5/30: Heat Lead 2-0

On Wednesday evening, the Miami Heat defeated the Boston Celtics 115-111 to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals and retain the belt. The Heat were again led by Lebron James, who scored 34 points and had 10 rebounds. The Celtics were led by Rajon Rondo's memorable 44 points and 10 assists. for more on the Heat's victory, visit ESPN's Heat Index. For more on Rondo's career night, see the Celtics Blog.

Game 3 is set for Friday night in Boston.

The Classical: Black Fives

Good read of the week: The Black Fives website is a great resource for anyone interested in the history of African American basketball teams and players before the arrival of the NBA. The Classical recently posted an excellent excerpt from Claude Johnson's Black Fives: The Alpha Physical Culture Club's Pioneering African American Basketball Team, 1904-1923. Read the excerpt here. You can get a free e-copy of the entire book if you sign up for the Black Fives email list and you can follow Claude Johnson on twitter @blackfives.

5/28: The Heat Lead 1-0

On Monday evening, the Miami Heat defeated the Boston Celtics 93-79 to take game one of the Eastern Conference Finals and retain The Basketball Champs Belt. The Heat led the Celtics 21-11 after the first quarter, but the Celtics stormed back with 35 points in the second to tie the game at the half. However, the Celtics could not maintain their momentum and Miami dominated the remainder of the contest. The Heat were led by Lebron James' 32 points and 13 rebounds, while Kevin Garnett led the Celtics with 23 and 10.

Read more about the Heat victory at Peninsula is Mightier. Game 2 is set for Wednesday evening in Miami.

Spotlight: The NBA is Born

The National Basketball Association today is a juggernaut that showcases the best players from across the globe competing for a trophy that little boys dream about as they shoot baskets in their driveways or neighborhood basketball courts. However, this wasn't always the case. In the early days, many different leagues competed for the attention of fans and the services of players. It would not be until after World War II that these leagues came together to become the NBA.

Predecessor Teams and Leagues

The NBA's official creation in 1949 was preceded by many different regional leagues that often lasted only a few years. Independent teams also barnstormed the country playing, and usually defeating, whoever happened to be their opponent on any given night. One of the longer-lasting and largest leagues that preceded the NBA was the American Basketball League (ABL), which operated from 1925 to 1931 (and again in a less successful version from 1933 to 1955) across the East Coast and as far West as Chicago. Of the barnstorming teams, among the most well-known were the Philadelphia Sphas, New York Renaissance (Rens), Harlem Globetrotters, and the Original Celtics. The ABL, some of the early barnstorming teams, and the basketball color barrier are potential topics for later posts (which will eventually be posted here). Until then, we suggest you check out blackfives.com and the film, On the Shoulders of Giants.

Beginnings

After the demise of the ABL's initial and most successful version in 1931, basketball remained primarily a regional and barnstorming affair. A new league of major significance did not emerge until the National Basketball League (NBL) began play in the midwest in 1937. The NBL was an interesting creation, comprised of three corporate teams (the Akron Firestone Non-Skids; Akron Goodyear Wingfoots; and Ft. Wayne General Electrics) and 10 previously independent professional teams. It wasn't a tremendous moneymaker, and teams would come and go during the course of its 12 year existence, but the NBL would survive long enough to form part of the NBA in 1949 and produce teams such as today's Los Angeles Lakers, Atlanta Hawks, Detroit Pistons, and Sacramento Kings. After a disorganized beginning, the NBL grew stronger over the next several years and successfully competed with a new version of the ABL to sign top college talents such as Buddy Jeannette.

While leagues such as the NBL and ABL provided opportunities for teams to consider themselves league champions, the absence of a single dominant league meant that there was no clear way to determine who deserved the moniker of "World Champion" (or, at the very least, the best team in the United States). In 1939, the World Professional Basketball Tournament, hosted by the Chicago Herald American, changed this by providing an opportunity for top professional teams from across the country to compete against one another. Two teams from the NBL, the Oskkosh All-Stars and Sheboygan Redskins, joined other well-known teams such as the New York Rens, Harlem Globetrotters, and Original Celtics, at this inaugural tournament. During the tournament's nine year run, NBL teams would win six titles, but not before the New York Rens and Harlem Globetrotters demonstrated that they belonged by winning the first two tournaments. In 1943, another all-black team, the Washington Bears, also won the tournament. Although the African American players demonstrated that they belonged, basketball would not be truly integrated for many years to come.

The Harlem Globetrotters in 1950

As noted previously on this blog, in 1946, the NBL's eventual partner, the Basketball Association of America (BAA), began operating primarily in larger cities along the East coast. The reasons for founding the BAA included finding a way to fill the arenas that dotted the East coast, such as Madison Square Garden in New York and the Uline Arena in Washington, DC, on evenings when they were not hosting hockey games or other big events. The BAA generally drew its players from the ABL and the college ranks, but was also able to pry a few players away from the more established NBL. However, while players like Bob Feerick (from the NBL) and Joe Fulks (a rookie) were successfully recruited to join the BAA, the NBL still boasted the biggest draw of them all: George Mikan. See Seasons & Spotlights for our previous coverage of BAA teams seasons from 1946-1949.

Growing Pains

After the founding of the BAA, the BAA and NBL found themselves competing for players and fans. Each league had its strengths. For example, the NBL featured the game's biggest star, George Mikan, who was sure to draw a crowd wherever the Lakers played. The BAA also had it's share of stars, including Joe Fulks and Max Zaslofsky. In addition, the BAA featured larger arenas in big cities, such as Madison Square Garden and The Boston Garden. If these arenas could be filled, the gate receipts could prove a strong incentive for the teams to stay afloat. While this was the case, NBL teams had the potential to establish more dedicated fan bases because NBL teams faced less competition for fans from other potential draws, such as big league hockey and baseball.

However, the BAA and NBL also faced a number of related issues that might have caused either of them to fold had they remained separate entities. Some of these issues included general instability, war, and competition for the best players.

Instability: It's difficult to build a league-wide fan base without a certain amount of stability. However, for a number of different reasons, the NBL and the BAA faced a recurring issue of teams folding or choosing to leave the leagues. For example, by 1942, the NBL had collapsed from the 13 teams that began play in 1937 to four. As noted below, World War II played a significant role in the league's shrinkage, but it wasn't the only reason. Some teams left to become independent and not every team was able to support itself financially. For example, the Ft. Wayne General Electrics disbanded in 1937 due to a lack of financial success and the Indianapolis Kautsky's left in 1940 to become independent (they rejoined the NBL 5 years later). By 1948, the year before the merger, the NBL had grown back to ten teams. In 1947, the BAA shrunk from 11 to 8 teams after losing 4 franchises and compensated by adding one team from the ABL.

Shrinkage

War: The BAA didn't exist before World War II, but the war had a significant impact on the NBL. In particular, due to a significant number of players leaving either due to enlistment or the draft, the NBL shrunk to a low of four franchises in 1942 (The Toledo Jim White Chevrolets would have been the fifth team, but they folded after 5 games). The league might have shrunk to only three teams if not for the Chicago Studebaker Flyers, who were added before the season began to replace George Halas' Chicago Bruins. The War also contributed to the first integrated teams, as both Chicago and Toledo added African American players to their rosters in 1942. 

Chicago Bears & Chicago Bruins 

Owner George Halas in 1919

(Public Domain)

Competition for players: Both leagues worked to recruit the best college players, which at the time were also sought by independent teams or teams in other leagues. The average salary during the 1946-47 BAA season was between $4,500 and $5,000, and most players had other jobs during the offseason. However, star players could earn much larger salaries. For example, Joe Fulks was recruited to the Philadelphia Warriors for a salary of $8,000, George Mikan was paid $12,500 for his services as a Minneapolis Laker, and Tom King earned $16,500 for both playing and serving as a publicity director and business manager for the BAA's Detroit Falcons (which only lasted one year before folding). Mikan originally played for the Chicago American Gears, but left the team before the end of the 1946-47 NBL season because, according to him, they tried to cut his promised $12,000 salary before the conclusion of the season due to the team's financial woes. The BAA had a salary cap of $55,000 per team during its first season, while the NBL did not. This cap might have helped the BAA teams have the opportunity to be more profitable, but it also caused them to lose players to the NBL. For example, when Dolph Schayes was offered contracts by both the Syracuse Nationals of the NBL and the New York Knicks of the BAA, he chose to play for the Nationals because they could pay him more. Such competition between leagues and teams contributed to higher salaries, which contributed to financial issues faced by some (and possibly most) of the BAA and NBL franchises.

Stumbling Blocks

Each of the leagues would have liked to crown their champion as the best team in the land, but since BAA teams did not participate in the World Professional Basketball Tournament, it wan't possible to formally crown any of the major league teams as a true champion. With this in mind, and with each of the two major leagues rumored to be suffering financially, it made sense for them to find ways to collaborate or perhaps even merge. However, the leagues each had distinctive cultures and business practices, which limited their ability to cooperate and that presented significant barriers to any potential merger. 

Perhaps the biggest issues preventing a merger were cultural. NBL teams were typically less concerned about making money and instead were focused on establishing a team that would contribute to company or civic pride in their mid-sized midwestern towns. In addition, some of the NBL teams were sponsored by businesses such as Firestone or Goodyear and sometimes provided off-season employment for their players. In contrast, the BAA was based in larger cities, used larger arenas, and team owners cared less about civic pride and more about making money. Moreover, due to their locations, NBL teams also had less competition from other sports teams, while BAA teams typically competed with major baseball and hockey teams for the hearts and wallets of local fans.

The BAA took a more bottom-line oriented approach to its franchises, with a salary cap to limit what teams could spend on players. In addition, its teams typically did not play in exhibitions against independent teams and did not compete in the World Basketball Tournament. While NBL teams played exhibition matches, such extracurricular competitions could potentially limit the perceived strength (and thus the gate appeal) of the upstart BAA if its teams were to lose.

A more practical consideration to the two leagues cooperating was location. In the days before airplane travel was routine, a league that consisted of teams stretching from New York throughout the midwest would certainly put tremendous strain on players' bodies as the larger than normal men criss-crossed the country in busses or trains.  Despite the issues, both the BAA and the NBL were looking for ways to help ensure long term survival and establish a league to rival the National Football League and Major League Baseball.

Merger

The leagues initially worked out an arrangement for a joint draft in 1948 to contribute a sense of order to their rivalry, but before the draft could occur four teams left the NBL to join the BAA and the NBL pulled out of the draft arrangement. BAA commissioner Maurice Podoloff, for whom the NBA's current MVP award is named, was a shrewd businessman and he wanted to limit his league's competition by either merging with or otherwise eliminating the NBL. He also understood the potential benefits that NBL teams could gain from playing in the BAA's larger cities and arenas. After successfully appealing to the ego of Pistons' owner Fred Zollner and convincing him to move his team to the BAA, Podoloff then convinced the Indianapolis Kautskys to leave the NBL. The next two dominoes to fall would be the star-laden Rochester Royals and George Mikan's Minneapolis Lakers.

After losing four teams to the BAA, two additional NBL franchises disbanded. However, the NBL would not give up and it added four new teams to replace the six that it lost. While the Lakers showcased their skills along the East coast during the 1948-49 BAA season, the remaining NBL teams showcased their talents in cities such as Hammond, Indiana; Waterloo, Iowa; and Denver, Colorado. The final NBL season also brought an interesting twist, as the newly established Detroit Vagabond Kings folded after a 2-17 start, then were moved to Dayton, Ohio, and were replaced by the all-black New York Renaissance who played as the Dayton Rens. However, due to being saddled with Detroit's 2-17 record, their age, illness, and small number of home games the Rens did not achieve the success they might have otherwise expected.

After this NBL season, Podoloff continued to work his magic. In doing so, he convinced the Syracuse Nationals, Anderson Duffey Packers, Tri-Cities Blackhawks, Waterloo Hawks, Sheboygan Redskins, and Denver Nuggets to join the BAA, ending the NBL and creating the NBA. The Indianapolis Olympians, led by the University of Kentucky's graduating seniors (and not coached by John Calipari), also debuted in 1949. The BAA's Providence Steam Rollers and Indianapolis Jets as well as the NBL's Hammond Calumet Buccaneers, Oskkosh All-Stars, and Dayton Rens either folded or did not join the NBA. The remaining teams began playing for the NBA Finals Trophy, which was intended to be the Stanley Cup of Basketball, and which was renamed the Walter Brown Trophy in 1964. It was later replaced by the more familiar Larry O'Brien Trophy.

The Walter Brown Trophy

Photo by Cmcnicoll, edited by JoeJohnson2 

[CC-BY-3.0 or GFDL], 

from Wikimedia Commons

Sources and further reading

Books:

Charley Rosen. The First Tip-Off. The Incredible Story of the Birth of the NBA. 2009.

Michael Schumacher. Mr. Basketball. George Mikan , the Minneapolis Lakers, and the Birth of the NBA. 2007.

Neft, David S.; Cohen, Richard M. The Sports Encyclopedia: Pro Basketball, 5th Edition. 1992.
Nelson, Murry R. The National Basketball League: A History, 1935-1949. 2009.

Rosen, Charlie. The First Tip-Off: The Incredible Story of the Birth of the NBA. 2009.

Websites:

www.blackfives.com
nbahoopsonline.com

hoopedia.nba.com
www.apbr.org/apbr-faq.html
www.apbr.org/labor.html
www.apbr.org/baaminutes.html
Wikipedia

ECF: Celtics to Challenge the Heat

The Boston Celtics defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 85-75 on Saturday to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. By doing so, they also now take center stage as the next team to challenge the Miami Heat for the Basketball Champs Belt. Game 1 begins Monday evening at 8:30 eastern in Miami. The Celtics and the Heat played twice for the belt this year, splitting their series 1-1. In both cases, the team defending the belt was the winner. Overall, Boston took the season series 3-1.

Predictions

The writers and television personalities over at ESPN unanimously think the Heat will prevail. As of Sunday morning, fourteen staffers have made their picks, with all fourteen choosing the Heatles. We also expect the writers at the Heat Index and Peninsula is Mightier to select the Heat. TBCB has not yet seen predictions from Celtics Blog, Celtics Life, and Celtics Hub, but we'll follow them throughout the series and note any predictions on Twitter.

As for our prediction, TBCB lost a dear member of the family a couple weeks ago. He was a die-hard Boston sports fan, and we would love to choose the Celtics in his honor. But he was also a very logical man, and he would have been happy to see head prevail over heart. Accordingly, this blog predicts that the Heat will triumph over the Celtics in 5 games. While we love to watch Rajon Rondo's triple-double machine and think that the C's old men can potentially make this a difficult series, we were less than impressed with the Celtics 7 game victory over the 76ers. Nevertheless, Celtics fans should continue to Keep Calm and Rajon. If Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce continue to drink from the fountain of youth, there is always hope.

5/24: The Heat Advance

Tonight the shorthanded Miami Heat defeated the Indiana Pacers 105-93 to retain The Basketball Champs Belt and return to the Eastern Conference Finals. Dwyane Wade was the player of the game with 41 points and 10 rebounds. David West led the Pacers with 24 points. Read more about the Heat's victory at Peninsula is Mightier.

The Eastern Conference Finals will pit the Heat against the winner of Saturday's game 7 matchup between the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers.

5/22: LBJ and the Heat Take Control

Tonight the Miami Heat took control of their second round series against the Indiana Pacers by defeating the Pacers 115-83. In doing so, they also retained control of The Basketball Champs Belt. Aided by a foul called as a flagrant-1 on what should have been a flagrant-2 and automatic ejection when Udonis Haslem smacked Tyler Hansbrough in retaliation for an earlier foul, the Heat nevertheless delivered an impressive victory. Lebron James led the way with another monster game, delivering 30 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists. The Pacers' Danny Granger left the game in the second quarter due to  an ankle sprain. David West also left the game with a sprained knee. Read more at Peninsula is Mightier.

Highlights

via HeatPosterized

(YouTube)

Game 6 is set for Thursday in Indianapolis.

Hardwood Paroxysm: When Hawks vs Celtics Meant Excitement

Good read of the week: One of my favorite current basketball writers, Curtis Harris, recently posted a great article on the late 50's and early 60's battles between the St. Louis Hawks and the Boston Celtics. Read it here. If you missed this when it came out a couple weeks ago, I suggest you take a moment to read it this morning.

5/20: The Heat Tie It Up

On Sunday afternoon, the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers took their second round series to a nationally televised audience and delivered quite a show. The Pacers began the game by jumping out to a 9-0 lead, and after the first half it looked as if the Pacers would end the day with a 3-1 advantage. However, Dwyane Wade and Lebron James came on strong after halftime and demonstrated that this series is far from over. The Heat outscored Indiana 30-16 in the third quarter and held their lead in the fourth to take the game and the belt. Lebron James had a tremendous game, winning our player of the game award by leading the Heat with 40 points, 18 rebounds, and 9 assists. Dwyane Wade also posted a great game, with 30 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists. Danny Granger led the Pacers with 20.

Game 5 is set for Tuesday evening in Miami.

5/17: The Pacers Take the Lead

The Indiana Pacers defended the belt tonight by overwhelming the Miami Heat 94-75 to take a 2-1 lead in their second round series. The Pacers again came out with a balanced attack, with four starters scoring in double figures. Roy Hibbert led the way with 19 points and 18 rebounds. The Heat were led by Mario Chalmers' 25 points. Lebron James finished with 22, while Dwyane Wade scored only 5 points while shooting only 2-13. The only time Wade went to the free throw line, Pacers fans serenaded him with loud chants of "He's a flopper!" We loved the gesture, although we also hope that at least some of the fans now understand why Wade can't help himself. For more on the Pacers' win, visit 8 Points, 9 Seconds.

Photo by Elma from Reykjavík (Gullfiskur) 

[CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Game 4 will take place on Sunday afternoon in Indiana. 

SI: 21 Shades of Gray

Chris Ballard profiles Tim Duncan for this week's Sports Illustrated. Duncan avoids interviews, but somehow Ballard scored a 40 minute interview in Duncan's hotel room. Read about Duncan using his silence to defeat his opponents, his love for Kevin Garnett (kidding!), and other interesting tidbits here.

The Flop Equilibrium

Twitter is awash with people complaining about the flopping in this year's NBA playoffs. As seen in the video below, flopping is nothing new, but the issue might be more pronounced this year with several of the worst offenders appearing in the round of eight. Last year, Sports Illustrated polled NBA players on who were perceived to be the biggest floppers. The results of this survey identified players such as Manu Ginobili, Derek Fisher, Shane Battier, Reggie Evans, Kobe Bryant, and Paul Pierce. (In my opinion, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, James Harden, and Chris Paul should have also been on this list.) With players from SI's list representing six of the eight remaining playoff teams, the sad state of affairs with respect to flopping will almost certainly continue into the conference and NBA finals.

From The Breakdown Show 

via YouTube 

The Indiana Pacers' head coach, Frank Vogel, recently called out the Miami Heat for flopping. Miami players responded with quotes like this:

• Chris Bosh: "It's all about basketball, nothing else."
• Lebron James: "We're here to play basketball, that's what it's all about."
• Dwyane Wade: "I don't care."

All about basketball? Some fans (and apparently at least one coach) disagree. Flopping taints the game and frustrates fans. Add to this the NBA's ongoing issue with referees choosing to call different teams, players, games, and times of games differently, and you have a recipe for a disappointed and potentially shrinking fan base as the issue continues to gain traction. Then again, the WWE is still a popular attraction, so maybe we're overreacting. 

via YouTube

Why flop? The answer is simple: It works. Flopping potentially adds points to the flopping team's total, gets a team closer to the bonus or gains an opportunity for points via free throws, and also adds to an opposing player's foul count. In the early days of basketball, the game was sometimes played on a caged court, with the play so rough that the official would sometimes watch from outside the cage. Under these circumstances, when one approach to dealing with the opponent's best player was to punch him in the face, players could police themselves and establish significant disincentives for flopping. However, these days there are no physical, financial, or point penalties for flopping; no one seems to care if it brings ridicule; no one is going to harm the flopper; and a win is a win regardless of how it's achieved. Sure it hurts the integrity of any single game and might have a negative long term impact on the NBA, but these factors don't matter to a team that's trying to win an individual game or title (or belt!) on any given day.

Let's put this in another context. The movie A Beautiful Mind helped people from across the globe become more familiar with game theory.  In short, game theory describes how different entities interact with each other given a set of choices and payoffs. Perhaps the most famous example is the prisoner's dilemma, which describes a circumstance where two people who should cooperate to achieve the best outcome will not cooperate due to the options and outcomes involved. Wikipedia, which we all know is a fount of perfect knowledge, describes a scenario where two prisoners who are accused of a crime (let's say they planned a bank robbery together) are questioned separately and given the opportunity to either blame the other person or stay silent about the robbery. (There are obviously other options, but for the sake of discussion and simplicity, we assume that the options are limited and everything else is equal.) If both of the prisoners remain silent, they will each receive 1 month in prison. If they both blame the other prisoner, they will each serve 3 months. However, if one prisoner blames the robbery on the other while the second prisoner remains silent, the prisoner who blames the other will go free while the silent prisoner will serve 1 year in prison. Under these conditions, game theory shows that the prisoners will blame each other and each serve 3 months in prison. (Note that the theory calls for the scenario to be repeated over and over again, and someone will always eventually be tempted to blame the other prisoner, which over time results in both prisoners blaming each other.) This solution is referred to as the Nash Equilibrium (Read more here).

Prisoner (Option)	A (Remain Silent)	A (Blame B)
B (Remain Silent)	A: 1 Month; B: 1 Month	A: Go Free; B: 1 Year
B (Blame A)	A: 1 Year; B: Go Free	A: 3 Months; B: 3 Months

Like the Nash equilibrium, the current state of affairs in the NBA can be referred to as the flop equilibrium.  Let's consider a simplified hypothetical example. We'll call team A The Spurs and team B The Clippers. Both teams have the option to employ Strategy A, called playing clean, or Strategy B, called flopping. We also need to assume that everything else is equal between these teams. For example, we need to assume that the officials call the game equally for both sides (we call this the no-Wade rule). If both teams play clean, the fans enjoy a clean outcome. If one team flops and the other doesn't, let's assume that the flopping team ends up earning 1 additional point. If both teams flop, let's assume that each team earns 2 additional points. We're assuming that with only three officials on the floor, more total flops will lead to more successful flops and therefore a larger reward. However, the exact numbers assigned to the outcomes don't matter as much as the outcomes themselves. Here's how the strategies and our proposed outcomes break down:

Team (Strategy)	Spurs (Play Clean)	Spurs (Flop)
Clippers (Play Clean)	Spurs: +0; Clippers: +0	Spurs: +1; Clippers: +0
Clippers (Flop)	Spurs: +0; Clippers: +1	Spurs: +2; Clippers: +2

If neither team flops, everyone enjoys a clean game. However, under these circumstances a clean game is almost impossible. If we assume that both teams want to win (e.g., neither team is tanking for better lottery position or a more favorable playoff matchup), then someone is going to eventually flop to gain an advantage. When one team begins flopping, the other team then has an incentive to flop to negate the flopping advantage. In the end, both teams flop. Over the course of many games and seasons, we reach the flop equilibrium.

We know that the actual situation is more complicated than what's demonstrated above. For example, some teams and players flop better than others, and there are also many other uncertainties during in any given game or series (Exhibit A: The 2006 NBA Finals). Nevertheless, the flop equilibrium demonstrates why no one will stop flopping until the NBA chooses to establish disincentives that negate the potential benefits of a flop. Post-game fines and technical fouls might help, but in the midst of any given game, players might not always consider the post-game implications of their actions. In addition, in closely contested playoff games or in the final minutes of the final game of a playoff series, players might still find flopping to be useful. For example, would it matter if a player was suspended for one or two games at the beginning of the next season as a result of a flop that potentially tipped the outcome of a NBA finals series? No. Winning the championship would negate any post-game disincentives. As a result, in-game punishment would provide a better disincentive. Our view is that coaches should be given the opportunity to call for reviews of potential flops (in addition to other in-game activities that should qualify for review), with a limit of 2-3 reviews per game, and with rules similar to NFL coaches challenges. If the review showed a clear flop, the flopper would be assessed a technical foul. This would penalize both the flopper and his team. If the review did not show a flop, the team that called for the review would lose a time out. There are certainly other potential solutions, but this option is one that provides for meaningful punishment during a game.

via YouTube

There are also other issues that would need to be worked out. For example, determining a flop is always a matter of human judgment, even if a replay exists. If a player flops while taking a charge, was the flop the result of seeking to avoid potential injury from a hard foul, or was it a genuine flop? It can also be difficult to see how strong individual players are on video replay, and what looks like a light tap on television might in fact be quite forceful. In general, this blog advocates that the first year of flopping rules penalize clearly obvious flops, particularly when those flops are followed by acting. Like this flop from last year's NBA finals:

via YouTube

As an added bonus, with the NFL potentially losing market share due to concussion-related issues, now is a perfect time for the NBA to clean up its act by addressing flopping (and poor officiating, but that's a post for another day). Doing so might help make the game more palatable to a broader audience as viewers potentially turn away from football due to its excessive violence (like this blogger).

The NBA seems to recognize that flopping is a problem, with David Stern recently stating that "We should give out Oscars rather than MVP trophies." We hope this means that the league plans to address the issue during the offseason. Otherwise, nothing is going to change now that we have reached the flop equilibrium.

(For more, visit topflops.com. I was sad to see this website stop operating after the end of last season, but it's still full of great stuff on flopping that's remains very relevant.)

~The Commish

5/15: Pacers Take Game 2 and the Belt

This blogger always loves watching the Pacers and reading their post-game box scores, which usually feature different players putting up solid numbers in lots of different places. Tonight, the deep and hard working Pacers took the belt by defeating the Heat in game 2 of their second round series, 78-75. Every Pacers starter finished with double figures in something, with David West leading the way with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Lebron James led the Heat with 28 points and 9 rebounds. Read more at 8 Points, Nine Seconds.

Game 3 will be Thursday night in Indiana. Now that it seems likely that Chris Bosh will miss the remainder of this series with an abdominal strain, things might get interesting.

5/13: Heat Take Game 1

The Miami Heat defended the belt this afternoon by taking the first game of their second round matchup with the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers kept the game close throughout, but the Heat closed the fourth quarter strong and ultimately prevailed 95-86. Lebron James was our player of the game with 32 points, 15 rebounds, and 5 assists.

James has won player of the game honors in four of the six TBCB games that have occurred during these playoffs. Game 2 is set for Tuesday evening.

5/9: The Heat K.O. the Knicks

Tonight the Miami Heat knocked the New York Knicks out of the playoffs with a 106-94 victory. Lebron James was our player of the game, with 29 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists. The Knicks were led by Carmelo Anthony's 35 points and 8 rebounds.

Our second round matchup will pit the Heat verses the Indiana Pacers. These two teams battled twice for the belt during the regular season, splitting their two games. In what might be a good sign for the Heat, the defending champs won each battle.

1948-49: The Mikan Era Dawns

In 1948, the sports world saw a number of important passages. Babe Ruth, who at the time held the Major League Baseball record for most home runs in a season, died at the age of 53; Joe Fulks, "the Babe Ruth of Basketball," and his Philadelphia Warriors began what would become a precipitous decline after appearing in the previous two Basketball Association of America (BAA) championship series; and four new teams, including George Mikan's Minneapolis Lakers, jumped from the National Basketball League (NBL) to the BAA.

Setting the Stage

Babe Ruth's death marked the final passage of an American legend, but 1948 also brought us new faces destined to eventually make their mark, including Al Gore, Dave Cowens, and Samuel L. Jackson.

1948 also brought us many who were destined to become musical legends, including Rick James, Steven Tyler, Stevie Nicks, Cat Stevens, Jackson Browne, Ozzy Osbourne, and Ted Nugent. All the while, Nat King Cole's Nature Boy (Woo!) and Pee Wee Hunt's Twelfth Street Rag were topping the charts. It's hard to imagine Joe Fulks or George Mikan turning up the volume on the locker room record player and listening to this to get pumped before the game.

As discussed in a previous post, the Baltimore Bullets won the BAA championship in April 1948 and spent the summer parading The Basketball Champs Belt (TBCB) around Baltimore Harbor until the next season began in November. However, before this next season began, four teams left the rival NBL to join the BAA: the Fort Wayne Pistons, Indianapolis Jets, Minneapolis Lakers, and Rochester Royals. While the Jets folded after one season in the BAA, three of these four franchises are still members of the current NBA. One of these teams, the well-traveled Rochester Royals (currently the Sacramento Kings), has existed in four different cities and might be preparing to move once again.

The Regular Season

The 1948-49 season fittingly began with the Baltimore Bullets losing the belt to the Minneapolis Lakers. The Lakers were already George Mikan's team, but in the first game of the season Herm Schaefer led the way with 23 points to win player of the game honors. The Lakers then lost the belt to the Washington Capitals, who defended the belt for 12 consecutive nights, which was at the time a TBCB record. Kleggie Hermsen and Bones McKinney led the way during the Capitols' streak, winning player of the game honors during 11 of the 13 total games. After changing hands twice, the belt landed in the hands of Joe Fulks' Philadelphia Warriors, who raised the belt for 5 consecutive nights before losing it to Butch Van Brenda Kolff's New York Knicks. The Knicks quickly lost the belt to the Chicago Stags, led by Max Zaslofsky, who raised the belt for 4 straight nights before losing it to the Rochester Royals on January 9.

The evening before the Stags lost the belt the to the Royals, the Stags defeated the Royals in the first game of a two game series and a Mikan would make his first appearance as a TBCB player of the game. However, since the Lakers were not in town, it was George's little brother Ed Mikan who took player of the game honors by leading the Stags with 21 points. Ed spent his college and professional career in the shadow of his big brother, but his family can at least take heart in knowing that Ed was the first Mikan brother to win a TBCB player of the game award. (Odd note: Ed Mikan's obituary in the Chicago Tribune, seems to indicate that Ed played only one season of professional basketball. However, his basketball-reference.com page shows that he actually had a much longer career, spanning from 1948-1954.) George Mikan's time would finally come when the Lakers won the belt about one month later.

After taking the belt from the Stags, the Rochester Royals began the first of two long belt defense streaks as they raised the belt 9 more nights until losing it to the lowly Providence Steam Rollers. The Stags then took the belt again in a rematch and held it for two nights before losing to the St. Louis Bombers. The Bombers were quickly followed by the Knicks, the Lakers, and again the Stags. On February 12, the Royals regained the belt and held it until March 12. In total, between January 9 and March 12, the Royals raised the belt on 22 of 29 possible occasions. Joe Fulks also had his famous 63 point game against the Indianapolis Jets during this time. While Fulks didn't accomplish this feat during a battle for the belt, his record is clearly worth mentioning as it stood unbroken for 10 years.

Downtown Rochester in the late 1930's

Public Domain

via Wikimedia Commons

As the regular season concluded, the Celtics took the belt from the Royals on March 15 before losing it to the Stags the following night. The Stags then defended the belt twice before the close of the regular season.

Regular Season Awards

In contrast to the relative parity observed during the previous season, the 1948-49 regular season was dominated by the Rochester Royals, who raised the belt on 22 of 59 possible nights to finish the season as our TBCB Team of the Year. Of the Royals 45 regular season wins, almost half of them involved winning or defending the belt. Their closest competitors were the Washington Capitols and the Chicago Stags, who raised the belt on 13 and 10 total nights, respectively. Due primarily to his role in the Royals' belt defense streaks, Bob Davies was our 1947-48 TBCB Player of the Year, with 9 player of the game awards. Following Davies was Arnie Risen (Royals) with 8, Bones McKinney (Capitols) and Max Zaslofsky (Stags) with 6, and Joe Fulks (Warriors) and Kleggie Hermsen (Capitols) with 5 player of the game awards.

The BAA all First Team and Second Team performers were Bob Davies, Joe Fulks, George Mikan, Jim Pollard, and Max Zaslofsky (First Team); and Bob Feerick, John Logan, Bones McKinney, Arnie Risen, and Kenny Sailors (Second Team). Seven of these ten players won at least one TBCB player of the game award, with Pollard (Lakers), Logan (Bombers), and Sailors (Steam Rollers) as the only players who did not raise the belt as players of the game. At least in the cases of Logan and Sailors, playing on better teams would have likely improved their standings in our rankings.

The Playoffs

As mentioned above, the Chicago Stags finished the regular season with the belt. Unfortunately for the Stags, their first playoff opponent was the Minneapolis Lakers, who were preparing to cruise through the playoffs. The Lakers dispatched the Stags 2 games to none and then defeated the Rochester Royals 2 games to none before facing the Washington Capitols in the finals. The Lakers almost achieved a playoff sweep, as they defeated the Capitols in their first three games; however the Capitols came back to win the next two games and make the series interesting before the Lakers finished the series in game 6. In total, the Lakers raised the belt on 8 of 10 possible nights during the playoffs.

George Mikan dominated the playoffs and was named the TBCB player of the game in 7 of the 8 Laker victories. Since there were very few basketball players with his freaky size and abilities (recall that the NBA created goaltending, widened the lane, and instituted the shot clock all due to Mikan), he must have been quite an intimidating presence to anyone assigned the task of guarding or scoring against him. We'll see much more or Mr. Mikan as our tour of Champs Belt history continues.

Coming soon, we follow the passage of time as we spotlight the BAA/NBL merger and the formal creation of the National Basketball Association.

T.S. Eliot

Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons

“Nam Sibyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis vidi

in ampulla pendere, et cum illi pueri dicerent:Σιβυλλα

τι θελεις; respondebat illa:αποθανειν θελω.”
Epigraph to the The Waste Land

Sources: Previous blog posts; TBCB analysis of basketball-reference.com; wikipedia; wikimedia commons; and youtube.

The Classical: Grandpa Was a Baller

Matt Kallman's Grandpa Was A Baller follows the story of Kallman's grandfather, who briefly played in the NBL and BAA before the 1949 merger. It's a great article on the 1940's NBA that makes reference to some of the players and teams TBCB has recently discussed, including Max Zaslofsky and the Chicago Stags. Read it at The Classical.

5/6: The Knicks Stay Alive

On Sunday afternoon, the New York Knicks defeated the Miami Heat in game 4 of their first round series to regain The Basketball Champs Belt. The Knicks were led by Carmelo Anthony's 41 points, while the Heat were led by Lebron James' 27.

Game 5 will be Wednesday evening in Miami. The winner of this series, which Miami now leads 3-1, will advance to play either the Orlando Magic or the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers appear to be the most likely opponent, as they currently lead the series 3 games to 1. The Pacers were no stranger to Basketball Champs Belt games this season, as they raised the belt 7 times, which tied them with the Heat for third place overall in our regular season standings.

5/3: Knicks One Game From Elimination

On Thursday night, the Miami Heat once again defeated the New York Knicks to retain the belt. The final score was 87-70. Our TBCB player of the game was Lebron James, who scored 32 points and added 8 rebounds and 5 assists.

The Knicks and Heat will play game 4 on Sunday afternoon in New York. The winner of this series will face the winner of the Indiana Pacers - Orlando Magic series, which the Pacers currently lead 2-1.

4/30: Heat Take 2-0 Lead Over the Knicks

On Monday evening the Miami Heat again defeated the New York Knicks. This game was not as lopsided as the previous game, which the Heat won by 33, but in the end the Heat still prevailed 104-94. In doing so, they defended the belt while taking a 2-0 lead over the Knicks. The Heat also so frustrated the Knicks that, after the game, Amare Stoudemire punched the glass out of a fire extinguisher case in the locker room area, cutting his hand so severely that the paramedics were called.

Dwayne Wade was our player of the game, totaling 25 points, 4 assists, and 4 rebounds. Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks with 30 points and 9 rebounds. These two teams will face off again on Thursday at Maidson Square Garden. Amare Stoudemire is unlikely to play due to his injury, and the Knicks will also be playing without Iman Shumpert, who tore his ACL in the previous game.