1978 Toyota Tamaraws season

1978 Toyota Tamaraws season
Head coach	Dante Silverio
Owner(s)	Delta Motor Corporation
All-Filipino Conference results Record 19–5 (.792) Place 1st Playoff finish Finals Open Conference results Record 14–9 (.609) Place 3rd Playoff finish Semifinals Invitational Conference results Record 7–1 (.875) Place 1st Playoff finish Finals Toyota Tamaraws seasons 1977 1979

The 1978 Toyota Tamaraws season was the fourth season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Colors

               (dark)
               (light)

Championships

The Toyota Tamaraws had a manpower build-up at the start of the season, acquiring top forwards Danny Florencio and Estoy Estrada. The Tamaraws capped an incredible year-run by winning two titles. On July 15, Toyota defeated new team Filmanbank, 132-113, in Game 4 to win the PBA All Filipino crown, 3 games to 1. The Tamaraws won the first two games of the series handedly, 141-130 and 168-148, but the Bankers avoided a sweep by taking the third game, 124-117.

After failing to land in the finals berth of the Second Conference, the Tamaraws captured the Invitational championship, behind imports Carlos Terry and Bruce "Sky" King. On December 14, Toyota defeated Tanduay, 108-98, in Game 4 of the finals series for a 3-1 victory as the Tamaraws won their 5th PBA title.

Awards

Robert Jaworski was named the league's Most Valuable Player (MVP).

Summary

First Conference: The Tamaraws easily made it to the semifinals, scored 12 wins to only 2 losses at the end of the two-round eliminations, tied with their rivals Crispa Redmanizers. In the semifinal round, Toyota eliminated Crispa, finishing with a 4-2 won-loss record, along with Filmanbank, which occupied the first finals berth. The Tamaraws scored a 3-1 finals victory against a Filmanbank squad led by American Billy Robinson and local standouts Larry Mumar and Jun Papa. ^[1]

Second Conference: Toyota brought in two Americans, 6-10 Bruce King and 6-11 T.J. Robinson as their imports. The Tamaraws won six of their 7 games in the second round of eliminations with Carlos Terry replacing Robinson, to shove out Royal Tru-Orange (7-7) with a 9-5 card and salvage the last semifinals berth. Toyota started with two straight defeats in the semifinal round and were knock off from the finals picture with a 2-win, 4-loss record. Under assistant coach Fort Acuña, the Tamaraws swept Tanduay, 3-0, in their series for third place.

Third Conference: With their victories against Yugoslavia and Canada in exhibition games, the Tamaraws were again installed as favorites to defend the crown they won last season, though Danny Florencio was not able to play anymore and Estoy Estrada was not to recover from his slump. Toyota grabbed the first seat of the championship with ease, winning all of its four games in the eliminations, and bested second qualifier Tanduay (3-1) in four games of their best-of-five final series.

Roster

Toyota Tamaraws roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From F 5 Estrada, Ernesto 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) University of Visayas F/C 6 King, Abe 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) San Beda College G 7 Jaworski, Robert 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) UE G 8 Arnaiz, Francis 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Ateneo de Manila F/C 10 Fernandez, Ramon 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) University of San Carlos F/C 11 King, Bruce (I) 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) University of Iowa G 12 Javier, Pablo 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) FEU G/F 13 Sta.Maria, Jesus 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) Jose Rizal College G 14 Salazar, Quirino 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Letran College G/F 17 Acuña, Fort 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) State U F 18 Legaspi, Emerito 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) UE F 20 Bulaong, Nicanor 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) FEU G/F 22 Florencio, Danny 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) UST C 33 Robinson, T.J. (I) 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) F 42 Terry, Carlos (I) 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) Winston-Salem	Head coach Dante Silverio Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (I) Import (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (IN) Inactive (S) Suspended (R) Rookie Injured

References

1. "Toyota Tamaraws". 1978 PBA Annual.

External links

• www.pba-online.net