The 1947–48 Boston Celtics season was the second season of the Boston Celtics in the Basketball Association of America (BAA/NBA).1947–48 Boston Celtics After four of the inaugural BAA teams folded operations and the (original) Baltimore Bullets from the original American Basketball League went from the ABL to the BAA, the Boston Celtics played in a reformatted Eastern Division. This divisional reformatting saw them achieve their first ever playoff appearance in the 1948 BAA playoffs despite them having a losing record once again with a 20–28 record (though a major part of what would get them in the playoffs this season was the Providence Steamrollers having a 6–42 record, which remains the lowest number of wins recorded in a BAA/NBA season). Due to the early formatting issues the BAA had at the time, their sole appearance in the BAA Quarterfinals saw them going up against the Chicago Stags despite them being a Western Division team this season; Boston lost to the Stags 2–1, with them not being able to return to the playoffs again until the 1951 NBA playoffs at the start of head coach Red Auerbach's tenure with the team.

Draft picks

Round Pick Player Position Nationality School / Club 1 3 Bulbs Ehlers G/F Purdue 2 13 Hank Biasatti G Assumption College / Toronto Huskies (BAA) 3 23 Gene Stump G/F DePaul 4 33 Johnny Ezersky G/F Rhode Island State / Brooklyn Gothams (ABL) 5 43 Jack Hewson F/C Temple / Philadelphia Sphas (ABL) 6 51 Bob Alemeida – California 7 59 George Felt – Northwestern 8 65 John Kelly – Notre Dame 9 71 George Petrovick G Warren Harding High School (Bridgeport, CT) / Bridgeport Newfield Steelers (NEBL) Johnny Ezersky would end up being traded to the nearby Providence Steamrollers not long after the draft concluded.https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/draft/past_drafts/1947 Interestingly, the second round selection of Hank Biasetti would be one of two BAA draft selections (alongside Irv Rothenberg later being selected by the Washington Capitols) to be taken by a BAA/NBA team when they had already previously played for the BAA in the previous season (with Biasetti playing for the Toronto Huskies (who were still active at the time of the draft) and Rothenberg playing for the soon-to-be-defunct Cleveland Rebels), which would be a unique situation there in its own right.

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Game log # Date Opponent Score High points Record 1 November 13 @ Baltimore L 74–85 Sadowski, Simmons (16) 0–1 2 November 14 Philadelphia L 74–79 (OT) Ed Sadowski (27) 0–2 3 November 15 @ Washington W 73–69 Ed Sadowski (14) 1–2 4 November 18 St. Louis L 50–65 Ed Sadowski (14) 1–3 5 November 20 @ Philadelphia W 67–57 Ed Sadowski (18) 2–3 6 November 21 Baltimore L 73–89 Ed Sadowski (18) 2–4 7 November 22 @ Providence W 65–62 Cecil Hankins (12) 3–4 8 November 25 New York L 75–91 Ed Sadowski (15) 3–5 9 November 26 @ New York W 65–63 Ed Sadowski (19) 4–5 10 November 28 Washington W 92–83 Ed Sadowski (22) 5–5 11 December 2 Baltimore L 69–77 (OT) Ed Sadowski (18) 5–6 12 December 5 Providence W 73–69 Ed Sadowski (24) 6–6 13 December 10 New York L 75–79 Ed Sadowski (25) 6–7 14 December 12 Philadelphia W 69–67 Mel Riebe (22) 7–7 15 December 17 Providence W 67–66 Mel Riebe (17) 8–7 16 December 19 St. Louis W 78–70 Ed Sadowski (30) 9–7 17 December 20 @ New York L 58–70 Saul Mariaschin (20) 9–8 18 December 23 Chicago L 75–83 Ed Sadowski (22) 9–9 19 December 27 @ Providence W 74–63 Mel Riebe (15) 10–9 20 December 30 Philadelphia W 70–64 Ed Sadowski (28) 11–9 21 January 1 @ St. Louis L 48–58 Bulbs Ehlers (12) 11–10 22 January 3 @ Washington L 60–95 Connie Simmons (12) 11–11 23 January 10 @ Providence L 57–70 Ed Sadowski (19) 11–12 24 January 11 Washington W 84–56 Mel Riebe (21) 12–12 25 January 16 Chicago W 75–61 Ed Sadowski (23) 13–12 26 January 18 @ Chicago L 48–72 Ed Sadowski (11) 13–13 27 January 22 @ Philadelphia W 61–54 Noszka, Riebe, Sadowski (11) 14–13 28 January 23 New York L 58–74 Mel Riebe (18) 14–14 29 January 25 @ St. Louis L 54–72 Ed Sadowski (18) 14–15 30 January 27 Philadelphia L 68–77 Ed Sadowski (21) 14–16 31 January 30 Providence 69–79 Ed Sadowski (22) 14–17 32 January 31 @ New York L 64–66 Ed Sadowski (28) 14–18 33 February 6 New York L 57–68 Ed Sadowski (18) 14–19 34 February 8 @ New York L 68–80 Ed Sadowski (30) 14–20 35 February 12 @ Philadelphia L 60–69 Ed Sadowski (20) 14–21 36 February 13 Providence W 79–73 Ed Sadowski (23) 15–21 37 February 14 @ Washington L 58–72 Ed Sadowski (16) 15–22 38 February 19 @ Baltimore L 76–79 (OT) Ed Sadowski (33) 15–23 39 February 22 Chicago L 77–97 Mel Riebe (20) 15–24 40 February 26 @ St. Louis L 92–94 (2OT) Ed Sadowski (34) 15–25 41 February 27 @ Chicago W 83–69 Ehlers, Sadowski (22) 16–25 42 February 29 Baltimore W 65–62 Ed Sadowski (20) 17–25 43 March 4 @ Philadelphia L 62–82 Ed Sadowski (16) 17–26 44 March 5 St. Louis W 71–68 Ed Sadowski (32) 18–26 45 March 6 @ Baltimore L 68–81 Mike Bloom (14) 18–27 46 March 13 @ Providence W 86–64 Mel Riebe (22) 19–27 47 March 16 Washington L 62–76 Ed Sadowski (18) 19–28 48 March 18 @ Chicago W 77–72 Ed Sadowski (23) 20–28

BAA Playoffs

|- align="center" bgcolor="ffcccc" | 1 | March 28 | Chicago | L 72–79 | Sadowski, Riebe (22) | Boston Garden | 0–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="ccffcc" | 2 | March 31 | Chicago | W 81–77 | Saul Mariaschin (17) | Boston Garden | 1–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="ffcccc" | 3 | April 2 | Chicago | L 74–81 | Ed Sadowski (26) | Boston Garden | 1–2

Awards and records Ed Sadowski, All-NBA First Team

Transactions

Trades April 29, 1947 To Boston CelticsCecil Hankins"1946–47 Boston Celtics Transactions". Basketball Reference. Retrieved September 6, 2017. To St. Louis BombersWyndol Gray October 27, 1947 To Boston CelticsGeorge Munroe"1947–48 Boston Celtics Transactions". Basketball Reference. Retrieved September 6, 2017.Cash To St. Louis BombersJohn Abramovic February 9, 1948 To Boston CelticsMike Bloom To Baltimore BulletsConnie Simmons

Free agency Additions Player Signed Former team John Janisch Detroit Falcons Saul Mariaschin Harvard Crimson Stan Noszka Pittsburgh Ironmen Mel Riebe Cleveland Rebels Ed Sadowski Cleveland Rebels

Subtractions Player Reason left New team Al Brightman Signed contract Seattle Athletics Hal Crisler Retired from basketball to pursue career in American football Washington Redskins (NFL) Bob Duffy Don Eliason Warren Fenley Brooklyn Gothams Mel Hirsch Jerry Kelly Signed contract Providence Steamrollers Harold Kottman Signed contract St. Paul Saints Dick Murphy Signed contract Elizabeth Braves John Simmons Signed contract Kansas City Blues Virgil Vaughn Syracuse Nationals

References