Crispa’s kingdom collapses

The dynasty Crispa built in the first three years of the professional Philippine Basketball Association finally crumbled in 1978 when the Redmanizers, re-Christened 400s that season, went title-less and, to add insult to injury, were thrown out of the playing court winless in their only trip to the finals.

Toyota survived the assault perpetrated by the lesser-known teams, claiming supremacy in two of the traditional three conferences held. A third could have tied them with their archenemies in terms of title victories and, scoring a grand slam only the Redmanizers had done two years earlier in 1976.