Classic PBA Game : U-Tex and Toyota (1980 First Conference)

I was crazy about the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) when I was growing up. The first game that I really paid attention to turned out to be one of the greatest PBA games ever...That was Game 5 of the 1980 First Conference featuring U-tex and Toyota.

Playing for U-Tex were Bogs Adornado, Lim Eng Beng, Fritz Gaston (a rookie that year from Ateneo), Jimmy Noblezada, and Dave Regullano. There were others whose names I cannot recall at the moment. Their reinforcements (or "imports") were the 6'8" Aaron James and Glenn McDonald. The coach was Tommy Manotoc who, at that time, was also one of the nation's best golfers.

Toyota had Jaworski, Fernandez, Arnaiz, Florencio, Segura, Abe King, Arnie Tuadles, Elmer Legaspi (a crowd favorite), Elmer Bulaong (a bigger crowd favorite), and Rino Salazar. They also had two imports but I can only remember Andy Fields. Their coach was Fort Acuna who was a former teammate of Jawo at Meralco.

This was one of the few championship series, in the early year of the PBA, which was not a Crispa-Toyota affair. Bogs Adornado had just moved from Crispa (where he had won two MVP awards) and was just beginning a comeback after missing almost two years with a serious injury.

The game will be remembered for its final 16 seconds. Toyota was up by four. Although U-Tex was inbounding the ball, it seemed like Toyota had already clinched the series. In fact, I remember the Toyota crowd celebrating already. A streamer had already been unfurled in the gallery section saying "Congratulations to the Toyota Tamaraws! 1980 First Conference Champions". I remember Jaworski waving to the crowd during that final timeout while putting his arm over his wife's shoulder.

U-tex scored a quick two on a layup from Aaron James. Toyota inbounded the ball and took it to the frontcourt. I think the ball was in Tuadles' hands when two U-tex players ganged up on him. He made a bad pass to the other side of the court, and U-tex was able to steal the ball. U-tex was able to tie the game on two free throws and they went into Overtime where U-tex took control and held on to win its first championship. It was a great game and it was amazing to see a crowd go crazy for 48 minutes.

What I found remarkable about that game is how the local players led the scoring. Both Adornado and Lim Eng Beng scored more than 30 points in that game. That would change a few years later when when it became normal for imports to score more than half of the team's points.

I wish the PBA will find a way to show us these classic games. I would subscribe to such a service. Maybe they can sell the games over I-tunes. That would really be cool. For the moment, PBA legends like Ricardo Brown, are posting these games on Youtube for us to remember.