The 1948–49 Boston Celtics season was the third season of the Boston Celtics in the Basketball Association of America (BAA/NBA).1948–49 Boston Celtics Due to the additions of the Fort Wayne Pistons, Indianapolis Jets, Minneapolis Lakers, and Rochester Royals from the rivaling National Basketball League for this season, the Celtics would see the Eastern Division go back to being more difficult in nature, similar to what it was like to their inaugural season of play as opposed to their previous season of play. This would lead to the Celtics being three games shy of qualifying for the 1949 BAA playoffs despite having a losing record, as their 25–35 record would be three games behind the 28–32 Philadelphia Warriors and four games behind the 29–31 Baltimore Bullets for the final two playoff spots in their division. Following this season's conclusion, the BAA and rivaling NBL would merge operations together to become the present-day National Basketball Association to have 17 teams between the surviving 10-team BAA and surviving 7-team NBL competing in the 1949–50 NBA season.

Draft picks

Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 1 3 George Hauptfuhrer C Harvard 2 15 Johnny Bach G/F Fordham 3 27 Marshall Hawkins F Tennessee 4 39 Tom Kelly G New York University 5 51 Murray Mitchell C Sam Houston State 6 63 Norman Carey – Oregon State 7 74 Bob Curran G Holy Cross 8 84 Neil Dooley – Colgate 9 94 Jack Hauser – Denver 10 103 Guinn Phillips – Texas Wesleyan 11 108 Ray Wehde – Iowa State Marshall Hawkins would later be transferred to the Indianapolis Olympians by the following season after deciding to play for the Oshkosh All-Stars in the rivaling National Basketball League during this season.

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Game log # Date Opponent Score High points Record 1 November 4 @ Philadelphia 73–94 Gene Stump (23) 0–1 2 November 7 Philadelphia 85–77 Halbert, Stump (19) 1–1 3 November 9 Minneapolis 77–55 Gene Stump (23) 2–1 4 November 12 Fort Wayne 84–75 Bulbs Ehlers (22) 3–1 5 November 13 @ Rochester 63–95 Gene Stump (14) 3–2 6 November 16 @ St. Louis 74–79 (OT) Ehlers, Stump (18) 3–3 7 November 17 @ Minneapolis 74–72 Gene Stump (24) 4–3 8 November 19 Indianapolis 75–70 Gene Stump (24) 5–3 9 November 20 @ Washington 75–90 Ehlers, Halbert (13) 5–4 10 November 23 Washington 68–71 Bulbs Ehlers (24) 5–5 11 November 25 @ Indianapolis 66–81 Chick Halbert (15) 5–6 12 November 28 @ Fort Wayne 74–80 Chick Halbert (18) 5–7 13 November 30 vs Minneapolis 84–94 Mel Riebe (23) 5–8 14 December 2 @ Philadelphia 88–87 Mel Riebe (25) 6–8 15 December 4 @ Providence 70–63 Bulbs Ehlers (18) 7–8 16 December 6 Rochester 79–87 Bulbs Ehlers (24) 7–9 17 December 13 St. Louis 83–79 (OT) Gene Stump (25) 8–9 18 December 17 Baltimore 63–74 Tom Kelly (18) 8–10 19 December 18 @ Washington 60–69 Tom Kelly (12) 8–11 20 December 19 New York 77–75 Bob Doll (14) 9–11 21 December 25 @ Philadelphia 77–80 Gene Stump (20) 9–12 22 December 26 @ Chicago 73–84 Bulbs Ehlers (17) 9–13 23 December 28 Chicago 74–76 Tom Kelly (15) 9–14 24 December 31 Providence 69–67 Gene Stump (14) 10–14 25 January 1 @ Baltimore 67–72 Chick Halbert (23) 10–15 26 January 2 @ Fort Wayne 90–69 Tom Kelly (26) 11–15 27 January 4 Baltimore 75–69 Bob Doll (25) 12–15 28 January 7 New York 67–69 Mel Riebe (14) 12–16 29 January 8 @ Providence 69–87 Chick Halbert (14) 12–17 30 January 10 Washington 83–94 Bulbs Ehlers (14) 12–18 31 January 12 @ New York 64–81 Art Spector (19) 12–19 32 January 14 Philadelphia 79–104 Jim Seminoff (21) 12–20 33 January 15 vs Chicago 86–94 Bob Doll (18) 12–21 34 January 18 St. Louis 83–89 Bulbs Ehlers (20) 12–22 35 January 21 Chicago 76–86 Bulbs Ehlers (22) 12–23 36 January 22 @ Washington 64–95 Roberts, Seminoff (14) 12–24 37 January 25 Providence 54–69 George Nostrand (9) 12–25 38 January 28 Washington 91–90 Farbman, Spector (18) 13–25 39 January 29 @ Providence 85–91 (OT) Gene Stump (28) 13–26 40 February 1 Rochester 68–76 Bob Kinney (13) 13–27 41 February 3 @ Baltimore 76–84 George Kaftan (21) 13–28 42 February 4 Indianapolis 75–64 George Kaftan (16) 14–28 43 February 7 Baltimore 95–83 Dermie O'Connell (19) 15–28 44 February 11 Providence 94–77 George Kaftan (18) 16–28 45 February 18 Minneapolis 71–85 George Kaftan (19) 16–29 46 February 19 @ New York 87–77 Ezersky, Kaftan (15) 17–29 47 February 22 @ Indianapolis 68–74 Kaftan, O'Connell (12) 17–30 48 February 23 @ St. Louis 83–77 George Kaftan (21) 18–30 49 February 25 St. Louis 102–83 George Nostrand (19) 19–30 50 February 26 @ Rochester 59–64 George Kaftan (10) 19–31 51 March 4 Fort Wayne 76–70 George Kaftan (14) 20–31 52 March 5 @ New York 61–66 Nostrand, Seminoff (13) 20–32 53 March 7 @ Indianapolis 107–86 Doll, O'Connell (17) 21–32 54 March 8 vs Fort Wayne 63–60 Kinney, O'Connell (14) 22–32 55 March 9 @ Minneapolis 67–74 George Nostrand (17) 22–33 56 March 11 Philadelphia 108–100 Bulbs Ehlers (22) 23–33 57 March 12 @ Baltimore 77–89 Johnny Ezersky (14) 23–34 58 March 15 Rochester 86–83 George Kaftan (24) 24–34 59 March 16 vs Chicago 82–107 Johnny Ezersky (21) 24–35 60 March 18 New York 70–56 George Kaftan (25) 25–35

References