1948–49 Rochester Royals season

1948–49 Rochester Royals season
Head coach	Les Harrison
Arena	Edgerton Park Arena
Results
Record	45–15 (.750)
Place	Division: 1st (Western)
Playoff finish	West Division Finals (eliminated 0–2)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Radio	WHAM

The 1948–49 BAA season was the Royals' first season in the BAA (later known as the NBA).

Draft

Main article: 1948 BAA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	10	Bobby Wanzer	G	United States	Seton Hall
–	–	Alex Athas	–	United States	Tulane
–	–	Bill Gabor	G/F	United States	Syracuse
–	–	Ed Keim	–	United States	Niagara
–	–	Leo Kubiak	G/F	United States	Bowling Green
–	–	Johnny Macknowski	F	United States	Seton Hall
–	–	Lionel Melamed	–	United States	CCNY
–	–	Hank O'Keefe	–	United States	Canisius
–	–	Warren Stickel	–	United States	Syracuse
–	–	Paul Yesavi	–	United States	Niagara

Roster

1948–49 Rochester Royals roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB From SG 19 Calhoun, Bill 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1927-11-04 CCSF G 15 Curran, Fran 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1925-09-19 Notre Dame PG 11 Davies, Bob 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1920-01-15 Seton Hall F/C 10 Duncan, Andy 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1922-04-17 William & Mary F/C Fitzgerald, Bob 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1923-03-14 Fordham PG 16 Holzman, Red 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1920-08-10 CCNY SF 17 Johnson, Arnie 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 236 lb (107 kg) 1920-05-16 Bemidji State G/F 13 Levane, Andrew 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1920-04-11 St. John's G 12 Malamed, Lionel 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) 150 lb (68 kg) 1924-11-15 CCNY F/C 18 Novak, Mike 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 219 lb (99 kg) 1915-04-23 Loyola C 14 Risen, Arnie 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1924-10-09 Ohio State G 9 Wanzer, Bobby 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1921-06-04 Seton Hall

Head coach Les Harrison Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster

Regular season

Season standings

#	Western Division
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	x-Rochester Royals	45	15	.750	–
2	x-Minneapolis Lakers	44	16	.733	1
3	x-Chicago Stags	38	22	.633	7
4	x-St. Louis Bombers	29	31	.483	16
5	Fort Wayne Pistons	22	38	.367	23
6	Indianapolis Jets	18	42	.300	27

Record vs. opponents

1948–49 BAA records
Team	BAL	BOS	CHI	FWP	IND	MIN	NYK	PHI	PRO	ROC	STL	WAS
Baltimore	—	4–2	1–4	4–1	5–0	1–4	2–4	4–2	2–4	1–4	2–3	3–3
Boston	2–4	—	0–5	4–1	3–2	2–3	3–3	3–3	3–3	1–4	3–2	1–5
Chicago	4–1	5–0	—	4–2	5–1	2–4	3–2	2–3	5–0	2–4	3–3	3–2
Fort Wayne	1–4	1–4	2–4	—	3–3	2–4	1–4	5–0	4–1	0–6	1–4	2–3
Indianapolis	0–5	2–3	1-5	3–3	—	0–6	1–4	1–4	4–1	1–5	3–3	2–3
Minneapolis	4–1	3–2	4–2	4–2	6–0	—	4–1	4–1	5–0	4–2	4–2	2–3
New York	4–2	3–3	2–3	4–1	4–1	1–4	—	2–4	5–1	1–4	3–2	2–3
Philadelphia	2–4	3–3	3–2	0–5	4–1	1–4	4–2	—	6–0	0–5	3–2	2–4
Providence	4–2	3–3	0–5	1–4	1–4	0–5	1–5	0–6	—	2–3	0–5	0–6
Rochester	4–1	4–1	4–2	6–0	5–1	2–4	4–1	5–0	3–2	—	6–0	2–3
St. Louis	3–2	2–3	3–3	4–1	3–3	2–4	2–3	2–3	5–0	0–6	—	2–3
Washington	3–3	5–1	2–3	3–2	3–2	3–2	3–2	4–2	6–0	3–2	3–2	—

Game log

#	Date	Opponent	Score	High points	Record
1	November 6	Indianapolis	69–58	Arnie Johnson (11)	1–0
2	November 10	@ Washington	66–73	Arnie Risen (17)	1–1
3	November 11	@ Philadelphia	83–75	Arnie Risen (21)	2–1
4	November 13	Boston	95–63	Red Holzman (16)	3–1
5	November 14	Minneapolis	92–75	Arnie Risen (19)	4–1
6	November 16	New York	75–63	Arnie Risen (13)	5–1
7	November 18	@ Providence	103–74	Red Holzman (18)	6–1
8	November 21	Washington	77–80	Davies, Risen (17)	6–2
9	November 23	Baltimore	108–90	Red Holzman (24)	7–2
10	November 27	Chicago	105–103 (2OT)	Arnie Risen (26)	8–2
11	December 1	@ New York	73–72	Arnie Risen (28)	9–2
12	December 4	Philadelphia	105–101 (OT)	Arnie Risen (20)	10–2
13	December 6	@ Boston	87–79	Bob Davies (19)	11–2
14	December 7	Providence	89–90	Andy Duncan (20)	11–3
15	December 10	Minneapolis	75–96	Andy Duncan (15)	11–4
16	December 12	@ Minneapolis	58–67	Arnie Risen (12)	11–5
17	December 14	@ Chicago	85–78	Arnie Risen (26)	12–5
18	December 18	Fort Wayne	84–64	Bobby Wanzer (21)	13–5
19	December 19	@ Fort Wayne	83–78 (OT)	Red Holzman (17)	14–5
20	December 21	@ Indianapolis	84–71	Arnie Risen (25)	15–5
21	December 25	St. Louis	90–82	Arnie Risen (19)	16–5
22	December 26	@ Minneapolis	90–99	Andy Duncan (22)	16–6
23	December 29	@ New York	74–77	Arnie Risen (16)	16–7
24	December 30	@ Baltimore	89–100	Bobby Wanzer (22)	16–8
25	January 1	St. Louis	106–83	Bobby Wanzer (18)	17–8
26	January 2	@ St. Louis	89–64	Novak, Risen (14)	18–8
27	January 6	@ Indianapolis	62–73	Arnie Risen (11)	18–9
28	January 8	Chicago	88–91	Arnie Risen (25)	18–10
29	January 9	@ Chicago	90–75	Bob Davies (26)	19–10
30	January 11	Philadelphia	83–71	Arnie Risen (21)	20–10
31	January 13	@ Baltimore	102–85	Bobby Wanzer (18)	21–10
32	January 15	Fort Wayne	73–62	Davies, Wanzer (14)	22–10
33	January 19	vs Indianapolis	70–66	Bob Davies (33)	23–10
34	January 20	@ St. Louis	84–74	Bob Davies (26)	24–10
35	January 22	New York	103–98 (2OT)	Bob Davies (22)	25–10
36	January 23	@ Fort Wayne	81–80 (OT)	Bob Davies (29)	26–10
37	January 29	Baltimore	90–86	Arnie Risen (22)	27–10
38	February 1	@ Boston	76–68	Bobby Wanzer (21)	28–10
39	February 3	@ Providence	80–88	Arnie Risen (26)	28–11
40	February 5	Fort Wayne	80–61	Red Holzman (15)	29–11
41	February 6	@ Minneapolis	85–74	Arnie Risen (22)	30–11
42	February 8	Providence	97–65	Arnie Risen (20)	31–11
43	February 9	@ Washington	94–99 (2OT)	Bob Davies (29)	31–12
44	February 10	@ Baltimore	90–76	Arnie Risen (27)	32–12
45	February 12	Chicago	87–73	Davies, Risen (23)	33–12
46	February 15	Washington	91–79	Arnie Risen (17)	34–12
47	February 17	@ St. Louis	68–63	Bob Davies (19)	35–12
48	February 18	@ Indianapolis	65–53	Bob Davies (14)	36–12
49	February 19	Indianapolis	87–73	Arnie Risen (25)	37–12
50	February 22	Philadelphia	92–86	Arnie Risen (17)	38–12
51	February 26	Boston	64–59	Arnie Johnson (17)	39–12
52	March 1	Washington	67–64	Arnie Johnson (14)	40–12
53	March 5	Providence	81–64	Bobby Wanzer (14)	41–12
54	March 6	@ Fort Wayne	78–66	Arnie Risen (29)	42–12
55	March 10	@ Philadelphia	73–71	Bob Davies (25)	43–12
56	March 12	St. Louis	104–74	Arnie Risen (21)	44–12
57	March 15	@ Boston	83–86	Arnie Risen (28)	44–13
58	March 16	@ New York	94–89	Bob Davies (29)	45–13
59	March 19	Minneapolis	85–99	Red Holzman (15)	45–14
60	March 20	@ Chicago	61–98	Fran Curran (15)	45–15

Playoffs

West Division Semifinals

(1) Rochester Royals vs. (4) St. Louis Bombers: Royals win series 2-0

• Game 1 @ Rochester: Rochester 93, St. Louis 64
• Game 2 @ St. Louis: Rochester 66, St. Louis 64

Last Playoff Meeting: This is the first meeting between the Royals and Bombers.

West Division Finals

(1) Rochester Royals vs. (2) Minneapolis Lakers: Lakers win series 2-0

• Game 1 @ Rochester: Minneapolis 80, Rochester 79
• Game 2 @ Minneapolis: Minneapolis 67, Rochester 55

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

Awards and records

• Bob Davies, All-NBA First Team