1980–81 Yugoslav First Basketball League

The 1980–81 Yugoslav First Basketball League season was the 37th season of the Yugoslav First Basketball League, the highest professional basketball league in SFR Yugoslavia. The season ended with Partizan winning the league championship; despite finishing the season with an identical 19-3 record as Cibona, Partizan was better in their seasonal head-to-head, winning both of their contests during the season.

1980–81 Yugoslav First Basketball League
League	Yugoslav First Basketball League
Sport	Basketball
1980-81
Season champions	Partizan

Notable events

Partizan vs. Cibona season series

The season was decided in two Partizan-Cibona games. First one was played in Zagreb during the first part of the season. The visiting team jumped out to an early 20+ point lead carried by Dragan Kićanović, Miško Marić, and Boban Petrović. However, in the second half, led by its center line — consisting of 32-year-old veteran Krešimir Ćosić who returned to Yugoslav League after two years in Italy and promising young prospect Andro Knego — Cibona annulled Partizan's first half lead. Still, Partizan held their nerve at the end, winning the game 94-95. Kićanović led all scorers with 32 points while his teammates Marić and Petrović contributed with 25 and 22 points, respectively. On the other side, Cibona's veteran center Ćosić scored 28 points while Knego added 26.

The second Partizan-Cibona game of the season was played during spring 1981 in Belgrade. It turned out to be almost a carbon copy of the first one. Cheered on by a large and boisterous home crowd, Partizan jumped out to an early lead of over 20 points again before Cibona again came back in the second half. Partizan again proved calmer in a tense finish with Boban Petrović making a clutch bank jump shot that won the game for the Belgrade club 91-87. Petrović and Kićanović led Partizan in this key contest with 26 points each while Arsenije Pešić added 14. In Cibona, Knego and Željko Pavličević led the scoring with 27 and 24 points, respectively while its two best players Aco Petrović and Ćosić had a poor shooting night with only 7 and 4 points, respectively.

Teams

SR Croatia Cibona Jugoplastika Kvarner Šibenka Zadar

SR Serbia Crvena Zvezda Partizan Radnički LMK Belgrade

SR Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosna

SR Macedonia Rabotnički

SR Montenegro Budućnost

SR Slovenia Iskra Olimpija

Classification

	Regular season ranking 1980-81	G	V	P	PF	PS	Pt
1.	Partizan	22	19	3	2162	1993	38
2.	Cibona	22	19	3	2177	1925	38
3.	Zadar	22	14	8	2184	2104	28
4.	Šibenka	22	12	10	2035	1972	24
5.	Crvena Zvezda	22	11	11	2159	2129	22
6.	Iskra Olimpija	22	10	12	1987	2024	20
7.	Bosna	22	10	12	2079	1998	20
8.	Budućnost	22	9	13	1795	1892	18
9.	Radnički LMK Belgrade	22	9	13	1939	2003	18
10.	Rabotnički	22	8	14	1998	2178	16
11.	Jugoplastika	22	7	15	1939	2102	14
12.	Kvarner	22	4	18	1987	2121	8

The winning roster of Partizan:

• Dragan Kićanović
• Boban Petrović
• Miško Marić
• Arsenije Pešić
• Dragan Todorić
• Dušan Kerkez
• Goran Despotović
• Milan Medić
• Milenko Savović
• Dragan Milutinović
• Nebojša Bukumirović
• Danko Cvjetićanin
• Dragan Kovačević

Coach: Borislav Ćorković

Results

Home \ Away	PAR	CIB	ZAD	ŠIB	CZV	OLI	BOS	BUD	RAD	RAB	JUG	KVA
Partizan	—	91–87	84–90	94–91	90–85	113–99	85–79	87–79	84–74	97–87	118–68	109–90
Cibona	94–95	—	98–86	94–87	111–92	103–90	105–87	90–67	81–61	115–90	106–87	120–105
Zadar	113–114	88–91	—	95–86	105–94	100–85	112–111	100–92	104–96	113–87	107–90	105–93
Šibenka	92–102	104–129	84–85	—	79–84	90–80	85–75	107–83	96–83	114–89	79–81	101–91
Crvena Zvezda	87–89	85–92	108–106	100–104	—	98–87	101–109	105–91	117–96	100–84	92–79	111–107
Olimpija	103–106	82–91	107–99	82–88	105–99	—	96–94	97–80	73–70	92–79	109–94	82–83
Bosna	104–92	75–77	106–102	103–93	97–93	89–91	—	90–67	103–68	112–93	108–81	93–90
Budućnost	69–103	73–79	90–91	59–64	106–92	88–78	85–81	—	85–81	82–76	80–79	87–73
Radnički Belgrade	117–105	90–83	86–90	80–84	99–98	107–86	95–94	88–89	—	102–97	109–100	83–88
Rabotnički	95–99	101–120	109–96	89–103	103–117	97–91	103–102	77–72	80–72	—	95–85	92–90
Jugoplastika	93–95	93–101	97–96	102–93	98–100	81–89	77–73	92–86	83–97	91–95	—	89–84
Kvarner	97–110	96–100	96–101	92–111	92–93	75–83	107–92	63–85	83–85	105–80	88–99	—

Source: Pearlbasket
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.
Matches with lighter background shading were decided after overtime.

Other sources:

Scoring leaders

1. Branko Skroče (Zadar) - ___ points (35.4ppg)

Qualification in 1981-82 season European competitions

FIBA European Champions Cup

• Partizan (champions)

FIBA Cup Winners' Cup

• Cibona (Cup winners)

FIBA Korać Cup

• Zadar (3rd)
• Šibenka (4th)
• Crvena Zvezda (5th)
• Iskra Olimpija (6th)

Basketball Cup

Bracket

	Eightfinals				Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Finals
	Bashkimi	67
	Radnički LMK Belgrade	114
					Radnički LMK Belgrade	94
					Crvena zvezda	90
	Crvena zvezda	99
	Šibenka	92
									Radnički LMK Belgrade	93
									Cibona	111
	Rabotnički	96
	Partizan	108
					Partizan	90
					Cibona	106
	Alhos Sarajevo
	Cibona
													Cibona	112
													Kvarner	87
	TIMA Maribor	76
	Bosna	103
					Bosna	87
					Jugoplastika	88
	Metalac	69
	Jugoplastika	81
									Jugoplastika	84
									Kvarner	91
	Lifam	89
	Slovan	94
					Slovan	84
					Kvarner	92
	Primorje	87
	Kvarner	111