The Philadelphia Sphas were an early, historical example of an American professional basketball team. The 1934–35 season was the second season played in the now-revived American Basketball League by the Sphas, although they did play in the original rendition of the ABL from 1926 to 1928 as the Philadelphia Warriors, which had no relation to the later BAA franchise of the same name that now exists in the present day as the Golden State Warriors in the NBA. As such, when including the past history of the original ABL with the revived version of the ABL in 1933 following historical problems that related to the Great Depression near the end of 1931, this would technically be the eighth official season played by the original ABL properly, though this would officially be the 18th season of play for the Sphas franchise when including previous seasons where they played under names like the "Philadelphia YMHA"; the "Philadelphia Passon, Gottlieb, Black", the "Philadelphia Warriors"; and most recently, the "Philadelphia Hebrews".
Background The Sphas played in leagues around Philadelphia since 1917, but game-by-game records before the Sphas rejoined the ABL in 1933 are not (currently) available (at least, not to the general public if official game records did exist for the Sphas) and are therefore likely lost to time itself.
When trying to repeat their championship run from the ABL's return season into the second season of its return, the Sphas would finish the first half of the season with a second place finish of 13–10, an above-average record that was behind the New York Jewels with their even better 16–6 record. With a shot at a repeat for the ABL championship on the line, the Sphas would end up tying their second half of the season record with the Brooklyn Visitations, being led in part by future NBL all-time legend and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Bobby McDermott after previously being one of the worst teams the previous season, through a 12–7 record that concluded with Brooklyn defeating Philadelphia in the second half's season finale by a 39–31 defeat on the Sphas' end on March 24, 1935. Because the ABL did not allow for a regular playoff format at this time and instead revolved around the two best teams of each half competing for the league's championship, the Sphas and the Visitiations competed for the right to compete against the New York Jewels with a best-of-three tiebreaker series. Unfortunately for the Sphas, after winning their first game with a rather convincing 24–15 final score on April 5, they would lose their next game a day later in a just-as-convincing 39–30 beatdown before ultimately losing their final game in a close 25–26 defeat to be eliminated from championship contention with a 2–1 series defeat, with the Visitations ultimately defeating the Jewels to win the revived ABL's second championship series ever held. During this season, the Sphas were also referred to as the Philadelphia Hebrews in league records during this period of time, with the Hebrews name continuing to be utilized until 1937.
Roster
ABL Standings +First HalfTeamWinsLossesWinning %New York Jewels166.727Philadelphia SPHAs / Hebrews1310.565Brooklyn Visitations1311.542Newark Mules1211.522Boston Trojans1011.476Jersey Reds714.333New Britain Jackaways614.300 +Second HalfTeamWinsLossesWinning %Brooklyn Visitations127.632Philadelphia SPHAs / Hebrews127.632New Britain Mules99.500Jersey Reds99.500New York Jewels810.444Boston Trojans412.250
ABL Schedule +First Half#DateOpponentScoreRecord1ANovember 3Newark Mules25–201–02ANovember 10Brooklyn Visitations27–331–13ANovember 11@ New York Jewels27–311–24ANovember 15@ New Britain Jackaways32–292–25ANovember 17New Britain Jackaways31–273–26ANovember 24Jersey Reds32–244–27ANovember 26@ Boston Trojans33–354–38ADecember 1Boston Trojans44–305–39ADecember 7@ Newark Mules27–226–310ADecember 8New York Jewels31–356–411ADecember 9@ Brooklyn Visitations23–276–512ADecember 15Newark Mules31–227–513ADecember 16(Game 1)@ Jersey Reds33–447–614ADecember 16(Game 2)@ New York Jewels22–218–615ADecember 22New Britain Jackaways26–219–616ADecember 26@ New Britain Jackaways28–1410–617ADecember 27@ Boston Trojans20–3210–718ADecember 29Brooklyn Visitations34–3011–719AJanuary 5Boston Trojans20–3411–820AJanuary 6@ Brooklyn Visitations37–2712–821AJanuary 12New York Jewels14–2512–922AJanuary 19Jersey Reds43–2313–923AJanuary 20@ Jersey Reds28–3513–10 +Second Half#DateOpponentScoreRecord1BJanuary 26Brooklyn Visitations39–251–02BJanuary 27@ Brooklyn Visitations28–311–13BFebruary 2Boston Trojans44–182–14BFebruary 3@ Jersey Reds27–243–15BFebruary 9New Britain Mules22–273–26BFebruary 10@ New Britain Mules26–353–37BFebruary 16New York Jewels40–374–38BFebruary 22New Britain Mules22–185–39BFebruary 23Jersey Reds36–216–310BMarch 2Brooklyn Visitations21–197–311BMarch 3@ New York Jewels18–347–412BMarch 9Boston Trojans34–298–413BMarch 10@ Jersey Reds37–329–414BMarch 16New York Jewels37–3310–415BMarch 17@ New York Jewels24–3610–516BMarch 19New Britain Mules19–2510–617BMarch 20Boston Trojans36–3111–618BMarch 23Jersey Reds44–3012–619BMarch 24@ Brooklyn Visitations31–3912–7 +Second Half First Place Tiebreaker SeriesGameDateOpponentScoreRecordGame 1April 5@ Brooklyn Visitations24–151–0Game 2April 6Brooklyn Visitations30–391–1Game 3April 11Brooklyn Visitations25–261–2
Notes At the end of the first half of the season, the Newark Mules and New Britain Jackaways would merge operations to become the New Britain Mules on January 18, 1935. Because of the merger, the Newark franchise would fold operations by the start of the second half of the season, while the New Britain franchise would continue operations under a (mostly) new roster for the second half of the season.
References