The 1981 PBA season was the seventh season of the
Philippine Basketball Association
The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines, composed of twelve company-branded Franchising, franchise teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia ...
(PBA).
Board of governors
Executive committee
*
Leopoldo L. Prieto (Commissioner)
*
Domingo Y. Itchon (President, representing YCO-Tanduay)
Teams
Season highlights
*Instead of the usual three-conference format, the season was shortened to two conferences to give way for the Philippines' hosting of the
SEA Games
The Southeast Asian Games, commonly known as SEA Games is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with su ...
in Manila.
*Rivals Toyota and Crispa played in the finals for the 10th and what turn out to be the last time during the PBA Open Conference championship series. The Super Diesels finally ended a string of three runner-up finishes from last year by winning against the Redmanizers in five games.
*Toyota import Andrew Fields became the first recipient of the PBA Best Import Award.
*William "Bogs" Adornado of U/Tex Wranglers won his 3rd Most Valuable Player Award.
Champions
* Open Conference:
Toyota Super Diesels
* Reinforced Filipino Conference:
Crispa Redmanizers
The Crispa Redmanizers were a multi-titled Filipino basketball team that played in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) from 1975 to 1984. It was one of the nine founding teams of the PBA, winning a total of thirteen PBA championships, ...
* Team with best win–loss percentage:
Toyota Super Diesels (29–14, .674)
* Best Team of the Year:
Crispa Redmanizers
The Crispa Redmanizers were a multi-titled Filipino basketball team that played in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) from 1975 to 1984. It was one of the nine founding teams of the PBA, winning a total of thirteen PBA championships, ...
(4th)
Open Conference
Elimination round
Semifinal round
Finals
*Best Import of the Conference:
Andrew Fields (
Toyota
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...
)
Reinforced Filipino Conference
Elimination round
Quarterfinal round
Semifinal round
Finals
*Best Import of the Conference: Russell Murray (
Tanduay)
Awards
*
Most Valuable Player
In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...
:
Bogs Adornado
William "Bogs" Adornado (born May 26, 1951) is a Filipino professional basketball coach and former player. He is one of the Philippine Basketball Association's Greatest Players and was inducted to its Hall of Fame in 2005. He was a three-time ...
(U/Tex)
*
Rookie of the Year: Rafael Sison (Presto)
* Best Import-Open Conference:
Andrew Fields (Toyota)
* Best Import-Reinforced Conference: Russell Murray (Yco-Tanduay)
* Mythical Five:
**
Robert Jaworski
Robert Vincent Salazar Jaworski Sr. (; born March 8, 1946), also known by his nicknames Sonny, Big J, and Jawo (), is a Filipino former professional basketball player, head coach and politician who served as a Senator of the Philippines fro ...
(Toyota)
**
Atoy Co (Crispa)
**
Ramon Fernandez
Ramon Sadaya Fernandez (; born October 3, 1953) is a Filipino former professional basketball player and current commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission. Fernandez won four PBA Most Valuable Player awards and a record of 19 PBA ti ...
(Toyota)
**
Bogs Adornado
William "Bogs" Adornado (born May 26, 1951) is a Filipino professional basketball coach and former player. He is one of the Philippine Basketball Association's Greatest Players and was inducted to its Hall of Fame in 2005. He was a three-time ...
(U/Tex)
**
Philip Cezar
Philip Dudley Cezar (born December 1, 1952) is a Filipino former basketball coach, player and politician. Known by the monikers "Mr. Stretch", "''Tapal'' King" and "The Scholar", he was part of the fabled Crispa Redmanizers ballclub of the Phi ...
(Crispa)
Cumulative standings
References
PBA
{{Philippines-sport-stub