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.

Enter Adornado, the New Wrangler (Sports Weekly, 1980)

Sports Weekly Magazine

May 23-30, 1980

Peter N. Acosta

 

 

            It was his 199^th game as a pro.

 

            It didn’t seem like the time to be all keyed up, but this was exactly how William (Bogs) Adornado felt when he took the hardcourt last Thursday evening at the Big Dome.

           

            “I was tense,” he said. “I shouldn’t be, but I was really tense.”

 

            It was not difficult to understand why.

 

            The principal reason was what happened to his career two days earlier. In one of the most startling developments of the 1980 PBA season, Adornado, who, since the start of the local pro league in 1975, has always been with Crispa, was acquired in a mid-season deal by U/Tex.

 

            Other than an announcement by PBA Commissioner Leo Prieto on Adornado’s acquisition by U/Tex, no other details of the deal between Crispa and U/Tex were bared.

 

            The presumption, however, was that in acquiring Adornado, U/Tex also bound itself to assume the terms and conditions set forth in Adornado’s playing contract with Crispa and may have thrown in more to get this player whose scoring potential the Wranglers need because, according to Coach Tommy Manotoc, “we execute a lot of pattern plays and we need a shooter like Bogs.”

 

            On the part of Crispa, it was silent on why it let go of Adornado, but the decision must have been a painful one because along with Atoy Co, Philip Cezar, and the other Crispa originals of PBA ’75, Bogs played a key role in bringing about the team’s glory years in the league.

 

            Adornado was with the Redmanizers when they pulled off their now legendary grand slam feat in 1976, a coup that involved a sweep of all the PBA’s three conference championships that year.

 

            But tragically, although he figured prominently in the making of that storied feat, the following season saw Adornado agonizing on the sidelines over a knee injury that he got from an accidental bump by U/Tex’s Romeo Frank, who’s now his teammate.

 

 

 

            The incident left him with a torn ligament under the left knee which prevented him from taking off as he used to and from running laterally.

 

            He tried special knee braces just so he can resume playing, but he found the brace (the same one now used by Frank) too heavy for comfort so eventually he decided to have a knee operation.

 

            It was Dr. Antonio C. Rivera, a noted Filipino orthopedic surgeon, who operated on Bogs at the Cardinal Santos hospital in Greenhills, San Juan. The operation only took three hours, but the recuperative period took almost a year and it wasn’t until the All-Filipino conference of 1978 that Bogs was able to return to the hardcourt.

 

            He played 50 games in his comeback year, but because he was used sparingly by Coach Baby Dalupan, he could only manage a 9.48 points per game average, way, way below his old averages of 26.94 in 1975 and 25.66 in the year of the grand slam.

 

            Last season didn’t turn out any better, exposure-wise, for Adornado. Although he saw action in 52 games, he was only good for 10.79 points per game average.

 

            Three months earlier, before the ’79 season opened, Bogs had expressed his disenchantment over his limited use by Coach Dalupan, which he said it may have been responsible for his slow return to his old form, and then had told Sports Weekly Magazine in an exclusive interview that he was seriously considering a transfer “if the terms are right.”

 

            Among the teams that expressed an interest then in Adornado was U/Tex. A week after the 1979 Christmas holidays, Adornado was supposed to have met with Coach Manotoc. But apparently, nothing came out of that because the ’79 season saw Adornado with a new playing contract from Crispa.

 

            The opening of the new PBA season saw Bogs getting more exposure and being sent in during tight spots in lieu of Atoy Co who was blowing hot and cold. He started against Toyota and Tefilin, but then was sidelined for the next three games.

 

            In one of his high scoring nights in the first round, he logged in 19 points against Great Taste but against U/Tex, he had only four points and against Royal Tru Orange, in his last stint with Crispa, he also had four.

 

            From the way things had gone for him in the last round, it seemed like it would be another agonizing year for Adornado, but then came his shift to U/Tex and now, his career has taken on a new turn.

 

            Exposing him as he had never been exposed by Crispa, Coach Manotoc fielded Bogs early and apparently, because of his first-time jitters with his new team, Bogs never really got to his first five tries. He eventually made seven points in the first half.

 

            For U/Tex fans, that performance may have looked like the Wranglers had gotten a “lemon” in acquiring Bogs, but early in the third, he finally exploded.

 

 

 

            Popping them in the way he used to during the glory days of Crispa, Adornado helped key a 10-point U/Tex breakaway and when Gilbey’s threatened to come back early in the fourth, he muzzled the threat with two key shots – a three-point goal and a soft jumper.

 

            It was a notable first time up by Bogs with his new team and expectedly, Coach Manotoc was elated.

 

            Although Bogs, according to Manotoc, still seemed out of shape, he said he was confident that Bogs would be “a big help in our bid for a semifinal slot.”

 

            As to why U/Tex got Adornado when his performance chart in the last two seasons showed nothing that would indicate that Bogs still has got that old zing on the firing line, Manotoc said the team needed him because it goes into a lot of pattern plays. And Bogs, the resurrected Bogs, fits very well into the Wranglers’ pattern for victory.

 

            And how does Bogs feel about leading his old ballclub?

 

            Naturally, he said, he was “sad” because he had been with Crispa for such a long time.

           

            But then, he stressed, “I cannot be warming the bench all the time. With more exposure, I know I can still be competitive.”

 

            Like him, the Wrangler camp is also hoping that he could still be, and even more so, that as he gets more and more time on the hardcourt, he’ll regain that shooting touch that made him one of local basketball’s most awesome pop-shooters.

The Big Question: Bogs Has Returned but Can He Make It All the Way Back? (Sports Weekly, 1978)

Sports Weekly Magazine

April 28-May 5, 1978

 

            It had been a full seven minutes since the defending champion Crispa Redmanizers shuffled out of the Araneta hardcourt and back to their locker room, the unlikely victims of a jarring upset impressively carved out by Coach Tommy Manotoc’s U/Tex Wranglers in the big game of the 1978 PBA All-Filipino conference’s inaugural doubleheader.

 

            Normally, such a shocking opening day outcome would have been enough to transform the Crispa dugout into local pro basketball’s version of a funeral home, but this wasn’t to be one of those nights.

 

            Not really because an opening day loss isn’t a setback from which the two-time PBA All-Filipino champs can’t recover, but rather the fact that after nearly two years, the ballclub’s most devastating hit man, good ol’ No. 11 himself, William (Bogs) Adornado, has made his way back to the Crispa lineup.

 

            Bogs was, to be sure, a long time coming.

 

            Since he hurt his knee towards the tailend of the first conference of the PBA’s 1976 season, a year when the Redmanizers scored the league’s first eye-popping grand slam, the former UST Glowing Goldie has been on Crispa’s inactive list.

 

            He underwent a series of treatments for his injured knee after that, including a surgery performed around the middle last year at the Cardinal Santos Memorial Hospital at Greenhills, San Juan, Rizal. Still, his return to the game which he has played so well both as an amateur and a pro remained very much in doubt.

 

            And when during the last electoral campaign for IBP seats, during which the Crispa team played exhibition games to boost the candidacy of Crispa owner and founder, Pablo Floro, Bogs continued to remain on the sidelines although he has joined in its sorties for Don Pablo, this further raised doubts about his ability to come back.

 

 

 

            His name, however, was included by Crispa owner and manager, Danny Floro, in the lineup which the ballclub submitted for the first conference. Despite this, no one, not even Floro or Coach Baby Dalupan himself, was sure whether Adornado would take the first step leading to a long-awaited comeback.

 

            Said Floro when asked whether the inclusion of Bogs’ name in the team slate meant he was all set to play. “It all depends on Bogs. Na sa kanya yun.”

 

            A similar view was expressed by Coach Dalupan, who said, “Only Adornado who can decide whether he’s ready or not.”

 

            Both made it clear they were not about to push Bogs back into the hardcourt, because the extent of his injury was such that only he could really decide whether physically and mentally, but most of all, mentally, he is ready for a comeback.

 

            As for Bogs himself, he remained non-committal although he had told friends that physically, he’s about as fit he can possibly be. He was obviously referring to the jogging and scrimmage sessions that he had been doing since he checked out of the hospital following his operation.

 

            Asked on the eve of the PBA opening whether he’ll play in Crispa’s first game, he said, “we’ll see.”

 

            And so game time for Crispa in its first match of the season came and what the fullhouse of some 30,000 at the Big Dome saw as the Redmanizers made their way in for the ritualistic warmup was Bogs garbed in his old No. 11 uniform.

 

            Very quickly, his presence on the hardcourt in Crispa’s full regalia touched off a buzzing in the stands. Later, the buzzing turned to hard claps and then into an explosion of cheers as Bogs made the first ever field goal he has ever attempted in a PBA game since he was sidelined.

 

            He made another field goal after that, and then went 100 percent on six free throws to finish night with 10 points.

 

            The output – two FG’s and six FT’s – wasn’t anything close to the bushelful of points that Adornado used to rack up before he was injured and forced to spend the next two years on the sidelines, but it wasn’t so bad for a ballplayer who was just trying to get used again to the feel of the hardcourt.

 

            As Crispa manager Floro said: “We couldn’t ask for more.”

 

            Crispa certainly can’t. The fact alone that it has got Bogs back ought to make up for that stiff one at the jaw which the Redmanizers took from the U/Tex Wranglers.