference, Añejo paraded another super import in Carlos Briggs who easily bagged the Best Import Award.
In 1990, Añejo entered the finals of the First Conference against Benjie Paras and the Shell Rimula X team. In Game Six, with Shell already leading the series 3-2, Añejo protested a foul on Rey Cuenco with a few minutes left in the second quarter. This led to the infamous walk out of Añejo. The team also complained about the unfavorable officiating as the team had more fouls than Shell. In the end, the game was forfeited and awarded the title to Shell.
The result of this event gave the team a fine of more PHP 500,000 which was then the highest fine in league history.
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