The 1962β63 Cincinnati Royals season was the team's 15th season in the
National Basketball Association (NBA) and its sixth in
Cincinnati. The Royals were shifted from the Western Division into the Eastern Division before the start of the season because the Philadelphia Warriors had relocated to
San Francisco. In their first season in the Eastern Division, the Royals posted a 42β38 record and finished in 3rd place.[1]
The season saw the Royals challenged by a rival league, the American Basketball League run by
Abe Saperstein, like few NBA teams ever have been.
Larry Staverman and
Win Wilfong had left the team for the new league. #1 draft picks
Larry Siegfried and
Jerry Lucas were both also signed away by the
ABL. These key losses would later greatly affect the team's
playoffs result. Lucas was particularly missed by Cincinnati fans.
Oscar Robertson nonetheless led a balanced and solid Royals five that year, supported by
Wayne Embry,
Jack Twyman,
Bob Boozer and
Arlen Bockhorn. Draft pick
Adrian Smith had arrived and joined
Tom Hawkins and Hub Reed at the head of the bench. Robertson posted 28.3 points per game, and his league-leading assists total was twice that of all but one other NBA player. He sank the second-most free throws in the league, and was a strong third on the Royals in rebounds.
The Royals were consistent winners all season long, buoyed by a 10β6 November.
In the playoffs, the Royals would win their first
playoff series in 11 years. The Royals upset the second-place Syracuse Nationals with an overtime win on the road in Game 5 on March 26. The two teams had each won their two home games before Robertson led the upset. It was the last NBA game ever hosted by a team in
Syracuse,
New York.[1] In the Eastern Finals, the Royals faced the defending NBA Champion
Boston Celtics and stunned them with two wins at Boston Gardens to seize a 2β1 series lead. Thomas E. Wood, the team's key owner, died in 1961. An ownership dispute between competing groups came to a head in 1963 when
Louis Jacobs, who had bought
Cincinnati Gardens from the Wood estate, scheduled a circus for the week of the Boston series without telling the Royals. The team was furious and had to host their second home playoff game at
Xavier University's small Schmidt Fieldhouse. Despite that fact, and the earlier loss of draft pick Jerry Lucas, Robertson led the team to a third win over the Celtics in Game Six to force a seventh game.
The Royals lost Game Seven in Boston on April 10, 142β131. Robertson had 43 points, the Celtics' Sam Jones had 47 in that concluding game. The season marks arguably the closest the
Cincinnati Royals ever came to an NBA title, despite the obstacles mentioned above.
Ballyhooed #1 pick Jerry Lucas, two-time
NCAA Player of The Year, was signed away by
George Steinbrenner of the
ABLCleveland Pipers, a serious blow to this year's team.
The Royals won five straight to move to 10β6 in November, and followed that with a 6β8 December. They were 9β9 in both January and February, reaching 36β31 on 2-21-63. The Royals won four straight to finish the season 42-38.