The 1950–51 Boston Celtics season was the fifth season of the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA). It was

Red Auerbach Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach (September 20, 1917 – October 28, 2006) was an American professional basketball coach and executive. As a head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA), he led the Boston Celtics to an unprecedented champio ...

's first season as head coach. This was also the first winning season in franchise history, finishing 9 games above .500, beginning a streak of 19 consecutive winning seasons. They also qualified for the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

for the second time in franchise history, starting a streak of 19 consecutive postseason appearances as well. One lesser known aspect that's not mentioned during this season was how two out of three games successfully rigged by NBA referee Sol Levy involved the Celtics winning two matches against the

Washington Capitols The Washington Capitols were a former Basketball Association of America (forerunner of the National Basketball Association) team based in Washington, D.C. from 1946 to 1951. The team was coached from 1946 to 1949 by NBA Hall of Famer Red Auerb ...

(who would become defunct later in the season) and Indianapolis Olympians on November 11 & 12 respectively, with the latter game in particular catching Levy in the act and later resulting in his arrest as an accomplice in the CCNY point-shaving scandal of 1951.

Draft picks

Roster

Pre-season

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Playoffs

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New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

L 69–83
, Ed Macauley (23) , — ,

Boston Garden The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928, as "Boston Madison Square Garden" (later ...

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L 78–92
, Ed Macauley (21) ,

Bob Cousy Robert Joseph Cousy ( , born August 9, 1928) is an American former professional basketball player. He played point guard for the Boston Celtics from 1950 to 1963, and briefly with the Cincinnati Royals during the 1969–70 season. A 13-time NBA ...

(6) ,

Madison Square Garden III Madison Square Garden (MSG III) was an indoor arena in New York City, the third bearing that name. Built in 1925 and closed in 1968, it was located on the west side of Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eighth Avenue between 49th Street (Manhattan), 4 ...

, 0–2 , -

Player statistics

Season

Playoffs

Awards and records

* Ed Macauley,

All-NBA First Team The All-NBA Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor bestowed on the best players in the league following every NBA season. The voting is conducted by a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. The team has been sel ...

Draft picks

Roster

Pre-season

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Playoffs

Player statistics

Season

Playoffs

Awards and records

Transactions

References

See also