Thanksgiving in America is a time for Americans to look back at what they are thankful for in life. The actual meaning of Thanksgiving is this: the act of giving thanks.
So, the question now is, what are basketball fans thankful for? Of course, watching an exciting basketball game is probably the answer. On Thanksgiving, it’s become a tradition to eat turkey and watch football.
Although this pastime is great, football isn’t the only sport that plays on Thanksgiving Day. The NBA has a history of playing games on turkey day, though it doesn’t always happen.
For example, this year, there will be no NBA games being played. But it hasn’t always been this way. In fact, in the NBA’s first year as the National Basketball Association, five basketball games were played on Thanksgiving.
In those five games was a game between the Anderson Packers vs. the Syracuse Nationals. This game became an instant classic when it went into five overtimes.
The First NBA Thanksgiving Was In 1949
The Basketball Association of America, or BAA, was founded in 1947, and after three years, the BAA absorbed another basketball league known as the National Basketball League or NBL. After taking in the NBL, the league changed its name to the NBA, thus starting the league we all know today.
Now, the BAA did have games played on Thanksgiving as well, but in this article, we are going to skip those and focus on Thanksgiving Day, 1949. This was when the league was officially the NBA, and it featured five games in total.
Here are the five games played on Thanksgiving Day in 1949.
Fort Wayne Pistons At Boston Celtics: 99-85
The Boston Celtics in 1949 were not the legendary franchise that we know it as today. They’d have to wait until 1956, when they acquired Bill Russell in a Draft day trade.
In 1949, Boston finished the season with a 22-46 record, the worst in the Eastern Division. Boston played the Pistons, which were in Fort Wayne at the time.
Entering the game, the Pistons were 6-2, and the Celtics were 4-8. The Pistons were the better team and were led by Fred Schaus, who scored 28 points, and Richie Niemiera, who scored 21 points.
The Celtics were led by Tony Lavelli, who scored 20 points, and Johnny Ezersky, who added 16 points. The Pistons defeated the Celtics 99-85.
Baltimore Bullets At St. Louis Bombers: 65-63
The Baltimore Bullets in 1949 were not the same Baltimore Bullets that became the Washington Wizards. This Bullets franchise folded in 1954.
The Bullets, in 1949, were led by Blackie Towery, who scored 14 points in the Thanksgiving game. They were also led by Paul Hoffman, who scored 11 points in their Thanksgiving matchup.
The St. Louis Bombers were founded in 1946 in the BAA. Once the NBA was formed, St. Louis would only last one season before folding after the 1949-50 season.
The Bombers were led by Belus Smawley, who scored 16 points in the Thanksgiving game. They were also led by Ed Macauley, but he had an off game scoring only 9 points in the game.
The Bullets squeaked out a 65-63 win over the Bombers in this game. St. Louis would not end up having a happy Thanksgiving, to say the least.
New York Knicks At Philadelphia Warriors: 75-70
The Knicks and the Warriors are two of the most iconic franchises in NBA history. The New York Knicks haven’t won a title since 1973, but Madison Square Garden is still considered to be the mecca of basketball.
The Golden State Warriors are the modern-day NBA dynasty, as their title last season marked four championships in the last eight seasons. Back in 1949, the Warriors had yet to head west, as they were the Philadelphia Warriors.
Carl Braun led the Knicks in scoring during the 1949-50 season by averaging 15.4 points per game. In the Knicks’ Thanksgiving day showdown with the Warriors, Braun struggled and only scored 5 points on 2-15 shooting. On the other hand, Harry Donovan, who averaged 5.6 points per game during the 1949-50 season, scored 14 for New York.
For the Warriors, their leader was Joe Fulks, who led the team with 21 points in the game. Despite Fulks’ efforts, the Warriors fell 75-70 to the Knicks.
Tri-Cities Blackhawks At Sheboygan Red Skins: 113-120
The Tri-Cities Blackhawks are the franchise that is known today as the Atlanta Hawks. Back in 1949, the team played in Moline, Illinois.
The Blackhawks, in the 1949-50 season, made a coaching change after only five games. They fired their head coach, Roger Potter, and brought in a coach who’d later go on to create the greatest dynasty the NBA has ever seen. This coach was Red Auerbach.
For the players, the Blackhawks were led by Dike Eddleman, who scored 23 points on Thanksgiving, 1949. They would need every point scored by Eddleman to hang around in the Thanksgiving game, as this game wouldn’t be low scoring like the previous three.
The Sheboygan Red Skins are no longer around in the NBA. They folded after the 1949–1950 season, but they sure gave a great performance on Thanksgiving Day, 1949.
The Red Skins were led by Noble Jorgensen, who scored 27 points on Thanksgiving. Danny Wagner chipped a cool 26 points as the Red Skins prevailed with a 120-113 victory over the Blackhawks.
Anderson Packers At Syracuse Nationals: 123-125
The last game played on Thanksgiving Day, 1949, turned out to be an instant classic. The Anderson Packers were from Anderson, Indiana, and they had an uphill battle from the start of their Thanksgiving game.
The Packers came into the game with a 6-2 record, which proved they were one of the best teams in the league. Their opponents, the Syracuse Nationals, on the other hand, entered the game with a 10-1 record.
The Nationals were from New York state, and they were the best team all season long. Unfortunately for the Nationals, they’d go on to lose 4-2 in the NBA Finals to the Minneapolis Lakers. On Thanksgiving night, the Nationals would participate in what was, at the time, the longest game in NBA history.
At the end of the first half, the Nationals looked to be in some trouble. They trailed the Packers 41-30. But being the best team all season, the Nationals were not worried.
Syracuse battled back, and thanks to two free throws by their guard, Ray Corley, the game went into overtime, tied at 76. The game wouldn’t end after the overtime, or the second overtime, or the third, either.
At the end of the fourth overtime, Andrew Levane would hit a “long set shot” for the Nationals to send the game into a fifth overtime. Levane would only score 4 points in the game, but two of them came when they mattered the most.
Syracuse would finally pull away in the fifth overtime, winning the game 125-123. The Nationals’ 125 points were the most points scored by a team at that time, and the Packers’ 123 set the record for the most points scored by a road team.
“How’s this for a basketball game?” the Associated Press asked after the game. “Five extra periods. A final score of 125-123. A total of 123 fouls.”
“A crowd of 6,821 turkey-stuffed fans worked it off, sitting and standing, sitting and standing.”
The Thanksgiving game took three hours and 48 minutes to play, which was the longest at the time. The Packers had seven players score in double figures, led by Frankie Brian’s 18 points.
For the Nationals, they had six players in double figures, led by Johnny Macknowski’s 21 points. Ray Corley chipped in 19 points for the Nationals.
The day after the game, the Packers protested the Nationals’ win, stating that with 28 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Nationals made an illegal substitution. They sent their protest to the NBA front office, trying to get the outcome changed.
The newspaper, The Herald, wrote this as their headline the day after Thanksgiving: “Nats Await Ruling on Protested 125-123 Court Victory.” The outcome was not overturned, and the Nationals remained the victors on Thanksgiving Day.
There you have it, the first five NBA games played on Thanksgiving Day. This is something to be thankful for, as NBA fans. Without the pioneers of the game, we may not have the NBA today.
So, we give our thanks to all the players who’ve paved the way for making the NBA the best basketball league in the world. Happy Thanksgiving.
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