The 1990Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Third Conference was the third and last conference of the 1990 PBA season. It started on September 30 and ended on December 20, 1990. The tournament is a two-import format, which requires each team to have two American reinforcements.
Format
The following format will be observed for the duration of the conference:
Teams in a group will play against each other twice and against teams in the other group once; 10 games per team; Teams are then seeded by basis on win–loss records. Ties are broken among point differentials of the tied teams. Standings will be determined in one league table; teams do not qualify by basis of groupings.[1]
The top five teams after the eliminations will advance to the semifinals.
Semifinals will be two round robin affairs with the remaining teams. Results from the elimination round will be carried over. A playoff incentive for a finals berth will be given to the team that will win five of their eight semifinal games.[2]
The top two teams (or the top team and the winner of the playoff incentive) will face each other in a best-of-five championship series. The next two teams will qualify for a best-of-three playoff for third place.
^If a team outside the top two teams wins at least five semifinal round games, then it and the second-placed team will playoff for the last Finals berth; otherwise, the top 2 teams qualify outright.
^Presto qualified for a playoff for Finals berth incentive for winning at least five semifinal games and finishing outside of the top 2, Shell qualified for a playoff for the Finals berth incentive after finishing tied for second; Finals berth incentive playoff: Shell 137–114 Presto
^Alaska advanced to the Finals outright as #1 seeded team, Purefoods guaranteed playoff as #2 seeded team; Finals berth playoff: Purefoods 121–101 Shell
