1945–46 Philadelphia Sphas season

The Philadelphia Sphas were an early, historical example of an American professional basketball team. The 1945–46 season was the thirteenth season played in the now-revived American Basketball League by the Sphas, although they did play in the original rendition of the ABL from 1926 to 1928 as the Philadelphia Warriors, which had no relation to the later BAA franchise of the same name that now exists in the present day as the Golden State Warriors in the NBA. As such, when including the past history of the original ABL with the revived version of the ABL in 1933 following historical problems that related to the Great Depression near the end of 1931, this would technically be the nineteenth official season played by the original ABL properly, though this would officially be the 29th season of play for the Sphas franchise when including previous seasons where they played under names like the "Philadelphia YMHA"; the "Philadelphia Passon, Gottlieb, Black", the "Philadelphia Warriors"; and the "Philadelphia Hebrews". For most historic basketball outlets, this season would also be seen as the final season where the Philadelphia Sphas would be playing in a major professional basketball league, even though the ABL's reputation as such a league wouldn't be seen as dramatically downgraded in that regard until the season after the following one at hand, as the Sphas would continue playing in the ABL up until 1949 long after its reputation as a professional basketball league would be on the decline between the continuing success of the rivaling National Basketball League and the incoming future success of a new rivaling professional basketball league to go up against them both on a national level in the Basketball Association of America.

1945–46 Philadelphia Sphas season
Conference champions
League	American Basketball League (revived original)
Head coach	Eddie Gottlieb
General manager	Eddie Gottlieb
Owner(s)	Eddie Gottlieb
Arena	Broadwood Hotel
Results
Record	21–13 (.618)
Place	Conference: T–1st
Playoff finish	Lost ABL championship 3–1 to the Baltimore Bullets

Background

The Sphas played in leagues around Philadelphia since 1917, but game-by-game records before the Sphas rejoined the ABL in 1933 are not (currently) available (at least, not to the general public if official game records did exist for the Sphas) and are therefore likely lost to time itself.

Initially, when this season began following the conclusion of World War II, there was hope within the ABL that they would be able to have some solid expansion into being a competitive major basketball league similar to that of the rivaling National Basketball League in their future seasons of play. As such, when trying to have their third repeat for what would have been their eighth ABL championship in thirteen overall seasons of play (like it would be any other season for them at this point in time in the ABL), the Sphas would end up tying with the (original) Baltimore Bullets franchise for first place in the entire league with a 21–13 record, with them securing the tie with a blowout 70–46 win over the Bullets at the initial end of the regular season. Despite the previous game giving them momentum to secure first place entirely in the first place tiebreaker match to unofficially end the regular season, the Sphas would end up losing their home court match with a close 63–61 defeat to get the #2 seed in the ABL instead. Even with that in mind, however, the Sphas would end up sweeping the #4 seeded Wilmington Bombers in a quick 2–0 route in the semifinal round before seeing the #1 seeded Bullets once again in the now-best-of-five championship series for the ABL after Baltimore had swept the New York Gothams themselves. Both teams would end up splitting their first two games in the series without blowout victories on their ends before the Bullets ended up routing the Sphas in the final two games of the championship series to win the ABL's championship series 3–1, which gave Baltimore their first (and officially only) ABL championship before they later transferred themselves into the upcoming Basketball Association of America (and later win a championship there) while the Sphas would be denied their eighth ABL championship in the franchise's history. Not only that, but that season would later be seen as the turning point for the rest of their existence going forward, with this season ultimately marking the end of the best days for both the Philadelphia Sphas themselves and the ABL itself going forward.

Roster

Due to information on American Basketball League players being generally hard to find, there are bound to be more gaps and/or inaccuracies found in certain areas on the team's roster spots than usual.

1945–46 Philadelphia Sphas roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From F/C Irv Davis 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1915–01–10 NYU G Jerry Fleishman 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1922–02–14 NYU G Jack Garfinkel 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1918–06–13 St. John's C Art Hillhouse 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1916–06–12 Long Island G/F Ralph Kaplowitz 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1919–05–18 NYU G Julius Kasner 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1915–01–10 Brooklyn G Red Klotz 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) 150 lb (68 kg) 1920–10–21 Villanova F/C Inky Lautman 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1914–05–22 Central HS (PA) G Bernard Opper 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1915–09–01 Kentucky G Petey Rosenberg 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 165 lb (75 kg) 1918–04–07 Saint Joseph's C Irv Rothenberg 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1921–12–31 Long Island G/F Ossie Schectman 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1919–03–30 Long Island G/F Butch Schwartz 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1919–02–14 Long Island G George Senesky 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 179 lb (81 kg) 1922–04–04 Saint Joseph's F Irv Torgoff 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 192 lb (87 kg) 1917–03–06 Long Island G Butch Weintraub 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1917–10–08 CCNY

Head coach Eddie Gottlieb Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Note: Jack Garfinkel, Julius Kasner, Irv Rothenberg, George Senesky, and Butch Weintraub would not take part in the 1946 ABL Playoffs for the Sphas for one reason or another.

ABL Standings

Pos.	Team	Wins	Losses	Win %
T–1	Baltimore Bullets	21	13	.618
	Philadelphia SPHAs	21	13	.618
3	New York Gothams	18	16	.529
4	Wilmington Bombers	15	19	.441
5	Trenton Tigers	14	20	.412
6	Paterson Crescents	13	21	.382

ABL Schedule

For the rest of the ABL's entire existence going forward, the ABL would utilize a proper, full regular season instead of two half-seasons for its regular season formatting.

Game	Date	Opponent	Score	Record
1	November 3	Paterson Crescents	63–55	1–0
2	November 17	Trenton Tigers	60–56	2–0
3	November 18	@ New York Gothams	68–65	3–0
4	November 25	@ Trenton Tigers	47–53	3–1
5	December 1	New York Gothams	50–48	4–1
6	December 7	@ Baltimore Bullets	62–72	4–2
7	December 8	Baltimore Bullets	62–66	4–3
8	December 9	@ Wilmington Bombers	49–55	4–4
9	December 15	Paterson Crescents	76–66	5–4
10	December 16	@ Paterson Crescents	53–40	6–4
11	December 22	Wilmington Bombers	48–57	6–5
12	December 23	@ New York Gothams	59–54	7–5
13	December 29	Trenton Tigers	86–61	8–5
14	December 30	@ Trenton Tigers	62–58	9–5
15	January 5	New York Gothams	60–59	10–5
16	January 11	@ Baltimore Bullets	61–67	10–6
17	January 12	Baltimore Bullets	61–56	11–6
18	January 13	@ Wilmington Bombers	47–40	12–6
19	January 19	Paterson Crescents	59–52	13–6
20	January 20	@ Paterson Crescents	57–53	14–6
21	January 26	Wilmington Bombers	72–60	15–6
22	January 27	@ New York Gothams	61–75	15–7
23	February 1	@ Baltimore Bullets	56–65	15–8
24	February 2	Baltimore Bullets	55–57	15–9
25	February 9	New York Gothams	53–60	15–10
26	February 16	Wilmington Bombers	70–58	16–10
27	February 17	@ Wilmington Bombers	43–58	16–11
28	February 23	Baltimore Bullets	68–47	17–11
29	February 24	@ Trenton Tigers	48–63	17–12
30	March 2	Wilmington Bombers	70–61	18–12
31	March 3	@ Paterson Crescents	74–73 (OT)	19–12
32	March 9	Trenton Tigers	72–69	20–12
33	March 10	@ Wilmington Bombers	58–62	20–13
34	March 13	@ Baltimore Bullets	70–46	21–13
35 (T)	March 16	Baltimore Bullets	61–63	21–14

ABL Playoffs

ABL Semifinals

Game	Date	Opponent	Score	Record
Game 1	March 17	@ Wilmington Bombers	69–65	1–0
Game 2	March 23	Wilmington Bombers	75–72	2–0

ABL Championship Series

This would end up becoming the last ABL Championship Series the Philadelphia Sphas would ever (officially) participate in. This series would also end up becoming a best-of-five series this time around after last season's championship series against the (original) Baltimore Bullets franchise was a best-of-three series for some unknown reason.

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Record
Game 1	March 30	Baltimore Bullets	63–48	1–0
Game 2	March 31	@ Baltimore Bullets	48–65	1–1
Game 3	April 13	Baltimore Bullets	45–68	1–2
Game 4	April 14	@ Baltimore Bullets	39–54	1–3