1947–48 Washington Capitols season

March 2026 August 2023 Washington Capitols BAA 1948 28 20 Western 4 Red Auerbach Uline Arena Mike Uline WTTG WWDC Lost Division tiebreaker WSC The 1947–48 BAA season was the Capitols' second season in the BAA (which later became the NBA).https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/WSC/1948.html 1947-48 Washington Capitols Roster and Stats Entering this season, the Capitols were expected to be among the elite teams of the BAA this season in spite of them moving from the Eastern Division to the Western Division following the addition of the original Baltimore Bullets and folding of four of the BAA's inaugural teams, with legendary head coach Red Auerbach being given another one-year contract by team owner Mike Uline due to the latter's prior bad experience with multi-year contracts. However, despite them retaining Auerbach's services and retaining most of their roster while maintaining the same "midseason" conditioning plan from the previous season into this season, the Capitols would end up downgrading their results throughout the season with a 28–20 record, being behind the St. Louis Bombers for a first place finish and being tied with both the former ABL-born Baltimore Bullets and the Chicago Stags for the final two playoff spots in the Western Division, which led to a unique Western Division tiebreaker period where Washington and Chicago would compete against each other once again, but in a winner-takes-all match for one of the playoff spots in the Western Division, with Baltimore automatically qualifying for the other spot by default. Disappointingly, Washington would lose to Chicago once again, this time being defeated 74–70 to be eliminated from playoff contention entirely this season. Following this elimination, Auerbach would be given one more one-year contract by Mike Uline due to Auerbach losing some ground in his negotiations at the time, with the upcoming season looking to be a "prove-it" season for him in order to showcase the previous season wasn't a fluke for his sake in terms of production. Draft picks 1947 BAA draft Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 1 9 Dick O'Keefe G/F United States Santa Clara – – Bill Burke – United States St. Mary's College (MD) – – Paul Cloyd G/F United States Wisconsin – – John Mandic F/C United States Oregon State – – Saul Mariaschin G United States Harvard – – Abel Rodriguez – United States San Francisco – – Irv Rothenberg C United States Long Island – – Jack Tingle F United States Kentucky – – Matt Zunic G/F United States George Washington Roster Washington Capitols 1947–48 10 Bob Feerick F/G 6 3 190 Santa Clara 1920-01-02 14 Sonny Hertzberg G 5 10 175 CCNY 1922-07-29 12 John Mahnken C 6 8 220 Georgetown 1922-06-16 17 Bones McKinney SF 6 6 185 North Carolina 1919-01-01 16 Johnny Norlander F 6 3 180 Hamline 1921-03-05 15 Dick O'Keefe G/F 6 2 185 Santa Clara 1923-09-29 18 Irv Rothenberg C 6 7 215 Long Island University 1921-12-31 20 Fred Scolari PG 5 10 180 San Francisco 1922-03-01 19 Jack Tingle F 6 4 205 Kentucky 1924-12-30 4 Irv Torgoff F 6 2 192 Long Island University 1917-03-06 Red Auerbach https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/WSC/1948.html Regular season Season standings WSC Game log Washington Capitols 1948 Total: 28–20 Washington Capitols November yes y y |- | 1 | November 12 | Baltimore | W 63–55 | Fred Scolari (17) | | 1–0 |- | 2 | November 13 | @ New York | L 65–80 | Feerick, Scolari (15) | | 1–1 |- | 3 | November 15 | Boston | L 69–73 | Feerick, McKinney (16) | | 1–2 |- | 4 | November 19 | Philadelphia | W 74–67 | Irv Rothenberg (14) | | 2–2 |- | 5 | November 20 | @ Chicago | L 77–81 | Fred Scolari (19) | | 2–3 |- | 6 | November 22 | @ St. Louis | L 62–70 | Johnny Norlander (14) | | 2–4 |- | 7 | November 26 | St. Louis | W 83–64 | Johnny Norlander (17) | | 3–4 |- | 8 | November 28 | @ Boston | L 83–92 | Fred Scolari (22) | | 3–5 |- | 9 | November 29 | @ Providence | L 78–85 | Fred Scolari (21) | | 3–6 Washington Capitols December y y |- | 10 | December 1 | @ New York | W 70–62 | Feerick, McKinney (13) | | 4–6 |- | 11 | December 3 | @ Chicago | L 73–81 | Feerick, McKinney (18) | | 4–7 |- | 12 | December 11 | @ Baltimore | W 71–69 (OT) | Bob Feerick (19) | | 5–7 |- | 13 | December 13 | @ Providence | W 88–72 | Bones McKinney (18) | | 6–7 |- | 14 | December 17 | Baltimore | W 66–64 | Bones McKinney (16) | | 7–7 |- | 15 | December 18 | @ Chicago | W 70–64 | Bob Feerick (17) | | 8–7 |- | 16 | December 20 | St. Louis | L 52–55 | Bones McKinney (19) | | 8–8 |- | 17 | December 25 | @ St. Louis | W 73–56 | Bob Feerick (23) | | 9–8 |- | 18 | December 27 | Philadelphia | W 72–70 | Fred Scolari (18) | | 10–8 Washington Capitols January y y |- | 19 | January 2 | @ Philadelphia | L 60–69 | Bob Feerick (22) | | 10–9 |- | 20 | January 3 | Boston | W 95–60 | Bones McKinney (17) | | 11–9 |- | 21 | January 8 | @ St. Louis | L 73–76 | Bob Feerick (18) | | 11–10 |- | 22 | January 10 | Philadelphia | W 106–99 (OT) | Bob Feerick (21) | | 12–10 |- | 23 | January 11 | @ Boston | L 56–84 | Bob Feerick (16) | | 12–11 |- | 24 | January 14 | Chicago | W 75–67 | Bones McKinney (20) | | 13–11 |- | 25 | January 17 | New York | W 78–62 | Fred Scolari (15) | | 14–11 |- | 26 | January 21 | St. Louis | W 81–74 | Bob Feerick (18) | | 15–11 |- | 27 | January 24 | Providence | W 69–60 | Fred Scolari (14) | | 16–11 |- | 28 | January 30 | @ Baltimore | L 71–95 | Bob Feerick (13) | | 16–12 |- | 29 | January 31 | Chicago | W 54–48 | Bob Feerick (21) | | 17–12 Washington Capitols February y y |- | 30 | February 4 | Baltimore | W 77–72 | Bob Feerick (20) | | 18–12 |- | 31 | February 5 | @ Philadelphia | W 72–60 | Johnny Norlander (18) | | 19–12 |- | 32 | February 7 | Providence | W 86–64 | Johnny Norlander (20) | | 20–12 |- | 33 | February 10 | @ Providence | W 79–60 | Bob Feerick (25) | | 21–12 |- | 34 | February 14 | Boston | W 72–58 | Bob Feerick (16) | | 22–12 |- | 35 | February 18 | New York | L 75–79 | Bones McKinney (18) | | 22–13 |- | 36 | February 19 | @ Philadelphia | L 76–84 | Bob Feerick (24) | | 22–14 |- | 37 | February 21 | Baltimore | W 85–72 | Fred Scolari (26) | | 23–14 |- | 38 | February 25 | Chicago | L 66–73 | Bob Feerick (27) | | 23–15 |- | 39 | February 26 | @ Baltimore | L 70–97 | Bob Feerick (26) | | 23–16 |- | 40 | February 28 | @ St. Louis | L 61–82 | Irv Torgoff (14) | | 23–17 |- | 41 | February 29 | @ Chicago | L 75–76 (OT) | Bob Feerick (21) | | 23–18 Washington Capitols March y y |- | 42 | March 6 | @ New York | L 64–69 (OT) | Bob Feerick (18) | | 23–19 |- | 43 | March 10 | Chicago | L 54–71 | Bob Feerick (12) | | 23–20 |- | 44 | March 13 | St. Louis | W 86–69 | Bob Feerick (19) | | 24–20 |- | 45 | March 16 | @ Boston | W 76–62 | Bob Feerick (12) | | 25–20 |- | 46 | March 17 | Providence | W 82–67 | Fred Scolari (16) | | 26–20 |- | 47 | March 18 | @ Baltimore | W 71–64 | Bob Feerick (24) | | 27–20 |- | 48 | March 20 | New York | W 103–82 | Bob Feerick (22) | | 28–20 BAA Playoffs Western Division Tiebreaker Series Match Chicago Stags vs. Washington Capitols: Stags win series 1-0 Game 1 @ Chicago (March 23): Chicago 74, Washington 70 References Category:Washington Capitols seasons Washington Washington Washington