After the stock market crash of 1929 the United States was in great
despair, money was scarce, and those who had it hoarded it. A vast
drought from Ohio to Utah, and Canada to Mexico left many Americans
without food. Yet during these dire times, basketball lived on. The
thirties did little in the way of improvement upon the game, but it
still added its own flair and finesse to the game.
After the 33-34 suspended season the ABL once again began playing. The
league saw poor attendance at first, as fans couldn’t afford to eat let
alone to go to a basketball game. The League had five teams disband
before playing a game. The SPHAs would win their first title this
season. In the college ranks the University of Kentucky won its first
championship.
The Next season the SPHAs struggled but still won many games.
Unfortunately the growing anti-Semitism in American made it hard for the
SPHAs to play. SPHAS stood for South Philadelphia Hebrew Association,
and some in American felt that Jewish bankers were responsible for the
economical depression that was plaguing America. Despite the troubles
the SPHAs and the league continued on. The New York Jewels won two out
of three games against the SPHAs in the semifinals, only to lose to the
Brooklyn Visitations.
The 1935-36 season saw a growth in the league, the economy got better
under the Roosevelt administration, and some fans could finally afford
to go out to a game. However, the Anti-Semitism didn’t go away. The
SPHAs endured harassment everywhere they went, most notably in and
around New York City. A new group even threatened to sue the SPHAs if
they continued to play in the ABL, the group was the American Nazi
party. The threats did little to deter to SPHAs who beat New York in
the semis, and went on to face the defending champions’ Visitations.
Many American Nazis’ attended the games to harass the SPHAs, many were
arrested during the seven game series. The SPHAs would win game seven
and the title.
The 36-37 season was much the same as the previous season, the economy
stagnated and the talent in the league began to deplete, because players
needed better paying jobs to feed their families. The SPHAs would win
the title again, but would lose so many players in the off-season they
considered folding. It was Eddie Gottlieb who convinced the remaining
players to stay. The loss of many key veterans was disastrous for the
SPHAs as they struggled thought the entire season. The 37-38 season
would belong to the Jersey Reds as they’d go on to win the title .
Competition is born
Going into the 37-38 season the ABL felt confident, however their
confidence was about to be tested. The Intercollegiate Athletic
Association announced that they would be holding a one and out
basketball competition every march to decide the national champion.
Teams would be ranked according to their divisions and overall records.
Thus, March Madness was born. The league also announced that it would
change its name to National Collegiate Athletic Association, or the
NCAA. Not many owners feared the NCAA because the players were all
amateurs, and only had four years of eligibility to play. Things
changed however when owners of many Midwest farming communities
announced they had formed the Midwest Basketball Association. The teams
where all sponsored by major corporations just like the ABL teams, but
the NBL was able to attract some of the most lucrative players in the
business, including Leroy Edwards. The best teams for the newly
formed NBL where the Buffalo Bison, the Oshkosh All-stars and the
Goodyear Wingfoots.
Both leagues catered to a distinct class, the ABL tried attracting the
richer peoples of the larger eastern cities, while the NBL tried getting
the farmers and blue collar workers of the mid Ohio region to attend
games. The 37-38 season wasn’t very profitable for either league, the
ABL did make more money because it played more games, but the NBL was on
the map. The Goodyear Wingtips would win the first NBL title, while
the Reds won the ABL title.
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The 38-39 year, both teams saw many teams come and go. The Bison would
be inactive for the season. Thus, the NBL lost its largest metropolitan
area. The league had a poor showing the first few weeks of the
season, but due to a cold winter picked up in popularity. The ABL on
the other hand was seeing more and more teams in the red. The situation
became so bad that the league was forced to cut the season short, and
made the playoffs best out of three. The Reds and the Jewels would play
for the ABL title with the Reds wining in a 3-0 sweep. The NBL saw
the Firestone Non-skids defeat the Oshkosh All-stars in a best of five
series 3-2.
The 39-40 season saw a change in the NBL, for the first time teams began
choosing their own nicknames instead of that of the team owners. Also
the Bison rejoined the league after taking a year off, only they now
played in Chicago as the Bruins. The Financial despair for the ABL
continued in the 39-40 season, the playoffs had to be cut to a best of
one series. The SPHAs captured their third ABL title when they defeated
the Washington Heurichs. Firestone became the NBL’s first repeat winner
when they beat the All-stars.
The 40s
The 40-41 season saw a change for the ABL as people stopped attending
their games because of a serious threat of war as well as the poor
economy. The league had to scale back on games, dropping the number
from 33 games to 16 games. The SPHAs would win the title again in a
3-1 series decision over the Brooklyn Celtics. The NBL also experienced
this prosperity, as it too added more teams. The most notable of these
new teams was the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, and the Sheboygan
Redskins. The All-stars would make the finals again against the
Redskins, only this time the All-stars would win the NBL title.
As the 41-42 season started both leagued hopped that a new found bounce
in the economy would provide an extra boost for both the leagues. Both
leagues as well as the NCAA found November to be a great month for
profit, and overall play. Games were closer, and fans and players were
enthused by the game; everything looked great. But like the old saying
goes, this was the calm before the storm. As November moved into
December Oshkosh and Sheboygan where battling for first place, but that
would become the last thing on every-ones minds when they woke up to
read the newspaper on Monday, December 8, 1941. The day before the
Japanese had launched a surprise attack on the US navel fleet stationed
at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, thus the attack brought the United States into
the second World War.
Both leagues temporarily suspended operation for a few weeks, as many
players signed up to join the armed forces, still others, mainly those
of German decent were taken by executive order 9066. EO 9066 was mainly
in use against people of Japanese decent, but many Germans were also
taken into custody. The SPHAs even had a Jewish, American Born player
sent to Germany in exchange for American Citizens. Despite this both
leagues as well as the nation as a whole downplayed the entire episode.
Games began to start back up in late December-Early January. The
All-stars of the NBL continued to serge while the Redskins floundered.
The All-stars costed to the best record in the league, followed by
Sheboygan. The NBL enjoyed some success during the season, but uniforms
and even balls were scarce, sometimes the games were played with nearly
flat balls with no grip. The ABL on the other hand struggled
immensely. The loss of many players, the fear in the major cities, and
the war took a huge toll on the league. The Wilmington Bombers would
win the first game of their playoff series and are declared the
champions. In the NBL the All-stars would win their second title.
T
he War years.
42-43
As the 42-43 NBL season got underway, the league had little expectations
for success, the league saw three teams drop out before the start of
the season, But the league actually saw some success, mainly in the
larger cities such as Fort Wayne, and Chicago. Unfortunately smaller
teams such as Oshkosh, Sheboygan, and Toledo didn’t have great
attendance. Toledo only lasted four games brining the number of teams
down to four, Fort Wayne’s Bobby McDermott lead the league in scoring
with nearly 14 points a game. McDermott and the Zollner Pistons saw
unmatched success as they finished the 17 and six. Sheboygan finished
12 and 11, followed by Oshkosh(11-12) and Chicago(8-15). All four teams
made the playoffs, Fort Wayne beat Chicago 2-1 and Sheboygan beat the
defending champions Oshkosh All-stars in a two game sweep. Sheboygan
would beat Fort Wayne two out of three times, to win the Championship.
Where the NBL had success, the ABL had little. Trenton began their
dominance of the league early winning 11 out of their 13 games.
Philadelphia and Wilmington also enjoyed good seasons. Trenton would
make the Finals only to lose to Philadelphia. The SPHAs were lead by
Elmore Morgenthaler, who scored more then 20 points a game in some
cases. Morgenthaler was a huge draw for the SPHAs because most of the
games were in the mid 50s, and his dominance of the paint was unseen, he
was the first true giant of the basketball world despite standing only 6
foot nine or 10.
In the NCAA, the colleges in the Western United States finally began to
make an impact against their Eastern Country parts, The University of
California-Los Angeles was the first of the western colleges to gain
notoriety when they defeated one of the Eastern elite schools. Other
schools in smaller less likely places also had great seasons. The
Universities of Utah, Wyoming, and Oklahoma all began to draw crowds to
their games. In the east Georgetown dominated and was favored to win
the title. Georgetown would meet Wyoming for the national championship,
in the municipal Auditorium in St Louis Missouri. Wyoming would stun
the Hoyas and win the game 46-34.
43-44
The 43-44 saw the Cleveland Roseblum’s jump for the ABL to the NBL and
become the Cleveland Chase Brassmen. Unfortunately this didn’t
increase the number of teams in the NBL because Chicago ceased
operations for the season. In the first time in their history the
Oshkosh All-stars struggled, the team had finished the previous season
below 500 for the first time ever, and the 43-44 season was even worse.
The All-star only won seven of their 22 games and finished in second to
last place only to the ABL crossover Chase Brassmen, who finished the
season 3-15. The Brassmen had to cancel games due to lack of many that
is why they only played 18 games while everyone else had 22. At the
top of the Standings were the Zollner Pistons. The Zollner Pistons
where as good as the All-stars were bad, winning 18 of their 22 games to
capture first place. Sheboygan also had a good showing finishing the
season at 14-8, with five of their losses coming to Fort Wayne.
The Zollner Pistons would make short work of the Chase Brassmen, beating
them by nearly 30 in the first game, and then 11 in the second game to
take a 2-0 series sweep and advance to the finals. Sheboygan had a
harder time with Oshkosh, the Redskins beat the All-stars 32-31 in the
first game of the series, but lost 34-31 in game two. Game three
wouldn’t be another close one with the Redskins winning 40-27. In the
finals Sheboygan put up a good fight against Fort Wayne in the first
game losing by 2, 55-53. The next two games saw Fort Wayne build up a
comfortable lead early and coast to victory 36-26 in game two, and
48-38 in game thee to capture their first NBL title.
ABL
Some of the ABL’s financial problems disappeared in the 43-44 season.
The SPHAs the Bombers and a few other made a little money, and the
league had some decent game play. But the rise of the NBL was hard to
cope with, the ABL lost the Rosenblum’s to the NBL. Also, the league
had many players defect to the NBL. Despite this teams such as the
SPHAs, Tigers and Bombers carried on. The SPHAs would once again become
a dominate force behind Elmore Morgenthaler who lead the ABL in
scoring, but he wasn’t enough to lead Philadelphia to the title, they
lost four games to three to the Wilmington Bombers.
NCAA
The 44 college season was mostly unremarkable, game attendance wasn’t
very high and most of the players weren’t very important. The thing of
most interest involves the NCAA tournament. The Arkansas Razorbacks
team bus was involved in an automobile accident. The NCAA needed a
replacement for them. The University of Utah had just lost a NIT game
to the University of Kentucky. But the NCAA allowed Utah to play in the
tournament to replace Arkansas. Utah would go on and Missouri and Iowa
to go to the National Championship game. Utah would face Dartmouth for
the championship, the game was a closely contest game, and after two
halves of play the game was knotted at 36. Each team scored four
points in the first four minutes and 56 seconds of the overtime, but
with four second to go, Utah’s Herb Wilkinson hit a hook shot at the
buzzer giving the Ute’s the 42-40 win. The 1944 Utah Ute’s are the only
team to have played in the NCAA and NIT tournament in the same season.
44-45
The 44-45 season was an important one for the NBL, for the first time
since the start of the second World War the League saw substantial
growth. Chicago re-entered the league as the Chicago American Gears,
and a new time the Pittsburgh Raiders would join the league. The League
was split into two divisions, The East with Fort Wayne, Cleveland and
Pittsburgh, and the West with Sheboygan, Chicago and Oshkosh. The
league would also expand the number of games from 22 to 30.
In the Eastern Division the Zollner Pistons would once again dominate,
going 25-5 with only one loss coming at home. Bobby McDermott would
once again be named MVP for the third time in a row for the Pistons.
Cleveland would fair much better in the 44-45 season then they did in
the 43-44 season. Cleveland did change their name from the Chase
Brassmen to Allmen Transfers. They wouldn’t finish the season above 500
but did finish at 13 wins and 17 losses. Pittsburgh brought up the
rear in the Eastern Division, winning only seven games and finishing
last in the league.
The West was a lot more competitive. No one team ran away with the
division lead early like what happened with the Pistons in the East.
Instead all three teams had similar records going into a stretch where
they needed to face their Eastern counterparts. The Redskins faired the
best and took the division lead and would never look back. The
Redskins would build up a seven game lead late in the season and
eventually stretch it to 12 games as the season ended. Chicago would
finish at 14-16, after losing key players to injury late in the season.
For the second year in a row Oshkosh would be last with a record of 12
and 18.
Oshkosh and Pittsburgh wouldn’t make the playoffs marking the first time
in three seasons a team didn’t play in the post season. Eastern
champion Fort Wayne would face the runner up Cleveland. The Pistons
hammered the Transfer 78-50 in the first game, led by McDermott who
scored 30 points in the game. Game two was a little closer but Fort
Wayne still won 58-51 to capture the East and advance to the NBA finals.
In the West Chicago stunned Sheboygan when the Gears beat the
Redskins 50-49 in game one. The Redskins would respond in game two by
trashing the Gears 49-36. Game three would not see an improvement for
the Gears as they Redskins once again blew them out 57-27.
A rematch of Fort Wayne and Sheboygan was brewing for all to see in the
Finals. Sheboygan would win game one 65-53. Then in stunning fashion
the Redskins took game two in Fort Wayne as well winning 50-47. The
Redskins were heading back to Sheboygan up 2-0 needing only one game for
the title. Fort Wayne however would respond by beating Sheboygan 58-47
in game three, then Fort Wayne embarrassed the hometown Redskins, by
beating them 58-41. The series would go back to Fort Wayne all tied up
with the momentum on the side of Fort Wayne. The Pistons would capture
their second straight NBL title by defeating the Redskins 59-49 in game
five. This marked the first time that a team would come back from a 2-0
deficit in a five game series to win the series, a feat which is still
rare today.
ABL
The 44-45 season saw the ABL nearly decimate itself, internal struggled
forced many teams to lose money and the rivalry with the NBL had killed
the league, The once proud league was left with only six teams by the
start of the 44-45 season. Philadelphia would finish 22-8 and for the
best record, Trenton would follow suit at 21-9. The SPHAs would face
the Baltimore Bullets in the championship series, and win two to one.
45-46.
With World War II now over, America tried to focus on the luxuries of
life, and that included basketball. The NBL, ABL, and NCAA all saw a
huge influx in talent, and fans during this period, because many of the
men had been away fighting the way, and now had money to step. The
Economy began to boom, and many had an optimism never before seen in
America.
The NBL added three new teams, the Indianapolis Kautsky’s, the Rochester
Royals, and the Youngstown Bears. However, the Pittsburgh Pirates
dropped out of the league after only one season. The Bears and the
Royals would join the Pistons and Transfers in the East, while the
Kautsky’s joined the Redskins, All-stars and Gears in the West.
Fort Wayne would once again look like the team to beat jumping out
quickly in the East, but Rochester kept with them. As the final weeks
of the season the teams were neck and neck, the Pistons would win the
race for the division championship by two games over the Royals. The
Bears finished 13-20, and the Transfers finished a pathetic 4-29. Fort
Wayne’s Bobby McDermott was named MVP for the 4th time in a row.
In the West the Redskins, Gears and All-stars would be in a three-way
dog fight for the division championship. The Redskins would win it over
the All-star by two games, the Redskins finished 21-13 while the
All-stars finished 19-15. The All-stars also finished two games ahead
of the Gears who finished at 17-17. The Kautskys finished at 10-21.
Only the two best teams in each division made the playoffs. In the East
it was Fort Wayne and Rochester in a best of five series. The Pistons
won game one by 10 points, but the Royals answered by winning game two,
58-52. With game three was in Rochester and the Royals rode their fan
support to beat the Pistons by the same 58-52 score they had won game
two with. The Royals smelled blood after their game three win, and
demolished the defending champion Pistons 70-54.
Sheboygan and Oshkosh would play a great series, in game one the
Redskins beat the All-stars 46-45. In game two the All-stars won 53-41.
Game three would switch to the Redskins who won 58-52. The All-stars
would counter by winning game four in a blowout, 68-42. In a fitting
end to the series neither team won consecutive games, the Redskins beat
the All-stars 65-46 in game five, to win the series and moved on to face
the Royals in the finals.
The Finals wouldn’t be much of a match, the Royals demolished the
Redskins in all three games, winning all three games by double digits.
The Royals would become the first expansion team, to win a title in the
NBL.
ABL and NCAA
In the ABL the Bullets took an early lead in the season standings, but
the SPHAs would come roaring back to tie the Bullets at the end of the
season with identical 21-13 records. The two teams would play for
the Championship with Baltimore winning three games to one game.
Oklahoma state became the first college to repeat in the modern format
when they beat North Carolina 43-40 in the Championship game.
46-47.
Before the start of the 46-47 season the ownership group of the Chicago
Gears sold the team name to another group of investors and moved the
Chicago team to Tri-city and changed their name to the Blackhawks. The
investor group started up a new team called the Chicago American Gears,
and they signed a player that would forever change the game; George
Mikan.
Besides the Gears the NBL added other new teams, the Syracuse Nationals,
the Toledo Jeeps, the Anderson Duffy Packers, and the Detroit Gems.
The addition to teams in Detroit and Syracuse was a huge boost for a
league with teams in mostly small town cities.
The Champion Royals began where they left off, by winning big. The
Royals lead by Al Cervi had an early jumpstart in the east, which left
Fort Wayne struggling to play catch up. The Royals would go on to win
31 games against 13 losses. The Pistons would finish in second place
with 25 wins and 19 losses. Toledo and Syracuse would both finish at
21-23, while brining up the rear was Tri-city(19-25) and
Youngstown(12-32).
The West had a lot more of a competitive race in the standings. Five of
the six teams in the division were still in the race with weeks to go.
The All-Stars would take the division crown going 28 and 16. The
All-Stars were followed by Kautsky’s who had vastly improved from the
season before to go 27 and 17. The Mikan Lead gears followed suit at
26-18 as did the Redskins. The Anderson Duffy Packers finished the
season at 24-20, but did not qualify for the playoffs. Rounding out the
west was the Detroit Gems who went 4-40 in one of the saddest displays
of basketball ever played in a top flight professional league.
For the first time the NBL had an actual playoff seeding format, with
four teams from each division making the playoffs. The top seeded
Royals would face their New York Counterparts, the Syracuse Nationals in
a best of five series. Rochester won the first game 66-64, but the
Nationals would win game two 64-61 to tie the series at one game a
piece. The Royals would take games three and four by six and five
points respectively.
The middle bracket had the Pistons versus the Jeeps; the battle of the
cars was on. Fort Wayne would crush Toledo in the first two games
winning by more than thirty in game one, and more than 20 in game two.
When the series shifted to Toledo, the Jeeps exacted some revenge by
beating the Pistons by 10 in game three. The Jeeps would also win game
four to send the series back to Fort Wayne. The Pistons would win the
series at home in another blow out.
In the West old rivals Sheboygan and Oshkosh would once again be facing
each other. Sheboygan would squeak out two wins at home before going to
Oshkosh up two games to none. But in a repeat performance of the 44
NBL championship the Redskins lost the next three games and would be
eliminated for the playoffs.
In the middle bracket the Kautsky’s and Gears would have a fantastic
series, one of the best the NBL ever had. The Gears took game one 74-72
and also got game two 69-61. When the series flipped to Indianapolis,
the Kautsky’s would return the favor winning game one in games three and
four. The Gears would return to Chicago and win the series 76-62.
For some curious reason the league decided that the semifinals would be a
best out of three instead of best out of give. The Royals beat the
Pistons in game by nine, but the Pistons would beat the Royals by seven
in game two. The two teams had begun a rivalry which would last for 20
years during this time, as both teams began to rudely jeer at the other
team. Rochester would win game three in a twenty-point blowout to
return to the finals.
The Gears would have little trouble with the All-Stars in game one, the
Gears won by six points but Mikan’s dominance of the paint forced the
All-Stars to shoot jump shots which caused them dearly. Game two was
much the game but the All-stars actually had the lead late in the game
but George Mikan would take over and lead the Gears to a one point
victory.
Going into the finals Rochester looked like a favorite to win behind
Cervi, but Mikan was a forced to be reckoned with. Cervi and the Royals
would take game one 71-66. Game two was a different story, Mikan
dominated and lead the Gears to a 67-63 win. Mikan would dominate the
series for then on out and the Gears would win games three(78-70) and
four(79-68) to capture the title.
ABL
The 46-47 Season saw substantial growth for the ABL. The league went
from six to 10 teams during the season. The Bullets dominated the
regular season play, going 31 and 3 and winning the southern division.
In the norther division Brooklyn won the division title at 24 and 10.
Unlike the NBL who would send the top teams from each division, the ABL
sent the division winners and the four overall best teams. The Bullets
beat Brooklyn and Trenton beat Jersey City, Philadelphia and Elizabeth
town to advance to the finals. The Bullets decided to play in the
World basketball Championships instead and dropped out of the playoffs,
with that the Trenton Tigers were declared ABL champions.
The Birth of the BAA
With the NBL on the rise, and the ABL falling owners from America’s
largest cities, and one Canadian owner decided to create a new league in
the larger markets to compete with the NBL and ABL. The league was
called the Basketball Association of America or the BAA. Players earned
about $2,000 dollars’ month, and would get another $2,000 dollars if
they won the title.
Teams were the Washington Capitols, the Philadelphia Warriors, New York
Knickerbockers, Providence Steamrollers, Toronto Huskies, Boston
Celtics, Chicago Stags, St Louis Bombers, Detroit Falcons, Cleveland
Rebels and Pittsburgh Ironmen. The Celtics were named after the Original
Celtics. The new team’s linage was from that of the Boston Whirlwinds
of the ABL. |  |
In the East the Capitols gained an early lead and never let up, they
would take the division crown by going 49-11. The Capitols were coached
by Red Auerbach. The Warriors came in second at 35-25, coincidently the
Warriors were also owned by Eddie Gottleib who also owned the SPHAs of
the ABL. The Knickerbockers game in third at 33-27, followed by the
steamrollers(28-32), the Huskies, and the Celtics who both finished at
22-38. Philadelphia’s Joe Fulks would lead the BAA in scoring with 23
points a game, a far cry from anything any other player in any other
league was putting up.
Like the NBL the BAA’s western division seemed to be the close one with
the Stags winning the division title at 39-22, and the Bombers one game
behind at 38-23. The Rebels finished at 500 with a 30 and 30 record,
the Falcons and Ironmen brought up the rear.
The BAA set up their playoffs like a cross between the ABL and NBL
playoffs, the division winners got a first round bye like in the NBL,
while the playoff seeding went by overall record not division standings
like the ABL had.
In the opening round the Knicks beat the Rebels in their best of three
series 2-1. The Rebels stole game one 77-51, but the Knicks won both
games two and three by double digits.
The Warriors beat the Bombers in their best of 2-1 with the Warriors
winning game one 73-68, but the Bombers would take game two by 22
points, 73-51. But the Warriors beat the Bombers up in game three
75-39.
The Stags would face the Capitol in the next round, and the series would
be best of seven. The Stags won the first two games handily. The
Capitols put up a better fight in game three but still fell short. The
Capitols would win the next two games by double digits. The Stags would
win game six to take the series 4-2.
The Knicks-Warriors series would differ vastly from the Capitols-Stags
series, where that series was competitive and fans attended the games.
The Knicks-Warriors had a poor showing, and only lasted two games. The
Warriors won both games and advanced to the finals.
The Warriors would win game one against the Stags, they followed that up
by victories in games two and three. The Warriors lead by nine points
late in game four, but the Stags and their leader Max Zaslofsky came
charging back and took a one point victory. Game five would belong to
the Warriors who won the first ever BAA title.
NCAA
In the college Ranks Holy Cross stunned everyone by winning the title,
they did so behind a flashy young point guard nicknamed the Houdini of
the hardwood, Bob Cousy.
47-48
The 47-48 season saw more growth and more change for the NBL. The Gems
moved from Detroit to Minneapolis and became the Lakers, which wasn’t
the only big move the newly named Lakers did, they acquired MVP center
George Mikan. The Youngstown Bears folded and where replaced by the
Flint Dow AC’s.
The East was once again dominated by Cervi and the Royals. They would
finish with the best record in the NBL yet again at 44 and 16. The
Anderson Duffy Packers who had just moved to the East from the west were
second at 42 and 18. The Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons came in third at
40 and 20, While the Nationals would gain the last playoff birth at
24-36. Toledo would finish at 22-37, and the Flint Dow AC didn’t even
last the season in Flint before they moved to Midland, and finished
eight and 52.
The Lakers would dominate the West going 43 and 17, Mikan would dominate
and be the leagues first 20+ scorer. Tri-city would finish second at a
mediocre 30-30, Oshkosh would finish one game behind them at 29-31, and
Indianapolis would gain the last playoff birth at 24 and 35. The
Redskins would finish at 23-37 and miss the playoffs.
Again Rochester and Fort Wayne would meet in the playoffs, Rochester
would win game one by nine, and Fort Wayne would even the series after
taking game two. The Royals would blow the Pistons away in games three
and four to take the series.
Anderson would dominate struggling Syracuse in their best of five
series. The Packers would win all three games by a margin of about 20
points a game. The Packers would wait to see if they faced the Royals
or Pistons.
The Lakers would face the All-stars and beat them handily in game one,
80 to 68. The Lakers inflicted even more punishment upon the All-stars
in game two taking it 88-65. Oshkosh would however give the Lakers their
worst defeat of the season beating them 69 to 51 in game three. But
Mikan was to much for Oshkosh in game four and the lakers won 81-66.
The Blackhawks would take game one against the Kautsky’s by 10, but the
Kautsky’s returned the favor by beating the Blackhawks by 19 in game
two. The Blackhawks would take games three and four in blowouts to go
to the semifinals.
In the East semi’s the Royals beat the Packers 71-66 to win game one,
the Packers beat the Royals 76-69 in game two but Cervi would come
though for the Royals as they took game 74-48, in the monumental beating
some of the Packer players actually booed their teammates.
The lakers would crush Tri-city in the West semi’s winning both games
handily. Mikan was once again the most dominate player in the game.
Mikan’s performance grabbed the attention of the national media, and
Basketball became a hugely popular sport thereafter.
The Lakers and Mikan would face the Royals in the finals, again. The
two NBL stars were fighting for the championship. The Lakers beat the
Royals 80-74 in game one, Despite a fantastic performance by Cervi. The
lakers also took game two 82-67. Cervi and the Royals would counter
with a game three win, but it was too little too late, the Lakers would
take game four and the title.
By the start of the 47-48 the ABL had all but practically died, most of
the players had already defected to the NBL or the newly formed BAA,
this included the Bullets who joined the BAA Midway thought the season
the Scranton team was disbanded and many teams switched cities.
Peterson and Wilkes-Barre would play for the title with Wilkes-Barre
winning the title two games to one game.
The Boston Celtics are among the BAA teams to join the NBA. |
BAA
Despite a decent showing in attendance, some of the BAA’s teams
disbanded. Detroit, Cleveland Pittsburgh and Toronto all went the way
of the Dodo before the season. Also the league lowered the number of
games to 48, and Baltimore Bullets joined the league for the ABL.
Philadelphia and New York would battle all season long for the best
record, Joe Fulks would prove to much for the Knickerbockers and the
Warriors captured the eastern crown. The Celtics would improve to
20-28, while the Steamrollers fell to 6 and 42.
In the West all four teams battled all season long for the division. In
the end the Bombers would one more game then the Bullets, Stags and
Capitols would all finish at 28 and 20. The Capitols lost a tie breaker
game to the Stags, who in turn lost to the Bullets the Stags Max
Zaslofsky won the scoring title, Despite averaging 21.0 ppg, while
Philadelphia’s Joe Fulks averaged 22.1, this happened because Zaslofsky
played in all 48 games scoring 1,107 points while Fulks only played in
43 contest scoring 949 points. Since Zaslofsky has scored more overall
points, he won the scoring title.
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The Bullets would face the Knickerbockers in the playoffs, the Bullets
won game one by four points, but the Knickerbockers came back with a 10
point win in game two. The Bullets finally put away the Knickerbockers
winning game three 87 to 77.
Chicago would face Boston in the other opening round series. The Stags
won game one by seven, while the Celtics won game two, by four points.
Like the Bullets the Stags pulled away in the third game to win the
series.
The First semi final was between the Warriors and the Bombers. The
Bombers won game one in St Louis 60 to 58. The Warriors squeaked out a
one point win to steal home court from the Bombers as the series moved
back to Philadelphia. The Warriors followed their game two victory by
completely thrashing the visiting Bombers 84 to56. The Bombers stole
home court back by beating the Warriors 56-51 in Philadelphia With the
Series back in St Louis the Bombers looked to take a commanding lead
and win the series when they beat the Warriors 69 to 62 in game five.
With the Series moving back to Philadelphia, the Warriors took game six
in another blowout, thumping the Bombers 84-61. Game seven was back in
St Louis three nights later, were the Warriors once again blew out the
Bombers 85-46 in front of many upset fans.
The other semi final which was the best out of three saw the Bullets
crush the Stags in both games. The Bullets team defense smothered
Zaslofsky and the Stags offense stagnated. The Bullets won the series
in a two game sweep.
The Warriors had home court advantage in the finals, game one in
Philadelphia the Warriors rode the fan momentum and coasted to a 71-60
win. The Warriors came out with much the same enthusiasm they had in
game one, in game two, The Warriors would build up a 21-point half-time
lead. The Bullets came charging back and in Historical precedence won
game two 66-63, this still makes the biggest comeback to win a
championship game in BAA/NBA history. After game two the momentum
shifted and the Bullets would win three of the next four games to win
the second BAA Championship.
48-49
The growth of the NBL continued in 1948-1949 with the addition of four
new teams; the Waterloo Hawks, the Detroit Vegabond Kings, the Hammond
Calumet Buccaneers, and the Denver Nuggets. However the national
exposure of Mikan and the Lakers caused the Lakers to jump ship to the
BAA, as did the Kautskys the Piston, and the Royals. The NBL was in
dire straight after this, and the pockets of the owners would feel it.
This was an ironic twist of faith, because the previous season had been
the leagues most successful.
With the loss of both the Pistons and the Royals the NBL east had a
gapping whole in the standings, the Buccaneers and the Vegabond Kings
were placed in the East. Neither team did very well, the Vegabond Kings
only last half a season before they moved to Dayton and became the
Rens. The Buccaneers finished the season 21-41, and the Vegabond/Rens
at 16 and 43. At the top of the Division was the Duffy Packers who
capitalized on the absence of the Pistons and Royals. The Packers
finished the season with the best record in NBL history at 49 and 15.
The Nationals who were lead by rookie Dolph Schayes finished second at
40 and 23.
In the West the All-stars took the Lakers place as the number one team.
The All-stars finished the season at 37 and 27. Don Otten and the
Tri-City Blackhawks finished second at 36 and 28. Otten was the first
player other than George Mikan to lead the NBL in scoring in three
years. Sheboygan finished just a little better than the two expansion
teams at 35 and 29. The Waterloo Hawks finished just below 500 at 30
and 32, and the Denver Nuggets rounded the standings out at 18 and 44.
Oshkosh and Anderson both earned first round byes for finishing with the
best records in their divisions. In the East opening round Syracuse
would face off with Hammond. The Nationals won the first game 80 to 69,
and the second game 72 to 66.
Tri-City would face Sheboygan in the other opening round match. Like
the Nationals the Blackhawks would sweep their opponent in two games.
Anderson would face Syracuse in the Semifinals, the Packers would win
the first game 89 to 74, but the Nationals and Schayes took game two 80
to 62. The Packers would answer by winning games three and four by 6
points each.
Oshkosh would win a two-point game 66-64 over Tri-city in game one.
Game two was much the same for Oshkosh who won 83-73. The Blackhawks
would score a win in game three when they beat the All-Stars 70-64. The
All-Stars would however bounce back and beat the Blackhawks 70-69, and
the All-stars would make their first NBL finals appearance since1942.
In the finals Anderson won game won 74-70, the Packers followed that win
up by winning game two 72-70. The Packers finished off the All-Stars
88 to 64 to win their first NBL title.
ABL
The owners of the ABL tried keeping the league alive but with the
exception of Philadelphia and Brooklyn the ABL had lost their stronghold
on all the major cities. Wilkes-Barre would once again have the best
record and once again win the title.
BAA
The 48-49 season saw great growth for the BAA. Four of the NBL super
teams, the Minneapolis lakers, the Rochester Royals, the Fort Wayne
Zollner Pistons and the Indianapolis Kautsky’s, all jumped to the BAA.
The Kautsky’s became known as the Jets and then Zollner Pistons as just
the Pistons. In addition to gaining four new teams for the NBL, the
BAA also got superstars Paul Risen and George Mikan.
The Capitols became the Eastern Divisions best team by winning 38 games
against 22 losses. The Knickerbockers went 32-28 to finish at second.
Third was the defending champion Bullets who seemed lost after winning
the title. They finished 29 and 31. The Warriors finished even lower
then the team that had beaten them in the finals just the year before at
25-35. Providence did improve a little doubling their win output from
the season before going 12 and 48.
The Western division and its powerhouse teams made for good basketball
in the BAA, five of the six teams would be huge draws anywhere they
went. The Royals and Lakers battled most the season for the top spot,
but the Risen lead Royal one upped the lakers winning the division by
one game at 45 and 15. The Lakers at 44 and 16 were followed by the
Stags at 38-22, the Bombers at 29-31, the Pistons at 22-38, and the Jets
at 18-42.
The Playoffs would be a best out of three contest. In the Eastern
bracket the Capitols bested the Warriors in a two game sweep. The
Knickerbockers would win their first ever playoff series by beating the
defending champion Bullets two games to one. And the Capitols finished
off the Knickerbockers two games to one to go on to the Finals.
In the West the Royals demolished the Bombers in game one 93-64, and
then got a narrow 66-64 win in game two to win the series. The lakers
pounded the Stags in a two game sweep to advance to the semi’s to face
the Royals. In what was boasted as the biggest match in BAA history,
the Lakers took game one on Rochester’s home floor by one. When the
series moved to Minneapolis so many people wanted tickets the game had
to be moved to St Paul. The Lakers took game two 67-55, the 12 point
win disappointed many fans, but still most had gotten hooked on the
game.
The Finals say the lakers take a domineering role in the first three
games, winning all but one by double digits. However, in game four the
Lakers star center George Mikan broke his wrist. This allowed the
Capitols to steal the game away from the Lakers. With Mikan still
ailing, the Capitol also took game five in Washington. Game six was a
different story, Mike came back and scored 42 points to lead the Lakers
to their first BAA title.
49-50
The NBL and BAA Merge; the Birth of the NBA.
Owners from the NBL and BAA would meet after both the leagues had
finished their seasons, owners on both sides were concerned over teams
and players constantly jumping leagues. On August 3rd, 1949 all the
team owners had come to a satisfying agreement; the six remaining NBL
teams, the Syracuse Nationals, The Anderson Duffy Packers, the Tri-City
Blackhawks, the Sheboygan Redskins, the Waterloo Hawks, and the Denver
Nuggets, would join with the BAA, the resulting 17 team league would be
called the National Basketball Association(NBA), and have three
divisions of five or six teams. The League did lose one team, the
Providence Steamrollers disbanded after two horrible seasons.
In the East the Nationals behind Schayes dominated their division and
finished 51-13. The Knickerbockers finished next at 40 and 28, followed
by the Capitols(32-36), the Warriors(26-42), the Bullets(25-43), and the
Celtics(22-46)
The Lakers and Royals had another dog fight to the finish in the Central
division. Both teams would finish 51 and 17, and need a tie breaker to
decide who would win the division title, the Lakers won the tie
breaker. Fort Wayne and Chicago would also finish the season with a tie
at 40 and 28. The Pistons won the tie breaker over the Stags. The
Bombers finished last at 26-42.
In the West the Jets had become the Olympians won the division in a
tightly contested race to the Finish with the Packers. The Blackhawks
would follow up, followed by Sheboygan, Waterloo, and Denver. With the
exception of Syracuse the NBL teams all struggled in the new BAA, and
the entire western Division was made of former NBL teams.
In the playoffs the Nationals beat the Warriors in a two game sweep to
move on to face the Knickerbockers who had beaten the Capitols in a two
game sweep. The Nationals would advance to the finals since they had
fewer losses (13) then the Lakers(17) who won the Central, both teams
won 51 games in the season.
The Lakers would sweep the Stags in the NBA central division playoffs,
while Fort Wayne Shocked their old Rivals from the NBL by beating the
Royals in a sweep. The Lakers would then sweep the Pistons to await the
winner of the Western Finals.
The Western divisional playoffs say Indianapolis and Sheboygan have a
tightly contested series with the Olympians pulling out in game three.
The Packers and Blackhawks series would also go three games, but it
wasn’t nearly as contested, the Packers pulled away with the victory in
game three to go and face the Lakers.
The Lakers would crush the Packers in the Semifinals, neither of the
games was close at all and Mikan sat most of the last half of the second
half of both games.
In the Finals the Lakers took game one from well-rested Syracuse, but
the Nationals took game two as the Series moved to Minneapolis. Both
games’ three and four were played in St Paul, and the Lakers won both
games three and four. Syracuse would win game five but when the series
returned to Minneapolis, Mikan the Lakers were to much as the lakers
captured their third title in their third league in a row.
game of tennis is the same everywhere. The name given to the game differs in
different countries. In Great Britain it is called Tennis or, to distinguish
it from Lawn Tennis, Real Tennis or Royal Tennis. In the USA it is called
Court Tennis: in France Jeu de Paume (hand ball): and in Australia Royal
Tennis. The various names throw light on the development of the game.
Tennis wasy played in 5th century Tuscany when villagers used to strike balls up and
down the streets with bare hands.
