The 1978 Tanduay Esquires season was the 4th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
Contents
Awards
Jaime Manansala was named the season's Rookie of the year (ROY).
Summary
The Esquires were the third team to enter the semifinals in the All-Filipino Conference, via higher quotient over Filmanbank and U-Tex. Tanduay lost five of their six matches in the four-team semifinals and had to contend to play for third place. Their series against Crispa were deadlocked at two games apiece and with the finals already over, the Esquires clinch third place with a better quotient.
Returning import Gene Moore, together with David Payne, reinforced the team in the second conference. The Esquires finished a game behind U-Tex and Crispa with a 9-5 card. Tanduay suffered five straight losses in the semifinals and bowed out anew from the championship race, they were swept in three games by Toyota Tamaraws in their series for third place.
The rule which allowed the Esquires to simultaneously field their two imports, the Gene Moore-David Payne duo led the Tanduay ballclub to score upset victories to enter the finals in the Third Conference Invitational Championship, the Esquires lost to defending champion Toyota Tamaraws in four games.