This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2020) |
The Eastern Division was a division in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and its forerunner, the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The division was created at the start of the 1946–47 BAA season,[1] when the league was created, and was then kept as one of the divisions when BAA merged with the National Basketball League (NBL) to create the NBA on August 3, 1949.[2] The division existed until the 1970–71 NBA season when the NBA expanded from 14 to 17 teams and realigned into the Eastern and Western conferences with two divisions each.[3]
League | National Basketball Association |
---|---|
Sport | Basketball |
First season | 1946–47 BAA season |
Ceased | 1969–70 NBA season |
Replaced by | Eastern Conference |
Last champion(s) | New York Knicks (3rd title) (1970) |
Most titles | Boston Celtics (9 titles) |
Teams
edit- Notes
- § founding BAA team
- † denotes an expansion team.
- * denotes a team that merged from the National Basketball League (NBL)
Team timeline
edit![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/timeline/2vyvjkrrts0wl16yr9afggszxira7hu.png)
Division champions
edit^ | Had or tied for the best regular season record for that season |
Titles by team
editTeam | Titles | Season(s) won |
---|---|---|
Boston Celtics | 9 | 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65 |
Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers | 6 | 1949–50, 1951–52, 1954–55, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68 |
Philadelphia Warriors (now the Golden State Warriors) | 3 | 1947–48, 1950–51, 1955–56 |
New York Knicks | 3 | 1952–53, 1953–54, 1969–70 |
Washington Capitols | 2 | 1946–47, 1948–49 |
Baltimore Bullets (now the Washington Wizards) | 1 | 1968–69 |
Season results
edit^ | Denotes team that won the BAA/NBA championships |
+ | Denotes team that lost the BAA/NBA Finals |
* | Denotes team that qualified for the BAA/NBA playoffs |
Season | Team (record) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | |
| |||||||
1946–47 | Washington* (49–11) | Philadelphia^ (35–25) | New York* (33–27) | Providence (28–32) | Boston (22–38) | Toronto (22–38) | |
| |||||||
1947–48 | Philadelphia+ (27–21) | New York* (26–22) | Boston* (20–28) | Providence (6–42) | |||
| |||||||
1948–49 | Washington+ (38–22) | New York* (32–28) | Baltimore* (29–31) | Philadelphia* (28–32) | Boston (25–35) | Providence (12–48) | |
| |||||||
1949–50 | Syracuse+ (51–13) | New York* (40–28) | Washington* (32–36) | Philadelphia* (26–42) | Baltimore (25–43) | Boston (22–46) | |
1950–51 | Philadelphia* (40–26) | Boston* (39–30) | New York+ (36–30) | Syracuse* (32–34) | Baltimore (24–42) | Washington (10–25) | |
| |||||||
1951–52 | Syracuse* (40–26) | Boston* (39–27) | New York+ (37–29) | Philadelphia* (33–33) | Baltimore (20–46) | ||
1952–53 | New York+ (47–23) | Syracuse* (47–24) | Boston* (46–25) | Baltimore* (16–54) | Philadelphia (12–57) | ||
1953–54 | New York* (47–23) | Boston* (42–30) | Syracuse+ (42–30) | Philadelphia (29–43) | Baltimore (16–56) | ||
| |||||||
1954–55 | Syracuse^ (43–29) | New York* (38–34) | Boston* (36–36) | Philadelphia (33–39) | |||
1955–56 | Philadelphia^ (45–27) | Boston* (39–33) | Syracuse* (35–37) | New York (35–37) | |||
1956–57 | Boston^ (44–28) | Syracuse* (38–34) | Philadelphia* (37–35) | New York (36–36) | |||
1957–58 | Boston+ (49–23) | Syracuse* (41–31) | Philadelphia* (37–35) | New York (35–37) | |||
1958–59 | Boston^ (52–20) | New York* (40–32) | Syracuse* (35–37) | Philadelphia (32–40) | |||
1959–60 | Boston^ (59–16) | Philadelphia* (49–26) | Syracuse* (45–30) | New York (27–48) | |||
1960–61 | Boston^ (57–22) | Philadelphia* (46–33) | Syracuse* (38–41) | New York (21–58) | |||
1961–62 | Boston^ (60–20) | Philadelphia* (49–31) | Syracuse* (41–39) | New York (29–51) | |||
| |||||||
1962–63 | Boston^ (58–22) | Syracuse* (48–32) | Cincinnati* (42–38) | New York (21–59) | |||
| |||||||
1963–64 | Boston^ (59–21) | Cincinnati* (55–25) | Philadelphia* (34–46) | New York (22–58) | |||
1964–65 | Boston^ (62–18) | Cincinnati* (48–32) | Philadelphia* (40–40) | New York (31–49) | |||
1965–66 | Philadelphia* (55–25) | Boston^ (54–26) | Cincinnati* (45–35) | New York (30–50) | |||
| |||||||
1966–67 | Philadelphia^ (68–13) | Boston* (60–21) | Cincinnati* (39–42) | New York* (36–45) | Baltimore (20–61) | ||
| |||||||
1967–68 | Philadelphia* (62–20) | Boston^ (54–28) | New York* (43–39) | Detroit* (40–42) | Cincinnati (39–43) | Baltimore (36–46) | |
| |||||||
1968–69 | Baltimore* (57–25) | Philadelphia* (55–27) | New York* (54–28) | Boston^ (48–34) | Cincinnati (41–41) | Detroit (32–50) | Milwaukee (27–55) |
1969–70 | New York^ (60–22) | Milwaukee* (56–26) | Baltimore* (50–32) | Philadelphia* (42–40) | Cincinnati (36–46) | Boston (34–48) | Detroit (31–51) |
|
References
edit- ^ Goldaper, Sam. "The First Game". NBA.com. Archived from the original on May 3, 2019. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
- ^ "NBA is born". History.com. November 16, 2009. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
- ^ "N.B.A. Is Realigned Into Four Divisions". The New York Times. April 24, 1970. Archived from the original on December 12, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020.