• Categories

    • Basketball Association of America (BAA)-Discover the Basis of NBA

    by admin in Basketball Leagues | Comments Off on Basketball Association of America (BAA)-Discover the Basis of NBA

    Basketball Association of America was established in New York City on June 6, 1946. The league was financed by the owners of ice hockey arenas in United States and Canada. The idea of setting up a professional basketball league was came from Walter A. Brown, the owner of Boston Garden (arena), who suggested that more profit can be made if basketball games are organized in the ice hockey arenas at the time when ice hockey games are not scheduled to play. Maurice Podoloff was appointed as the president of the league.

    The First Season 1946-47

    The inaugural season was started with 11 teams, Boston Celtics, Chicago Stags, Cleveland Rebels, Detroit Falcons, New York Knickerbockers, Philadelphia Warriors, Pittsburgh Ironmen, Providence Steamrollers, St. Louis Bombers, Toronto Huskies and Washington Capitols. The first game of the leagues history was held on November 1, 1946 at Maple Leaf Gardens, where Toronto Huskies played against New York Knickerbockers.

    The Format of BAA

    In BAA, the games were played according to a specific format. The teams were divided into two divisions, the Eastern Division and the Western Division. In a single regular season, each team was bound to play 60 games. The top 3 teams from each division moved ahead to the playoff stage. Two division winners went directly to the semifinals, while 4 other teams competed in best-of-3 quarterfinals to get a place in the semifinals. The semifinals were played in a best-of-7 format. In one semifinal, two division winners compete against each other, in the other semifinal, the two quarterfinal winners fought hard to get through to the finals. In the finals, a best-of-7 series was played to determine the champion of the season.

    New Rules Introduced by BAA 

    BAA was a major professional basketball of the time; the league introduced some new rules to become fractionally different from the rival league NBL. In the league, the duration of the league was expanded, from 40 to 48 minutes. Players were disqualified from the game when they commit 6 fouls instead of 5.

    The Second Season 1947-48

    In the second season, only seven teams remained in the league, as four teams Cleveland Rebels, Detroit Falcons, Pittsburgh Ironmen and Toronto Huskies were left out of the league. A new team Baltimore Bullets from ABL joined the league and emerged as the champion of the league.

    The Last Season 1948-49

    Four more teams, Fort Wayne Pistons, Indianapolis Jets, Minneapolis Lakers and Rochester Royals left the NBL and entered the BAA. With the inclusion of more teams, the playoffs format had been changed slightly. Eight teams could qualify for the playoffs where they play divisional semifinals and divisional finals to determine the two top teams from each division. The two division winners moved forward to play the best-of-7 finals series.

    Although, the league lasted only for three but achieved quite a bit in those three seasons. It came across as a major basketball league in United States and became the first basketball league managed to play most of its games in big courts of the major cities.

    On August 3, 1949, BAA decided to merge with the rival league NBL and formed a new league NBA.

    RESULTS AND STANDINGS

     

    1946-47 Season

    Eastern Division
    Team Wins Loses
    Washington Capitols 49 11
    Philadelphia Warriors 35 25
    New York Knickerbockers 33 27
    Providence Steamrollers 28 32
    Boston Celtics 22 38
    Toronto Huskies 22 38

     

    Western Division
    Team Wins Loses
    Chicago Stags  39 22
    St. Louis Bombers  38 23
    Cleveland Rebels 30 30
    Detroit Falcons 20 40
    Pittsburgh Ironmen 15 45

    Finals

    Philadelphia Warriors vs. Chicago Stags 4-1

     

    1947-48 Season 

    Eastern Division
    Team Wins Loses
    Philadelphia Warriors 27 21
    New York Knickerbockers 26 22
    Boston Celtics 20 28
    Providence Steamrollers 6 42

     

    Western Division
    Team Wins Loses
    St. Louis Bombers 29 19
    Baltimore Bullets 28 20
    Chicago Stags 28 20
    Washington Capitols 28 20

     Finals

    Baltimore Bullets vs.  Philadelphia Warriors 4-2

    1948-49 Season 

    Eastern Division
    Team Wins Loses
    Washington Capitals 38 22
    New York Knickerbockers 32 28
    Baltimore Bullets 29 31
    Philadelphia Warriors 28 32
    Boston Celtics 25 35
    Providence Steamrollers 12 48

     

    Western Division
    Teams Wins Loses
    Rochester Royals 45 15
    Minneapolis Lakers 44 16
    Chicago Stags 38 22
    St. Louis Bombers 29 31
    Fort Wayne Pistons 22 38
    Indianapolis  Jets 18 42

     Finals

    Minneapolis Lakers vs. Washington Capitols 4-2




    Related posts

    Tags:

    Comments are closed.