Eastern Division (NBA) explained

Eastern Division
League:	National Basketball Association
Sport:	Basketball
Inaugural:	1946–47 BAA season
Folded:	1969–70 NBA season
Replaced:	Eastern Conference
Champion:	New York Knicks (3rd title) (1970)
Most Champs:	Boston Celtics (9 titles)

The Eastern Division was a division in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and its forerunner, the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The division was created at the start of the 1946–47 BAA season,^[1] when the league was created, and was then kept as one of the divisions when BAA merged with the National Basketball League (NBL) to create the NBA on August 3, 1949.^[2] The division existed until the 1970–71 NBA season when the NBA expanded from 14 to 17 teams and realigned into the Eastern and Western conferences with two divisions each.^[3]

Teams

Team	City	Year	From	Year	To	Current division
		Joined		Left
					Folded	—
	Baltimore, Maryland		Western Division			Southeast Division
			§			Atlantic Division
			Western Division		Central Division	Pacific Division
			Western Division			Central Division
			—		Midwest Division	Central Division
			§		Atlantic Division	Atlantic Division
			—		Atlantic Division	Atlantic Division
	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania		§			Pacific Division
			§		Folded	—
			§		Folded	—
			§		Western Division Folded	—

Notes

• • denotes an expansion team.
• denotes a team that merged from the National Basketball League (NBL)

Team timeline

DateFormat = yyyyImageSize = width:1150 height:auto barincrement:25Period = from:1946 till:1970TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalPlotArea = right:60 left:20 bottom:20 top:0

Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white

PlotData = width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:tan1 from:1946 till:1970 text:Boston Celtics (1946–1970) bar:2 color:tan1 from:1946 till:1970 text:New York Knicks (1946–1970) bar:3 color:tan1 from:1946 till:1962 text:Philadelphia Warriors (1946–1962) bar:4 color:tan2 from:1946 till:1949 text:Providence Steamrollers (1946–1949) bar:5 color:tan2 from:1946 till:1947 text:Toronto Huskies (1946–1947) bar:6 color:tan2 from:1946 till:1947 text:Washington Capitols (1946–1947, 1948–1951) bar:6 color:tan2 from:1948 till:1951 bar:7 color:tan2 from:1948 till:1954 text:Baltimore Bullets (original, 1948–1954) bar:8 color:tan1 from:1949 till:1970 text:Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers (1949–1970) bar:9 color:tan1 from:1962 till:1970 text:Cincinnati Royals (1962–1970) bar:10 color:tan1 from:1966 till:1970 text:Baltimore Bullets (1966–1970) bar:11 color:tan1 from:1967 till:1970 text:Detroit Pistons (1967–1970) bar:12 color:tan1 from:1968 till:1970 text:Milwaukee Bucks (1968–1970)

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:3 start:1946

Division champions

^

Had or tied for the best regular season record for that season

Season	Team	Record	Playoffs result
	Washington Capitols^	49–11	Lost Semifinals
		27–21	Lost BAA Finals
		38–22	Lost BAA Finals
	Syracuse Nationals^	51–13	Lost NBA Finals
		40–26	Lost Division semifinals
		40–26	Lost Division finals
		47–23	Lost NBA Finals
		47–23	Lost Division semifinals (round-robin)
	Syracuse Nationals^	43–29	Lost Division finals
	Philadelphia Warriors^	45–27	Won NBA Finals
	Boston Celtics^	44–28	Won NBA Finals
	Boston Celtics^	49–23	Lost NBA Finals
	Boston Celtics^	52–20	Won NBA Finals
	Boston Celtics^	59–16	Won NBA Finals
	Boston Celtics^	57–22	Won NBA Finals
	Boston Celtics^	60–20	Won NBA Finals
	Boston Celtics^	58–22	Won NBA Finals
	Boston Celtics^	59–21	Won NBA Finals
	Boston Celtics^	62–18	Won NBA Finals
	Philadelphia 76ers^	55–25	Lost Division finals
	Philadelphia 76ers^	68–13	Won NBA Finals
	Philadelphia 76ers^	62–20	Lost Division finals
	Baltimore Bullets^	57–25	Lost Division semifinals
	New York Knicks^	60–22	Won NBA Finals

Titles by team

Team	Titles	Season(s) won
	9	,,,,,,,,
	6	,,,,,
	3	,,
	3	,,
	2	,
	1

Season results

^	Denotes team that won the BAA/NBA championships
^+	Denotes team that lost the BAA/NBA Finals
	Denotes team that qualified for the BAA/NBA playoffs

Season	Team (record)
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th
1946: the Eastern Division was formed with six inaugural members.
	Washington (49–11)	Philadelphia^ (35–25)	New York (33–27)	Providence (28–32)	Boston (22–38)	Toronto (22–38)
1947: the Toronto Huskies folded during the off-season, while the Washington Capitols left to join the Western Division.
	Philadelphia^+ (27–21)	New York (26–22)	Boston (20–28)	Providence (6–42)
1948: the Washington Capitols re-joined the division, while the Baltimore Bullets joined from the Western Division.
	Washington^+ (38–22)	New York (32–28)	Baltimore (29–31)	Philadelphia (28–32)	Boston (25–35)	Providence (12–48)
1949: the Providence Steamrollers folded during the off-season, while the Syracuse Nationals merged from the National Basketball League (NBL).
	Syracuse^+ (51–13)	New York (40–28)	Washington (32–36)	Philadelphia (26–42)	Baltimore (25–43)	Boston (22–46)
	Philadelphia (40–26)	Boston (39–30)	New York^+ (36–30)	Syracuse (32–34)	Baltimore (24–42)	Washington (10–25)
1951: the Washington Capitols folded midway through the 1950–51 season.
	Syracuse (40–26)	Boston (39–27)	New York^+ (37–29)	Philadelphia (33–33)	Baltimore (20–46)
	New York^+ (47–23)	Syracuse (47–24)	Boston (46–25)	Baltimore (16–54)	Philadelphia (12–57)
	New York (47–23)	Boston (42–30)	Syracuse^+ (42–30)	Philadelphia (29–43)	Baltimore (16–56)
1954: the Baltimore Bullets folded during the 1954–55 season.
	Syracuse^ (43–29)	New York (38–34)	Boston (36–36)	Philadelphia (33–39)
	Philadelphia^ (45–27)	Boston (39–33)	Syracuse (35–37)	New York (35–37)
	Boston^ (44–28)	Syracuse (38–34)	Philadelphia (37–35)	New York (36–36)
	Boston^+ (49–23)	Syracuse (41–31)	Philadelphia (37–35)	New York (35–37)
	Boston^ (52–20)	New York (40–32)	Syracuse (35–37)	Philadelphia (32–40)
	Boston^ (59–16)	Philadelphia (49–26)	Syracuse (45–30)	New York (27–48)
	Boston^ (57–22)	Philadelphia (46–33)	Syracuse (38–41)	New York (21–58)
	Boston^ (60–20)	Philadelphia (49–31)	Syracuse (41–39)	New York (29–51)
1962: the Cincinnati Royals were shifted from the Western Division, because the Philadelphia Warriors relocated and joined the Western Division as the San Francisco Warriors.
	Boston^ (58–22)	Syracuse (48–32)	Cincinnati (42–38)	New York (21–59)
1963: the Syracuse Nationals relocated and became the Philadelphia 76ers.
	Boston^ (59–21)	Cincinnati (55–25)	Philadelphia (34–46)	New York (22–58)
	Boston^ (62–18)	Cincinnati (48–32)	Philadelphia (40–40)	New York (31–49)
	Philadelphia (55–25)	Boston^ (54–26)	Cincinnati (45–35)	New York (30–50)
1966: the Baltimore Bullets joined from the Western Division.
	Philadelphia^ (68–13)	Boston (60–21)	Cincinnati (39–42)	New York (36–45)	Baltimore (20–61)
1967: the Detroit Pistons joined from the Western Division.
	Philadelphia (62–20)	Boston^ (54–28)	New York (43–39)	Detroit (40–42)	Cincinnati (39–43)	Baltimore (36–46)
1968: an expansion team, the Milwaukee Bucks, joined the division.
	Baltimore (57–25)	Philadelphia (55–27)	New York (54–28)	Boston^ (48–34)	Cincinnati (41–41)	Detroit (32–50)	Milwaukee (27–55)
	New York^ (60–22)	Milwaukee (56–26)	Baltimore (50–32)	Philadelphia (42–40)	Cincinnati (36–46)	Boston (34–48)	Detroit (31–51)
1970: the NBA divided the league into the Eastern and Western conferences. The Boston Celtics, New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers joined the Atlantic Division, the Baltimore Bullets and Cincinnati Royals joined the Central Division, while the Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks joined the Midwest Division.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Goldaper . Sam . The First Game . NBA.com . December 12, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190503032326/http://www.nba.com/history/firstgame_feature.html . May 3, 2019.
2. Web site: NBA is born . History.com . December 12, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201111184741/https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nba-is-born . November 11, 2020 . November 16, 2009.
3. Web site: N.B.A. Is Realigned Into Four Divisions . The New York Times . December 12, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201212130159/https://www.nytimes.com/1970/04/24/archives/nba-is-realigned-into-four-divisions.html . December 12, 2020 . April 24, 1970.