# 1981 PBA season

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

## Board of governors
### Executive committee

* Leopoldo L. Prieto (Commissioner)
* Domingo Y. Itchon (President, representing YCO-Tanduay)

### Teams

| Team | Company | Governor |
| Crispa Redmanizers | P. Floro and Sons | Virgilio A. Dalupan |
| CDCP Road Builders | Construction Development Corporation of the Philippines | Roberto S. Cuenca |
| Finance Funders | Finance Inc. | Emerson Coseteng |
| Gilbey's Gin Tonics/St. George Whiskies | La Tondeña Incorporada | Carlos Palanca III |
| Great Taste Coffee Makers | 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. |
| YCO-Tanduay | Elizalde & Company 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 SEA Games 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
* Team with best win–loss percentage: Toyota Super Diesels (29–14, .674)
* Best Team of the Year: Crispa Redmanizers (4th)

## Open Conference
### Elimination round

| Pos | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | Qualification |
| 1 | San Miguel Beermen | 14 | 4 | .778 | — | Semifinal round |
| 2 | U-Tex Wranglers | 14 | 4 | .778 | — | Semifinal round |
| 3 | Crispa Redmanizers | 13 | 5 | .722 | 1 | Semifinal round |
| 4 | Toyota Super Diesels | 12 | 6 | .667 | 2 | Semifinal round |
| 5 | Tefilin Polyesters | 10 | 8 | .556 | 4 | |
| 6 | CDCP Road Builders | 10 | 8 | .556 | 4 | |
| 7 | Gilbey's Gin | 7 | 11 | .389 | 7 | |
| 8 | Finance Funders | 5 | 13 | .278 | 9 | |
| 9 | Presto Fun Drinks | 4 | 14 | .222 | 10 | |
| 10 | YCO-Tanduay | 1 | 17 | .056 | 13 | |

### Semifinal round

| Pos | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | Qualification |
| 1 | Toyota Super Diesels | 5 | 1 | .833 | — | Advance to the Finals |
| 2 | Crispa Redmanizers | 4 | 2 | .667 | 1 | Advance to the Finals |
| 3 | U-Tex Wranglers | 2 | 4 | .333 | 3 | Proceed to third place playoff |
| 4 | San Miguel Beermen | 1 | 5 | .167 | 4 | Proceed to third place playoff |

### Finals

| Team 1 | Series | Team 2 | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 | Game 5 |
| (1) 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)

## Reinforced Filipino Conference
### Elimination round

| Pos | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | Qualification |
| 1 | Crispa Redmanizers | 7 | 2 | .778 | — | Quarterfinal round |
| 2 | Toyota Super Diesels | 7 | 2 | .778 | — | Quarterfinal round |
| 3 | U-Tex Wranglers | 6 | 3 | .667 | 1 | Quarterfinal round |
| 4 | Presto Fun Drinks | 5 | 4 | .556 | 2 | Quarterfinal round |
| 5 | YCO-Tanduay | 5 | 4 | .556 | 2 | Quarterfinal round |
| 6 | Tefilin Polyesters | 5 | 4 | .556 | 2 | Quarterfinal round |
| 7 | CDCP Road Builders | 4 | 5 | .444 | 3 | |
| 8 | Finance Funders | 3 | 6 | .333 | 4 | |
| 9 | San Miguel Beermen | 2 | 7 | .222 | 5 | |
| 10 | St. George Whiskies | 1 | 8 | .111 | 6 | |

### Quarterfinal round

| Pos | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | Qualification |
| 1 | U-Tex Wranglers | 4 | 1 | .800 | — | Semifinal round |
| 2 | Crispa Redmanizers | 3 | 2 | .600 | 1 | Semifinal round |
| 3 | YCO-Tanduay | 3 | 2 | .600 | 1 | Semifinal round |
| 4 | Presto Fun Drinks | 3 | 2 | .600 | 1 | Semifinal round |
| 5 | Toyota Super Diesels | 2 | 3 | .400 | 2 | |
| 6 | Tefilin Polyesters | 0 | 5 | .000 | 4 | |

### Semifinal round

| Pos | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | Qualification |
| 1 | U-Tex Wranglers | 4 | 2 | .667 | — | Advance to the finals |
| 2 | Crispa Redmanizers | 3 | 3 | .500 | 1 | Advance to the finals |
| 3 | Presto Fun Drinks | 3 | 3 | .500 | 1 | Proceed to third-place playoff |
| 4 | YCO-Tanduay | 2 | 4 | .333 | 2 | Proceed to third-place playoff |
* 1 2 Second seed playoff: Crispa 119–114 Presto

### Finals

| Team 1 | Series | Team 2 | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 | Game 5 |
| (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)

## Awards

* Most Valuable Player: Bogs Adornado (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 (Toyota)
** Atoy Co (Crispa)
** Ramon Fernandez (Toyota)
** Bogs Adornado (U/Tex)
** Philip Cezar (Crispa)

## Cumulative standings

| Team | GP | W | L | PCT |
| Toyota Super Diesels | 43 | 29 | 14 | .674 |
| Crispa Redmanizers | 54 | 36 | 18 | .667 |
| U/Tex Wranglers | 53 | 34 | 19 | .641 |
| San Miguel Beermen | 41 | 22 | 19 | .536 |
| CDCP Road Builders | 30 | 16 | 14 | .533 |
| Tefilin Polyesters | 32 | 15 | 17 | .469 |
| Presto Fun Drinks | 43 | 17 | 26 | .395 |
| YCO-Tanduay | 42 | 13 | 29 | .309 |
| Finance Funders | 30 | 9 | 21 | .300 |
| Gilbey's Gin/St.George Whiskies | 30 | 8 | 22 | .267 |