The 1948–49 BAA season was the Capitols' third season in the NBA/BAA.1948-49 Washington Capitols They became the first team to win 15 straight games to start the season, which was both a BAA record and then an NBA record at the time, which would since be tied 45 years later by the Houston Rockets in 1993 before Golden State Warriors surpassed it in 2015. The Cleveland Cavaliers would later tie this mark as well in 2024. After ending their previous season with a surprising tiebreaker exit from playoff contention, the Capitols would return to the kind of greatness they had in their first season of play with a 38–22 resulting in them having the best record in the Eastern Division (though not the best overall record this time around), which led to them making it all the way to the 1949 BAA Finals, where they ended up losing to one of the new entrants of the league, the NBL-turned-BAA's Minneapolis Lakers (who were led primarily by superstar center George Mikan), 4–2. With the Capitols later folding on January 9, 1951, they would end up joining the Chicago Stags in 1947 and last season's champions in the original Baltimore Bullets ABL/BAA/NBA franchise as the only three BAA/NBA teams to have folded operations after making it to a BAA/NBA Finals championship series., pp. 65–76

Following the conclusion of the final BAA season before it merged with the National Basketball League (NBL) to become the NBA, legendary head coach Red Auerbach would quit his role as head coach of the Capitols due to team owner Mike Uline refusing to adhere to Auerbach's demands of having a multi-year contract with the team following Uline's prior problems with multi-year contracts with previous teams he had owned in the past, which led to the Capitols replacing Auerbach with player-coach Bob Feerick as the new head coach of the team for the next season., p. 209 After briefly being an assistant coach for Duke University, he would return to be the head coach for the Tri-Cities Blackhawks for most of the 1949–50 NBA season before later coaching the Boston Celtics for the rest of his tenure, eventually winning nine NBA Finals championships with them., pp. 209–210

Draft

Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 1 12 Jack Nichols F/C Washington – – Fred Bartell – Oregon – – Ed Hughes – San Jose State – – Thorton Jenkins – Missouri – – Leo Katkaveck G NC State – – C. T. Parker – Louisiana Tech – – Jack Parkinson G Kentucky – – Don Walker – Sam Houston State – – Al Williams – Arkansas

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Game log

| 1 | November 3 | Philadelphia | W 77–70 | Hermsen, McKinney (17) | | 1–0 |- | 2 | November 4 | @ Providence | W 99–95 (3OT) | Bob Feerick (22) | | 2–0 |- | 3 | November 6 | Minneapolis | W 67–62 | Bones McKinney (24) | | 3–0 |- | 4 | November 10 | Rochester | W 73–66 | Fred Scolari (12) | | 4–0 |- | 5 | November 11 | @ Baltimore | W 70–68 | Bones McKinney (15) | | 5–0 |- | 6 | November 13 | Fort Wayne | W 80–71 | Kleggie Hermsen (20) | | 6–0 |- | 7 | November 17 | @ New York | W 73–62 | Hermsen, Hertzberg (12) | | 7–0 |- | 8 | November 20 | Boston | W 90–75 | Kleggie Hermsen (15) | | 8–0 |- | 9 | November 21 | @ Rochester | W 80–77 | Bob Feerick (19) | | 9–0 |- | 10 | November 23 | @ Boston | W 71–68 | Kleggie Hermsen (16) | | 10–0 |- | 11 | November 25 | @ Philadelphia | W 81–73 | Bones McKinney (18) | | 11–0 |- | 12 | November 27 | Indianapolis | W 94–76 | McKinney, Scolari (19) | | 12–0

| 13 | December 1 | Providence | W 75–63 | Feerick, McKinney (16) | | 13–0 |- | 14 | December 2 | @ Providence | W 66–61 | Kleggie Hermsen (15) | | 14–0 |- | 15 | December 4 | Baltimore | W 83–82 | Bones McKinney (21) | | 15–0 |- | 16 | December 7 | @ Indianapolis | L 78–94 | Bones McKinney (17) | | 15–1 |- | 17 | December 8 | @ Minneapolis | W 94–83 | Bones McKinney (20) | | 16–1 |- | 18 | December 10 | vs St. Louis | L 83–88 (OT) | Sidney Hertzberg (21) | | 16–2 |- | 19 | December 11 | St. Louis | W 87–63 | Feerick, Hertzberg (14) | | 17–2 |- | 20 | December 15 | Philadelphia | W 92–81 | Bones McKinney (22) | | 18–2 |- | 21 | December 18 | Boston | W 69–60 | Bones McKinney (21) | | 19–2 |- | 22 | December 22 | Providence | W 102–77 | Bob Feerick (24) | | 20–2 |- | 23 | December 25 | Fort Wayne | W 88–74 | Bob Feerick (20) | | 21–2 |- | 24 | December 26 | @ Fort Wayne | L 73–91 | Kleggie Hermsen (19) | | 21–3 |- | 25 | December 29 | @ Minneapolis | L 68–91 | Bones McKinney (20) | | 21–4 |- | 26 | December 30 | @ St. Louis | W 81–68 | Bob Feerick (20) | | 22–4

| 27 | January 1 | Chicago | W 92–90 | Bob Feerick (22) | | 23–4 |- | 28 | January 4 | @ Philadelphia | W 84–78 | Leo Katkaveck (15) | | 24–4 |- | 29 | January 5 | Baltimore | L 68–88 | Hermsen, Norlander, Schulz (10) | | 24–5 |- | 30 | January 8 | Indianapolis | W 89–81 | Fred Scolari (15) | | 25–5 |- | 31 | January 10 | @ Boston | W 94–83 | Fred Scolari (21) | | 26–5 |- | 32 | January 12 | @ Baltimore | L 92–106 | Bob Feerick (17) | | 26–6 |- | 33 | January 15 | New York | W 75–73 | Fred Scolari (17) | | 27–6 |- | 34 | January 16 | @ Chicago | L 70–92 | Jack Nichols (15) | | 27–7 |- | 35 | January 20 | @ Providence | W 88–81 | Bones McKinney (20) | | 28–7 |- | 36 | January 22 | Boston | W 95–64 | Bones McKinney (17) | | 29–7 |- | 37 | January 23 | @ New York | W 97–93 | Bones McKinney (26) | | 30–7 |- | 38 | January 26 | @ Baltimore | L 86–96 | Fred Scolari (18) | | 30–8 |- | 39 | January 28 | @ Boston | L 90–91 | Fred Scolari (17) | | 30–9 |- | 40 | January 30 | @ Minneapolis | L 79–84 | Bob Feerick (19) | | 30–10

| 41 | February 1 | @ Indianapolis | L 69–83 | Fred Scolari (20) | | 30–11 |- | 42 | February 2 | Indianapolis | W 83–57 | Kleggie Hermsen (33) | | 31–11 |- | 43 | February 3 | @ St. Louis | W 74–65 | Kleggie Hermsen (27) | | 32–11 |- | 44 | February 5 | New York | L 73–83 | Jack Nichols (15) | | 32–12 |- | 45 | February 6 | @ Fort Wayne | L 72–82 | Bones McKinney (19) | | 32–13 |- | 46 | February 9 | Rochester | W 99–94 (2OT) | McKinney, Scolari (20) | | 33–13 |- | 47 | February 12 | Philadelphia | L 88–91 | Bob Feerick (17) | | 33–14 |- | 48 | February 15 | @ Rochester | L 79–91 | Jack Nichols (17) | | 33–15 |- | 49 | February 19 | Baltimore | W 92–88 | Jack Nichols (18) | | 34–15 |- | 50 | February 23 | Providence | W 100–88 | Jack Nichols (24) | | 35–15 |- | 51 | February 26 | Chicago | L 90–103 | Feerick, McKinney, Norlander (15) | | 35–16 |- | 52 | February 28 | @ Chicago | W 67–57 | Jack Nichols (13) | | 36–16

| 53 | March 1 | @ Rochester | L 64–67 | Jack Nichols (14) | | 36–17 |- | 54 | March 2 | St. Louis | L 75–82 | Fred Scolari (14) | | 36–18 |- | 55 | March 5 | Chicago | L 95–106 | Bob Feerick (21) | | 36–19 |- | 56 | March 9 | @ New York | L 74–90 | Jack Nichols (25) | | 36–20 |- | 57 | March 12 | Fort Wayne | W 87–60 | Jack Nichols (29) | | 37–20 |- | 58 | March 16 | Minneapolis | W 85–72 | Jack Nichols (17) | | 38–20 |- | 59 | March 17 | @ Philadelphia | L 81–84 | Kleggie Hermsen (26) | | 38–21 |- | 60 | March 19 | New York | L 70–82 | Bones McKinney (18) | | 38–22

BAA Playoffs BAA Eastern Division Semifinals (1) Washington Capitols vs. (4) Philadelphia Warriors: Capitols win series 2-0 Game 1 @ Washington: Washington 92, Philadelphia 70 Game 2 @ Philadelphia: Washington 80, Philadelphia 78

Last Playoff Meeting: This is the first and only meeting between the Capitols and Warriors.

BAA Eastern Division Finals (1) Washington Capitols vs. (2) New York Knicks: Capitols win series 2-1 Game 1 @ Washington: Washington 77, New York 71 Game 2 @ New York: New York 86, Washington 84 (OT) Game 3 @ Washington: Washington 84, New York 76

Last Playoff Meeting: This is the first meeting between the Capitols and Knicks.

BAA Finals

(E1) Washington Capitols vs. (W2) Minneapolis Lakers: Lakers win series 4-2 Game 1 @ Minneapolis: Minneapolis 88, Washington 84 Game 2 @ Minneapolis: Minneapolis 76, Washington 62 Game 3 @ Washington: Minneapolis 94, Washington 74 Game 4 @ Washington: Washington 83, Minneapolis 71 Game 5 @ Washington: Washington 74, Minneapolis 65 Game 6 @ Minneapolis: Minneapolis 77, Washington 56

Last Playoff Meeting: This is the first and only meeting between the Capitols and Lakers.

Awards and records Bob Feerick, All-NBA Second Team Bones McKinney, All-NBA Second Team

References