Sports Poets Society

https://www.mitchellandness.com/en/the-first-nba-game/x-27912341+z-9034069-2391168968 On November 1st of 1946, the first NBA game was held as the New York Knickerbockers face the Toronto Huskies. 7,090 fans were in the stands at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The Huskies would have the two leading scorers of the game, with 18 and 16 point performances from their stars. However, it was Leo Gottlieb who would score 14 points to lead New York to victory . He was supported by Ossie Schectman, who made the first bucket in NBA history and added 11 points for the Knickerbockers. What may be most surprising for the NBA fans of today are the prices and promotional ads featured in that game. Anyone taller than Toronto’s big man would would be granted free admission. Otherwise, seats were sold for as little as 75 cents, $1.25, $2.00 and $2.50! In 1996, the NBA began their 50th Anniversary season by “replaying” that first game. The Raptors played the Knicks in Toronto at the Sky Dome, both teams w...

https://www.nba.com/news/nba-celebrates-first-game-anniversary-on-nov-1-in-new-york?utm_source=chatgpt.com The NBA celebrates the anniversary of the league's first game between New York and Toronto on Nov. 1, 1946. Brian Martin, for NBA.com November 1, 2021 5:49 PM November 1 marks the anniversary of the first game in league history in 1946 when the New York Knicks faced the now-defunct Toronto Huskies. The NBA’s 75th anniversary was a season-long celebration of the game; but if there was a single anniversary date to commemorate, it would be the game between New York and Toronto on Nov. 1, 2021, as it marked 75 years to the day of the first game in league history. On Nov. 1, 1946, the New York Knickerbockers played the Toronto Huskies in front of 7,090 fans at Maple Leaf Gardens in the opening game of the Basketball Association of America (the league would be rebranded the National Basketball Association three years later). New York’s Leo Gottlieb scored 14 points to lead the Knick...

Knickerbockers Win, 68 to 66,  as Pro Basketball Opens  Before Crowd of 7,090 TORONTO, Nov. 1 (AP) - A pair of field goals by Dick Murphy and a free throw by Tommy Byrnes in the final 2 1/2 minutes enabled the New York Knickerbockers to nose out the Toronto Huskies, 68-66, in the opening game of the Basketball Association of America season as the professional cage game made its bow here tonight. The Huskies, waging an uphill battle most of the way, twice had overcome huge New York leads to pull ahead and with four minutes to play led, 61-60. The Knicks regained the lead when Nat Militzok connected with a long set shot. Then followed a furious three and a half minutes which had the crowd of 7,090 on the edge of their seats as the lead changed hands four times before Murphy's second long shot put the New Yorkers ahead to stay. Byrnes' free throw insured the victory. The Knicks started as if they meant to walk off with the game, forging into a 6-0 lead after less than two minute...

https://www.gazzetta.it/Nba/01-11-2021/storia-origini-nba-cosi-si-arrivo-prima-partita-4202174795605.shtml?refresh_ce A 75 anni dalla prima partita di quella che oggi è diventata la lega pro’, ripercorriamo le tappe che portarono a quella leggendaria sfida tra Toronto Huskies e New York Knickerbockers Davide Piasentini 1 novembre 2021 - La Gazzetta dello Sport Sono passati 75 anni dalla prima partita NBA (all’epoca BAA) tra Toronto Huskies a New York Knicks, il 1° novembre del 1946, una data fondamentale per la crescita e lo sviluppo del movimento cestistico. Dopo una guerra capace di distruggere ogni cosa, dentro e fuori, e di cambiare drammaticamente ogni orizzonte individuale, la pallacanestro si è rivelata per gli Stati Uniti un dono impareggiabile, che ha permesso alla sua gente di riassaporare la voglia di futuro e di riscatto. La NBA ha dato corpo e colore ai sogni di una generazione, creando un prodotto costantemente in divenire, sensibile alle tematiche sociali e in grado di s...

https://www.nbapassion.com/nba/storia-nba/1946-prima-partita-nba-di-sempre-knicks-huskies-storia-204861/ Scritto da Andrea Delcuratolo   NBApassion.com - 1 Novembre 2021 1 novembre 1946. In un mondo che si stava leccando le ferite dalla Seconda Guerra Mondiale e che cercava di riprendersi in tutti modi, a Toronto si giocava una partita che era già storia. Al Maple Leafs Garden di Toronto , in un’arena lontana anni-luce dalla ScotiaBank Arena che tutti noi conosciamo, andava in scena la prima vera partita della storia della NBA, che all’epoca si chiamava ancora BAA, Basketball Association of America, e che avrebbe cambiato nome tre anni più tardi, per non cambiarlo più. Sul parquet del Garden si affrontavano infatti i New York Knicks e i canadesi dei Toronto Huskies, “antenati” degli odierni Raptors. La cornice della partita, finita con il risultato di 68-66 per i Knicks, era il Maple Leaf Gardens, casa degli Huskies nella loro unica stagione di sempre, conclusasi con un record di 2...

https://www.sport-e-cultura.com/2026/10/23/new-york-city-basketball-fever/?fbclid=IwY2xjawVNWW9leHRuA2FlbQIxMABwZG9mBXNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR543KneaZ7kkQRsDQHIMdIlTZMH2mnPp7twqBXEB2qvkiqnOzAG5zoXceonkQ_aem_PB0V0wSzBou5kNqeK4ecpg di SIMONE BASSO Sport & Cultura - venerdì 23 ottobre 2026 Non accadeva da un Tempo quasi infinito: cinquantatré anni. Da queste parti, Italy, futura Spaghetti League , studiavamo le foto a colori, bellissime, di Sport Illustrated . Manco fossero quelle del Playmen che il babbo ci nascondeva. In tivù la NBA sarebbe arrivata, alla chetichella, sette anni dopo. L’anello ai Knicks, il terzo, un home run esaltante, con la pallina che finisce fuori dello stadio, l’abbiamo accolto – in diretta – come un momentum . Ascolti a palla, roba da Bulls-Jazz 1998, che in questa storia tornerà: milioni di persone per strada, nei pub, nei teatri, a New York, a festeggiare. Un cancan mediatico, una febbre della palla con estro, con pochi eguali nell’èra mode...

After being a star player on the Celtics, Don Nelson led several teams over a 31-year career . He was 86.    by GLENN RIFKIN The New York Times  - Martedì 11 agosto 2026  Don Nelson , who won five N.B.A. championship rings as a player with the Boston Celtics and went on to become an innovative and freethinking Hall of Fame head coach and one of the winningest in league history, died on Sunday at an assisted living facility in Frisco, Texas . He was 86. His health deteriorated after a stroke about three weeks ago, his granddaughter Christie Nelson Armstrong said. Nelson, whose N.B.A. playing and coaching careers spanned nearly 50 years , was an unlikely success story, both on the hardwood and on the sideline. Nellie , as he was called, was an undersized small forward and not particularly fast or athletic ; he was twice waived by N.B.A. teams before joining the Celtics in 1965 . But he became an integral part of a Boston dynasty. In his arsenal were a deadly jump sho...

KYLE TERADA/USA TODAY SPORTS - Don Nelson won 1,335 games  as an NBA head coach with the Bucks, Warriors, Knicks and Mavericks. Nelson replaced a legend to become Bucks’ second head coach 11 Aug 2026 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel JR Radcliffe Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - USA TODAY NETWORK – WISCONSIN In 1971 the Milwaukee Bucks became NBA champions under the guidance of Larry Costello , who was the only head coach the organization had known since its 1968 inception. By 1976, however, the Bucks’ fortunes had turned, and Costello resigned under pressure after the Bucks lost 15 of their first 18 games in the 1976-77 season. In Costello’s place, the Bucks turned to new assistant Don Nelson. A Muskegon, Michigan, native, Nelson played basketball in an Illinois high school and then college ball at Iowa before getting drafted in 1962 by the Chicago Zephyrs (today the Washington Wizards). That kicked off a 14-year playing career that included a short stint with the Lakers and 11 seasons wit...