Crispa's Amazing 21 Straight Wins! (Champ, 1983)

Champ Magazine

July 14, 1983

Emilie & Joe Concepcion

 

 

The feat winning 21 consecutive games – is fantastic!

 

            It never happened before.

 

            Most likely, with the enforcement of player draft rules to strengthen the local lineups of lower-placed teams and the current handicapping system on the use of imports to “balance” the team, such a feat may never be recorded again.

 

            The feat is an all-time season record that went through two Conference record year from March 10 to June 19. Twelve victories were registered in the All-Filipino (First) Conference, and nine more in the current Reinforced (Second) Conference. It surpassed the 19 straight wins set also by Crispa from September 30 to December 9, 1980, which is established as the all-time Conference record.

 

            The feat saw the Redmanizers scoring a twenty-one game-total of 2,486 points against 2,272 made by their opponents. On a per game average, this is 118.38 against 108.19 points.

 

            The feat had Crispa scoring 37.27 percent (41/110) on three-point shots, 52.92 percent (968/1829) on two-point field goals, and 80.32 percent (506/630) on free throws.

 

            In the 21-game stretch, Crispa averaged 37 defensive, 16 offensive and 53 total rebounds, 28 assists, 5 steals, 7 shot blocks and 25 turnovers.

 

            Accomplishing the feat was certainly not easy. In three games, the Redmanizers managed to win by only a one-point margin. These were an 83-82 squeaker over Gilbey’s Gin in the first conference, and a 110-109 and 120-119 thrillers over Great Taste Discoverers in separate Conferences.

 

            Four games went through overtime periods, all in the second conference in five-game expense. The first was against San Miguel Beer, and after a regulation win over the Toyota Silver Coronas, three successive games went into five-minute extensions. These were against Tanduay Rhum, Galerie Dominique and Sunkist Juice Lovers, all. Three matches handled by assistant coach Narciso Bernardo.

 

            Combined, Bernardo won six games (three in each Conference) in the absence of regular coach, Tommy Manotoc, who won fifteen.

 

            More than anything else, it is the combination of the new management pair of Coach Manotoc and manager Ernesto Floro that molded the present team into a sharp, cohesive outfit that looks forward to a GRAND SLAM finish, and taking one game at a time, accomplish the 21 consecutive wins first.

 

 

 

THE PBA ALL-TIME WINNING STREAK RECORD

 

First Conference – All Filipino

 

No. 1: March 10, 1983 CRISPA 121, MANHATTAN 97

 

            Seven Redmanizers scored double figures led by Co with 33. Crispa also had 39 assists and 13 shot blocks.

 

No. 2: March 15, 1983 CRISPA 119, TANDUAY 112

 

            Crispa had 32 turnovers, Co 7 errors, but the Redmanizers rallied from 11 points down with Hubalde, Guidaben and Cristobal contributing heavily.

 

No. 3: March 20, 1983 CRISPA 114, SAN MIGUEL 90

 

            Crispa’s defense limited the Beermen to 55 points in the first three quarters which Villamin and Fabiosa had 8 assists each.

 

No. 4 March 24, 1983 CRISPA 123, GREAT TASTE 97

 

            Crispa converted 55 field goals against only 37 by Great Taste. Co passed out 10 assists.

 

No. 5 March 27, 1983 CRISPA 108, GALERIE DOMINIQUE 97

 

            Bernie Bernardo called the shots for Crispa. Guidaben stood out with 28 points and 17 rebounds.

 

No. 6 April 7, 1983 CRISPA 83, GILBEY’S 82

 

            Crispa played poorly but won in this Conference’s lowest scoring game as Generalao and Watson missed their last shots. Bernardo’s second win.

 

No. 7 April 12, 1983 CRISPA 109, TOYOTA 102

 

            Guidaben’s 32 points and 16 rebounds gave Bernardo his third win, as he proved himself against no less than Toyota.

 

No. 8 April 14, 1983 CRISPA 124, GILBEY’S 116

 

            Cezar stretched for 35 points as Manotoc resumed head coach duties in the semifinal round of this Conference.

 

No. 9 April 17, 1983 CRISPA 110, GREAT TASTE 109

 

            Esguerra came off the bench to score 15 points and Fabiosa got 7 steals to help Crispa win by one point.

 

No. 10 April 19, 1983 CRISPA 121, GILBEY’S 101

 

            This first game of the Best-of-Five championship series had Israel playing 37 minutes, typifying Crispa’s solid defense.

 

No. 11 April 21, 1983 CRISPA 119, GILBEY’S 116

 

            2^nd game – Best of Five. Gilbey’s Vargas had 22 points and 16 rebounds while Generalao scored 23 points and dished out 12 assists, but Crispa’s might and deep bench prevailed.

 

No. 12 April 24, 1983 CRISPA 115, GILBEY’S 84

 

            The dam broke on the gallant men of Honeyboy Palanca and Turing Valenzona. Crispa wrapped up the All-Filipino conference championship in style.

 

Second Conference – Reinforced Filipino

 

No. 13 May 15, 1983 CRISPA 120, GREAT TASTE 119

 

            Crispa import Billy Ray Bates made his PBA debut by scoring 64 points that included five 3-point shots and four slam dunks.

 

No. 14 May 19, 1983 CRISPA 135, GILBEY’S 123

 

            Gilbey’s veteran import Massey outscored Bates, 43-34, but seven local Redmanizers scored double figures to set a new PBA record by converting 72 percent on 54 out of 75 two-point shots.

 

No. 15 May 24, 1983 CRISPA 113, SAN MIGUEL 111, OT

 

            Crispa tied SMBeer at 101-all in regulation time and outscored the Beermen, 12-10, in the overtime period.

 

No. 16 May 29, 1983 CRISPA 122, TOYOTA 110

 

            Co did not suit up and Cezar scored only one point, but it did not matter. Guidaben had 23 points and 19 rebounds to add to Bates’ 51 points.

 

No. 17 June 2, 1983 CRISPA 129, TANDUAY 123 OT

 

            Bernardo drove the Redmanizers with the score at 111 all in regulation to win in overtime with Bates knocking down six three-point shots.

 

No. 18 June 7, 1983, CRISPA 115, GALERIE DOMINIQUE 112 OT

 

            Behind by four points with eleven seconds left, Crispa tied the score at 102-all and went on to win in the extension period as Ms. Nikki Coseteng lambasted the officiating. Bernardo mentored the Crispa bench.

 

No. 19 June 11, 1983 CRISPA 146, SUNKIST141 OT

 

            Benardo’s third straight overtime win (and Crispa’s fourth in five games as this out-of-town game played in Cabanatuan. Regulation ended at 130-all. Crispa posted by far the season’s highest score as defense was all but forgotten.

 

No. 20 June 14, 1983 CRISPA 127, TANDUAY 123

 

            Manotoc was back as Crispa rolled over Tanduay whose 47 fouls gave Crispa 47 trips to the free throw line when the Redmanizers coverted 33 to make up for their deficit in field goal conversion.

 

No. 21 June 19, 1983 CRISPA 113, GREAT TASTE 107

 

            Showdown in Cebu with a one and a half-hour blackout in the second quarter cooled off Great Taste’s usually good shooting. Bates again powered Crispa with 50 points and 21 rebounds that snapped the Discoverers’ own winning streak at seven games.

Home are the Redmanizers (Sports Weekly, 1979)

Sports Weekly Magazine

July 13-20, 1979

On the Line, Vic Villafranca

 

            As with all homecomings, Crispa’s return last Saturday to the PBA winner’s circle after being out of it for more than a year was good, old-fashioned sob opera.

 

            Outside the Big Dome following the Redmanizers’ pressure-ridden 118-111 decision over Toyota in the there’s-no-tomorrow, sudden death, fifth match of the playoffs for the 1979 PBA All-Filipino championship, the rains of departing typhoon Gening fell in sheets.

 

            But inside the Coliseum, the scene was just as watery as an ecstatic, virtually delirious Redmanizer bunch, from team manager Valeriano (Danny) Floro to relief slotman Jimmy Javier, let it all hang out, let the tears and the sobs break loose, let the glare of the TV lights dance on their tear-speckled cheeks in an emotion-packed final drama that marked Crispa’s comeback as a PBA champ.

 

            For those who caught the spectacle on their TV sets, the whole thing must have seemed like one big tearjerker as men deemed too old to cry in public choked, babbled and then broke down in torrents of tears as the impact of the long-awaited moment hit them flush between the breast bones and reduced a bunch of grown-up boys into a clutch of hopelessly sobbing boys.

 

            One unforgettable sight of the post-game drama that climaxed Crispa’s successful campaign for a title after a string of four frustrating attempts was that of Danny Floro sobbing uncontrollably live and in color when asked to say how he felt about Crispa’s comeback to the top of a PBA tournament.

 

            “This is not the first time,” said a visibly emotion-ridden Danny, trying to brush away the tears from his chubby cheeks, “but this is very important. I dedicate this to my father and mother.”

 

            For a man whose ballclub may be said to have everything by way of PBA feats, including a rare grand slam conquest in 1976, this choking statement of Danny must have come as a surprise until the man himself explained why.

 

 

 

            “They thought Crispa will never win again,” Danny said, trying to duck the klieg lamps that were beginning to highlight the gush of tears on his cheeks. They thought we are losing games…ngayon, wala na siguro silang masasabi.”

 

            On that last tearful point which he stressed, Danny probably is right: with what they showed in the game that mattered the most in the down-the-wire race for this year’s prestigious All-Filipino title of the PBA, the Redmanizers may have ended once and for all whatever growing misgivings the public may have entertained about the team’s will to win.

 

            And like the public, the nagging doubt inferred by Crispa’s grand old man himself, Don Pablo Floro, who had said once that if there was one thing he’d like to see is a Redmanizer win. “Win…I’d like to see you win,” Don Pablo told Danny, and last Saturday, it was a team hell bent on winning despite the odds that Don Pablo saw as the Redmanizers shook off the numbing after shock of a fourth game loss that tied the playoff series at 2-2 to pull off a tension-packed homestretch triumph over the fired-up Tamaraws of Toyota.

 

            The winner of the first game of the best of five playoffs by a whopping 15 points, the Redmanizers had lost the second game, 121-114, but then had come back in the tough third game to win, 112-109, and moved to only a victory shy of taking their first PBA championship in four conferences.

 

            But they never made it as a back-against-the-wall Toyota ballclub came through with the clutch hits in Game 4 while the Redmanizers, notably Atoy Co and Freddie Hubalde, were choking on theirs, to win by eight points, 118 to 110, and hurl the playoffs all the way down to sudden-death fifth encounter.

 

            It undoubtedly was this loss in a pivotal match that sent the Crispa camp into a crisis, spawned all the ugly talk that there was more than met the eye in the Redmanizers’ defeat in Game 4, or as Danny himself said, “pati raw ako, nagbebenta ng laro.”

 

            Under the circumstances, it seemed that it was more than a conference title that was at stake for Crispa in the fifth playdate of the playoffs. More than a championship, what Crispa stood to regain in Game 5 was the public’s confidence and that of the ballclub’s owner.

 

            Undoubtedly, the team got both last Saturday as it went flat-out all the way – “Bagsak na, lumalaban pa,” Coach Dalupan was to say later – to turn back a constantly pressing Toyota outfit and score a victory that came off a display of true grit basketball in the closing minutes of the last quarter.

 

            Jarred right off by a quick Toyota getaway that sent them eight points down in the first quarter, the Redmanizers barreled down with an 8-0 blitz late in the period to cut Toyota’s edge to one at 29-28. The period ended with Toyota up by three, 35-32, but early in the second, Crispa spurted ahead for the first time at 40-39 on an 8-4 blast touched off by Abet Guidaben.

 

            It was, however, a short-lived fling out front for Crispa. Ramon Fernandez, playing the heads-up game that has made him the leading candidate for MVP in all serious form charts, grabbed the lead back for Toyota at 41-40, and from here, the lead swung back and forth before Crispa uncorked a 9-0 binge that enabled it to take the half by 5, 63-58.

 

            Early in the third, Emer Legaspi and rookie Arnie Tuadles triggered off an 8-0 Toyota rally that enabled the Tams to one up, 69-68, on Crispa. But just as quickly, Freddie Hubalde almost single-handedly came through with a comeback thrust that sent the Redmanizers back on top.

 

            In this period, Crispa got into a seven-team-foul bind with five minutes left but the Tamaraws were unable to cash in heavily on it – the end of the third showing Toyota still down by three, 89-86.

 

            Bong Dela Cruz and Guidaben upped this edge to seven on a pair of quick hits early in the fourth, but three minutes later, the Redmanizers found themselves down by one as Tuadles, Francis Arnaiz and Nick Bulaong put together an unanswered string of four field goals.

 

            It looked like Toyota was on its way. But with Sonny Jaworski and Arnaiz saddled with five fouls apiece and likewise the team’s power rebounder, Abe King, one doubted how the Tams could push their bid for a turnaround all the way.

 

 

 

            True enough, when Jaworski glumly followed Abe King to the sidelines after incurring his sixth foul with Toyota still up by one, 107-106, Crispa had the break it needed to break the Tams.

 

            It was Freddie Hubalde who started it all – the 10-point Crispa assault that would eventually spell Toyota’s doom. Scoring on a jumper, Hubalde sent Crispa back on top, 108-107, and when, after Freddie fouled out, Atoy Co and Philip Cezar banged in eight points on two successful three-point plays and a field goal, the cue was there for the Crispa partisans to unfurl a streamer which read, “Crispa Redmanizers, 1979 PBA All-Filipino Conference Champions.”

 

            Crispa’s last field goal was made by Bogs Adornado on a long pass from Philip Cezar and it seemed a fitting capstone to Adornado’s scintillating performance for the evening which, as his 20-point accomplishment showed, could only mean that like his ballclub, the comebacking Adornado had also made it all the way to the mountaintop.

 

            Summing up the factors that led to Crispa’s triumph, a drained Coach Dalupan said, “we were the lucky team.”

 

            For his part, the losing coach, Fort Acuña said, “The fouls got us.”

 

            The way Acuña said that, it would seem as if like just about everybody in the Crispa camp, Fort had all the reasons to also cry.

 

            For whatever it is worth, here’s a rundown on how the guys who went out on a limb with forecasts on the probable windup of the Toyota-Crispa playoffs for the PBA All-Filipino made out:

           

            Tito Eduque, Joe Quirino and Recah Trinidad, all of whom opted for Crispa, hit it right on the nose and thus may now remove the grocery bags from their heads.

 

            Billy Robinson, who said it will be Toyota, and TV basketball analyst Rizal Marte, who was cornered by Emy Arcilla into also going for Toyota, both bombed out and will probably be ducking JQ in the weeks to come.

 

            As to how this corner made out, the back files of SWM said Crispa it was whom we said will take all the marbles in the All-Filipino and Crispa it was that did just that. Not that we wanted to crow, but just to serve notice to some guys who said we’re nuts to go for Crispa that we intend to grow fat and sassy with all the dinner bets they’ve lost.

The '79 PBA All-Filipino: It Looks Like a Comeback by Crispa and Here's Why (Sports Weekly, 1979)

Sports Weekly Magazine

March 30-April 6, 1979

On the Line, Vic Villafranca

 

 

            It takes all kinds of forecasters and forecast and here, for whatever they are worth, whether you believe in tea leaves or tarot cards, in JQ or Madam Auring Erfelo, mumbo jumbo or kung fu, are some of them.

 

            Back in his old familiar role as the most strident defender of the faith that holds Crispa, Joe (Papa Crispa) Quirino was regaling the host and visitors at last week’s “Taray ti Amianan” press conference about his belief that this time around, the Redmanizers, despite a title drought last year, are going to eat everybody alive in the 1979 PBA All-Filipino.

 

            “Siguradong sigurado ang Crispa,” said Joe without waiting for somebody to pass the mike to him, “walang katalu-talo in the All Filipino.”

 

            Then JQ, whose near defection to the Toyota camp three weeks now appears to be part of his “kahapon lamang,” went on to explain the reason for his bold forecast of a Crispa win despite the fact that last year, the Redmanizers kept running against a swinging door in their three ties for a PBA title.

 

            “Wala nang sentimyento ang mga bata,” said Joe, taking it away – the mike from a Toyota fan who was trying to grab it away from him. “Binigay nang lahat ni Danny ang gusto nila.”

 

 

 

            “So now everybody is happy as you might have noted if you have caught the Redmanizers on my show two Sundays ago on Seeing Stars on Channel 13, 8:30PM to 10:30.”

 

            But what about the Toyota Tamaraws who, after all, are the defending champs?

 

            “Wala na,” he rasped, “tapos na ang Toyota. Without Sonny Jaworski, saan sila pupulutin?”

 

            This observation naturally sparked a lot of eyebrows and spilled so many cups of coffee because in so far as everybody can remember, the Big J remains very much part of the Toyota team.

 

            JQ, however, had an explanation for his outright elimination of Jaworski from the Toyota lineup. “With what Jaworski is doing these days,” JQ said, “he may as well kiss his old role as Toyota’s take-charge man goodbye.”

 

            And what is Jaworski doing these days, asked the boys from the PBA press box, their pencils in mid-air; their feet on the starting block.

 

            “Making movies, among other things,” says Joe. “And also, he has this TV show, this printing press and tell me, how can you appear on TV, in the movies and in the printing press without somehow suffering a letdown in your performance?”

 

            But Joe, one of the boys pointed out, you have two TV shows and a daily column to boot and kin so far as we know, you remain your old sparkling, dazzling self in front of the cameras.

 

            “Thank you,” said JQ, trying to bow from the waist but failing, “that’s very kind of you. But I don’t have to win a championship for Dante Silverio.”

 

******

 

            For his part, Dick Ildefonso, one of the country’s most astute basketball observers, says that although he belongs to another TV channel, he feels he has to go along with JQ.

 

            “Crispa’s All-Filipino lineup remains the most potent in the league,” said Dick without looking around and worrying about Emy Arcilla. “If Crispa plays as it should play, no team can beat it…no team.”

 

            Not even Toyota?

 

            Instead of coming out with a forthright reply, however, Dick merely looked at his salad. Which probably means that either Dick doesn’t think Toyota without Danny Florencio stands a chance against Crispa or he felt it was time he attended to his salad before the waiter, that’s right, the waiter, and not JQ, “teks it away.”

 

******

 

The way this corner views the possible shape of things to come in the PBA pennant picture, it really looks like Crispa, more than any other team in this year’s All-Filipino, will figure prominently in the final frame.

 

            All because more than defending champion Toyota, pennant-hungry Tanduay, team-to-watch Royal Tru Orange and unpredictable U/Tex, Crispa has the most loaded combination in the league as well as the deepest bench.

 

            And since this year, the Redmanizers are in the uncharacteristic position of outsiders looking in, a ballclub starved for a pennant, they may be expected to play every game of theirs in the series as if it was championship night and as if on the sidelines, Danny Floro has put the Crispa industrial empire on the block.

 

 

 

            Toyota, of course, remains the big threat to Crispa’s comeback campaign, but Toytoa’s title retention drive hinges on how well a Tamaraw lineup with a scaled-down firepower can match Crsipa’s high-caliber scoring sock.

 

            As for Tanduay, it ought to be a cinch for the semis, and probably Royal Tru Orange, but not the Wranglers who, without Boy Kutch, look like a howitzer that had been stripped off its firing pin. Like a concert pianist too, with both arms in a cast.

 

            So Crispa it is which is this corner’s pick to win the All-Filipino, not only because of what JQ said, but despite it. Not because without Florencio, Toyota is a firecracker without a fuse but just the single fact that when they are lean and hungry and embarrassed as they are this season, the Redmanizers claw and bite back like a king stripped of his crown, a cowboy robbed of his horse or a JQ separated from his mike.

 

******

           

Here’s a comforting bit of news from basketball fans who’ll be following the new PBA series on the boob tube. Dick Ildefonso will again anchor Channel 4’s coverage of the league with laughs – as usual – being supplied by you know who.

 

The only twist in the TV coverage of the PBA games this season is that unlike last year, the Channel 4 sportscasting team won’t have a sit-down “analyst.” But every now and then, says Jun Hizon, they’ll have an expert to sit alongside Dick. And by expert, he probably means somebody who won’t make a lot of grammar school teachers all over the country cry over their dictionaries.

 

******

 

Elsewhere in sports ----

 

It has turned out the reason a golf impresario in the south dispensed with the services of a golf promoter was that the promoter was asking for something in the neighborhood of Php 80,000 for the simple task of putting out press releases, posters and passing out envelopes…The problem with telecasting a golf match is that no matter how hard the sportscaster tries, he almost always sounds like somebody describing a necrological service…With what PBA President Doming Itchon said about the BAP’s Lito Puyat last Tuesday, party-goers are advised not to assign the two gentlemen in the same dinner table.