The 1978 Toyota Tamaraws season was the fourth season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
Contents
Colors
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Championships
The Toyota Tamaraws had a manpower build-up at the start of the season, acquiring top forwards Danny Florencio and Estoy Estrada. The Tamaraws capped an incredible year-run by winning two titles. On July 15, Toyota defeated new team Filmanbank, 132-113, in Game four to win the PBA All Filipino crown, 3 games to 1. The Tamaraws won the first two games of the series handedly, but the Bankers avoided a sweep by taking the third game.
After failing to land in the finals berth of the Second Conference, the Tamaraws captured the Invitational championship, behind imports Carlos Terry and Bruce "Sky" King. On December 14, Toyota defeated Tanduay, 108-98, in Game four of the finals series for a 3-1 victory as the Tamaraws won their 5th PBA title.
Awards
Robert Jaworski was named the league's Most Valuable Player (MVP).
Summary
First Conference: The Tamaraws easily made it to the semifinals, scored 12 wins to only 2 losses at the end of the two-round eliminations, tied with their rivals Crispa Redmanizers. In the semifinal round, Toyota eliminated Crispa, finishing with a 4-2 won-loss record, along with Filmanbank, which occupied the first finals berth. The Tamaraws scored a 3-1 finals victory against a Filmanbank squad led by American Billy Robinson and local standouts Larry Mumar and Jun Papa.
Second Conference: Toyota brought in two Americans, 6-10 Bruce King and 6-11 T.J. Robinson as their imports. The Tamaraws won six of their 7 games in the second round of eliminations with Carlos Terry replacing Robinson, they shove out Royal Tru-Orange (7-7) with a 9-5 card and salvage the last semifinals berth. Toyota started with two straight defeats in the semifinal round and were knock off from the finals picture, winning only two of their six outings. Under assistant coach Fort Acuña, the Tamaraws swept Tanduay, 3-0, in their series for third place.
Third Conference: With their victories against Yugoslavia and Canada in exhibition games, the Tamaraws were again installed as favorites to defend the crown they won last season, though Danny Florencio was not able to play anymore and Estoy Estrada was not to recover from his slump, Toyota grabbed the first seat of the championship with ease, winning all of its four games in the eliminations and bested second qualifier Tanduay (3-1) in four games of their best-of-five final series.