View source for 1981 PBA season

{{Short description|Seventh PBA season}}
{{Use Philippine English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox PBA season league
| title            = 1981 PBA season
| year             = 1981
| logo             = 
| duration         = March 8 – November 28, 1981
| no_of_teams      = 10
| attendance       = 
| TV               = [[PBA on MBS|MBS]]
| draft            = 
| top_pick         = 
| picked_by        = 
| MVP              = [[Bogs Adornado]]<br /> {{small|([[U/Tex Wranglers]])}}
| top_scorer       = 
| top_scorer_link  = 
| conf1            = Open Conference
| conf1_link       = 1981 PBA Open Conference
| conf1_champ      = [[Toyota Super Diesels]]
| conf1_runner-up  = [[Crispa Redmanizers]]
| conf2            = Reinforced Filipino Conference
| conf2_link       = 1981 PBA Reinforced Filipino Conference
| conf2_champ      = [[Crispa Redmanizers]]
| conf2_runner-up  = [[U/Tex Wranglers]]
| prevseason_link  =1980 PBA season
| prevseason_year  =1980
| nextseason_link  =1982 PBA season
| nextseason_year  =1982
}}

The '''1981 PBA season''' was the seventh season of the [[Philippine Basketball Association]] (PBA).

==Board of governors==

===Executive committee===
* [[Leo Prieto|Leopoldo L. Prieto]] (Commissioner) 
* [[Domingo Itchon|Domingo Y. Itchon]]  (President, representing YCO-Tanduay)

===Teams===
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:85%; width:70%"
|-
!Team !! Company !! Governor 
|-
| [[Crispa Redmanizers]] || P. Floro and Sons || [[Baby Dalupan|Virgilio A. Dalupan]]
|-
| CDCP Road Builders || [[Philippine National Construction Corporation|Construction Development Corporation of the Philippines]] || Roberto S. Cuenca
|-
| Finance Funders  || Finance Inc. || Emerson Coseteng
|-
| [[Barangay Ginebra San Miguel|Gilbey's Gin Tonics/St. George Whiskies]] || [[Ginebra San Miguel|La Tondeña Incorporada]] || Carlos Palanca III 
|-
| [[Great Taste Coffee Makers]] || [[Universal Robina|Consolidated Foods Corporation]] || Porfirio G. Zablan
|-
| [[San Miguel Beermen]] || [[San Miguel Corporation]] || Leonardo M. Guinto
|-
| Tefilin Polyesters || Filipinas Synthetic Fiber Corporation || Frank R. Ham
|-
| [[Toyota Super Corollas]] || [[Delta Motor Corporation]] || Ricardo C. Silverio, Jr.
|-
| [[Tanduay Rhum Masters|YCO-Tanduay]] || Elizalde & Company <br> [[Tanduay|Tanduay Distillers, Inc.]] || Domingo Y. Itchon
|-
| [[U/Tex Wranglers]] || Universal Textile Mills || Walter Euyang
|-
|  || Canlubang Sugar Estate || Harold Hoffman
|}

==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 [[1981 Southeast Asian Games|SEA Games]] in Manila. <ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tGwVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gwsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4998%2C3049265|title=Looking back: The PBA's history|publisher=Manila Standard}}</ref>
*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 Corollas|Toyota Super Diesels]]
* Reinforced Filipino Conference: [[Crispa Redmanizers]]
* Team with best win–loss percentage: [[Toyota Super Corollas|Toyota Super Diesels]] (29–14, .674)
* Best Team of the Year: [[Crispa Redmanizers]] (4th)

==Open Conference==

===Elimination round===
{{#invoke:Sports table|main |style=WL |source=
|ranking_style=percentage |show_GB=yes |hide_played=yes |for_against_style=none |update=complete

|team6=CDCP|win_CDCP=10|loss_CDCP=8 |name_CDCP=[[1981 CDCP Road Builders season|CDCP Road Builders]]
|team3=CRI |win_CRI=13 |loss_CRI= 5 |name_CRI=[[1981 Crispa Redmanizers season|Crispa Redmanizers]]
|team8=FIN |win_FIN= 5 |loss_FIN=13 |name_FIN=[[1981 Finance Funders season|Finance Funders]]
|team7=GIN |win_GIN= 7 |loss_GIN=11 |name_GIN=[[1981 St. George Whiskies season|Gilbey's Gin]]
|team9=PRE |win_PRE= 4 |loss_PRE=14 |name_PRE=[[1981 Presto Fun Drinks season|Presto Fun Drinks]]
|team1=SMB |win_SMB=14 |loss_SMB= 4 |name_SMB=[[1981 San Miguel Beermen season|San Miguel Beermen]]
|team10=TAN|win_TAN= 1 |loss_TAN=17 |name_TAN=[[1981 YCO-Tanduay season|YCO-Tanduay]]
|team5=TEF |win_TEF=10 |loss_TEF= 8 |name_TEF=[[1981 Tefilin Polyesters season|Tefilin Polyesters]]
|team4=TOY |win_TOY=12 |loss_TOY= 6 |name_TOY=[[1981 Toyota Super Diesels season|Toyota Super Diesels]]
|team2=UTEX|win_UTEX=14|loss_UTEX=4 |name_UTEX=[[1982 U-Tex Wranglers season|U-Tex Wranglers]]

|result1=SF |result2=SF |result3=SF |result4=SF

|res_col_header=Q
|status_pos=after
|col_SF=green1 |text_SF=Semifinal round
}}

===Semifinal round===
{{#invoke:Sports table|main |style=WL |source=
|ranking_style=percentage |show_GB=yes |hide_played=yes |for_against_style=none |update=complete

|team2=CRI |win_CRI= 4 |loss_CRI= 2 |name_CRI=[[1981 Crispa Redmanizers season|Crispa Redmanizers]]
|team4=SMB |win_SMB= 1 |loss_SMB= 5 |name_SMB=[[1981 San Miguel Beermen season|San Miguel Beermen]]
|team1=TOY |win_TOY= 5 |loss_TOY= 1 |name_TOY=[[1981 Toyota Super Diesels season|Toyota Super Diesels]]
|team3=UTEX|win_UTEX=2 |loss_UTEX= 4 |name_UTEX=[[1982 U-Tex Wranglers season|U-Tex Wranglers]]

|result1=F |result2=F |result3=3rd |result4=3rd

|res_col_header=Q
|status_pos=after
|col_F=green1 |text_F=Advance to the Finals
|col_3rd=yellow1 |text_3rd=Proceed to third place playoff
}}

===Finals===
{{main|1981 PBA Open Conference finals}}
{{ThreeLegStart|legs=5}}
{{ThreeLegResult|'''(1) [[Toyota Tamaraws|Toyota Super Diesels]]'''||3–2| (2) [[Crispa Redmanizers]]||123–116|124–126|116–126|116–98|103–97}}
|}
*'''Best Import of the Conference:''' [[Andrew Fields]] ([[Toyota Tamaraws|Toyota]])

==Reinforced Filipino Conference==
===Elimination round===
{{#invoke:Sports table|main |style=WL |source=
|ranking_style=percentage |show_GB=yes |hide_played=yes |for_against_style=none |update=complete

|team7=CDCP|win_CDCP=4 |loss_CDCP=5 |name_CDCP=[[1981 CDCP Road Builders season|CDCP Road Builders]]
|team1=CRI |win_CRI= 7 |loss_CRI= 2 |name_CRI=[[1981 Crispa Redmanizers season|Crispa Redmanizers]]
|team8=FIN |win_FIN= 3 |loss_FIN= 6 |name_FIN=[[1981 Finance Funders season|Finance Funders]]
|team4=PRE |win_PRE= 5 |loss_PRE= 4 |name_PRE=[[1981 Presto Fun Drinks season|Presto Fun Drinks]]
|team10=SGW|win_SGW= 1 |loss_SGW= 8 |name_SGW=[[1981 St. George Whiskies season|St. George Whiskies]]
|team9=SMB |win_SMB= 2 |loss_SMB= 7 |name_SMB=[[1981 San Miguel Beermen season|San Miguel Beermen]]
|team5=TAN |win_TAN= 5 |loss_TAN= 4 |name_TAN=[[1981 YCO-Tanduay season|YCO-Tanduay]]
|team6=TEF |win_TEF= 5 |loss_TEF= 4 |name_TEF=[[1981 Tefilin Polyesters season|Tefilin Polyesters]]
|team2=TOY |win_TOY= 7 |loss_TOY= 2 |name_TOY=[[1981 Toyota Super Diesels season|Toyota Super Diesels]]
|team3=UTEX|win_UTEX=6 |loss_UTEX=3 |name_UTEX=[[1982 U-Tex Wranglers season|U-Tex Wranglers]]

|result1=QF |result2=QF |result3=QF |result4=QF |result5=QF |result6=QF

|res_col_header=Q
|status_pos=after
|col_QF=green1 |text_QF=Quarterfinal round
}}

===Quarterfinal round===
{{#invoke:Sports table|main |style=WL |source=
|ranking_style=percentage |show_GB=yes |hide_played=yes |for_against_style=none |update=complete

|team2=CRI |win_CRI= 3 |loss_CRI= 2 |name_CRI=[[1981 Crispa Redmanizers season|Crispa Redmanizers]]
|team4=PRE |win_PRE= 3 |loss_PRE= 2 |name_PRE=[[1981 Presto Fun Drinks season|Presto Fun Drinks]]
|team3=TAN |win_TAN= 3 |loss_TAN= 2 |name_TAN=[[1981 YCO-Tanduay season|YCO-Tanduay]]
|team6=TEF |win_TEF= 0 |loss_TEF= 5 |name_TEF=[[1981 Tefilin Polyesters season|Tefilin Polyesters]]
|team5=TOY |win_TOY= 2 |loss_TOY= 3 |name_TOY=[[1981 Toyota Super Diesels season|Toyota Super Diesels]]
|team1=UTEX|win_UTEX=4 |loss_UTEX=1 |name_UTEX=[[1982 U-Tex Wranglers season|U-Tex Wranglers]]

|result1=SF |result2=SF |result3=SF |result4=SF

|res_col_header=Q
|status_pos=after
|col_SF=green1 |text_SF=Semifinal round
}}

===Semifinal round===
{{#invoke:Sports table|main |style=WL |source=
|ranking_style=percentage |show_GB=yes |hide_played=yes |for_against_style=none |update=complete

|team2=CRI |win_CRI= 3 |loss_CRI= 3 |name_CRI=[[1981 Crispa Redmanizers season|Crispa Redmanizers]] |hth_CRI=Second seed playoff: Crispa 119–114 Presto
|team3=PRE |win_PRE= 3 |loss_PRE= 3 |name_PRE=[[1981 Presto Fun Drinks season|Presto Fun Drinks]] |hth_PRE=CRI
|team4=TAN |win_TAN= 2 |loss_TAN= 4 |name_TAN=[[1981 YCO-Tanduay season|YCO-Tanduay]]
|team1=UTEX|win_UTEX=4 |loss_UTEX=2 |name_UTEX=[[1982 U-Tex Wranglers season|U-Tex Wranglers]]

|result1=F |result2=F |result3=3rd |result4=3rd

|res_col_header=Q
|status_pos=after
|col_F=green1 |text_F=Advance to the finals
|col_3rd=yellow1 |text_3rd=Proceed to third-place playoff
}}

===Finals===
{{main|1981 PBA Reinforced Filipino Conference finals}}
{{ThreeLegStart|legs=5}}
{{ThreeLegResult|(1) [[U-Tex Wranglers]]||1–3|'''(2) [[Crispa Redmanizers]]'''||108–113|95–91|112–116|119–124|⁠—}}
|}
*'''Best Import of the Conference:''' Russell Murray ([[Tanduay Rhum Masters|Tanduay]])

==Awards==
* '''[[Philippine Basketball Association Most Valuable Player award|Most Valuable Player]]:''' [[Bogs Adornado]] (U/Tex)
* '''[[Philippine Basketball Association Rookie of the Year award|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]] (Toyota)
**[[Atoy Co]] (Crispa)
**[[Ramon Fernandez]] (Toyota)
**[[Bogs Adornado]] (U/Tex)
**[[Philip Cezar]] (Crispa)

==Cumulative standings==
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!Team !! GP !! W !! L !! PCT
|-
|align=left|[[Toyota Super Diesels]] || 43 || 29 || 14 || .674
|- 
|align=left|[[Crispa Redmanizers]] || 54 || 36 || 18 || .667
|-
|align=left|[[U/Tex Wranglers]] || 53 || 34 || 19 || .641
|-
|align=left|[[San Miguel Beermen]] || 41 || 22 || 19 || .536
|-
|align=left| CDCP Road Builders || 30 || 16 || 14 || .533
|-
|align=left| Tefilin Polyesters || 32 || 15 || 17 || .469
|-
|align=left|[[Great Taste Coffee Makers|Presto Fun Drinks]] || 43 || 17 || 26 || .395
|-
|align=left|[[Tanduay Rhum Masters|YCO-Tanduay]] || 42 || 13 || 29 || .309
|-
|align=left| Finance Funders || 30 || 9 || 21 || .300
|-
|align=left|[[Barangay Ginebra San Miguel|Gilbey's Gin/St.George Whiskies]] || 30 || 8 || 22 || .267
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{1981 PBA season by team}}
{{PBA seasons}}

[[Category:1981 PBA season| ]]
[[Category:1981 in Philippine basketball|PBA]]


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