Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors are a professional basketball team based in Oakland, California. They play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). more...

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"Golden State" is the nickname of the state of California, derived from the 1849 Gold Rush. The Warriors and C.D. Chivas USA of MLS currently are the only major league franchises in the United States to exclude the name of their city, metro area, state or region from the team's name.

Home arenas

Philadelphia Arena (1946-1962)

Philadelphia Convention Hall (1952-1962)

Cow Palace (1962-1964 and 1966-1971)

San Francisco Civic Auditorium (1964-1967)

War Memorial Gymnasium (1964-1966)

San Jose Arena (now the HP Pavilion) (1996-1997)

The Arena in Oakland (1966-1967, 1971-1996 and 1997-present)

Franchise history

The Philadelphia Warriors were a charter member of the Basketball Association of America. Led by early scoring sensation Joe Fulks, they won the championship in the league's inaugural 1946-1947 season by defeating the Chicago Stags, four games to one. (The BAA became the National Basketball Association in 1949.)

The team was founded by Eddie Gottlieb, the long-time promoter of the Philadelphia Sphas (South Philadelphia Hebrew Association), one of the mainstays of the original American Basketball League. Gottlieb retained ownership of the ABL Sphas until that league disbanded in 1955. The Warriors are one of only three original BAA/NBA teams still in existence, the others being the Boston Celtics and New York Knickerbockers.

The Warriors won their only other championship as a Philadelphia team in the 1955-1956 season, defeating the Fort Wayne Pistons four games to one. The stars of this era in the team's history were Paul Arizin and Neil Johnston. In 1959, the team signed their 216-cm tall (7'1") draft pick Wilt Chamberlain. Known as "Wilt the Stilt," Chamberlain quickly began shattering NBA scoring records and changed the style of play forever. On March 2, 1962, in a Warrior "home" game played in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Chamberlain scored 100 points against the Knickerbockers, a single-game record that may never be broken.

In 1962, the team moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and became the San Francisco Warriors, playing most of their home games at the Cow Palace (actually located in neighboring Daly City), though occasionally playing home games in nearby cities such as Oakland and San Jose. The Warriors won the 1963-1964 Western Division crown, losing the NBA championship series to the Boston Celtics, four games to one.

In 1965, the Warriors drafted Rick Barry in the first round. Barry was named NBA Rookie of the Year in his first season, then led the Warriors to the NBA finals in the 1966-1967 season, where the team lost (four games to two) to the team that replaced the Warriors in the City of Brotherly Love, the Philadelphia 76ers. Angered by management's failure to pay him certain incentive awards he felt he was due, Barry sat out the 1967-1968 season, joining the Oakland Oaks of the rival American Basketball Association the following year. After several seasons in the ABA, Barry rejoined the Warriors in 1972.

Read more at Wikipedia.org