December 1
From Hoopedia
- 1898 - Trenton rallies in the second half to defeat Kensington, 21-19, in the debut game of the National Basket Ball League, the first professional league.
- 1956 - The United States defeats the Soviet Union, 89-55, in the gold medal game of the Melbourne Olympics. Bill Russell leads the Americans in the games with a 14.1 ppg average.
- 1961 - Hall of Famer Paul Arizin (right) of the Philadelphia Warriors scores 33 points against the Los Angeles Lakers to become the third NBA player to score 15,000 points in his career after Bob Cousy and Dolph Schayes.
- 1981 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar surpasses Oscar Robertson (26,710) to become the NBA's second all-time leading scorer behind Wilt Chamberlain (31,419).
- 1985 - Duke beats Kansas, 92-86, to capture the first-ever NIT Season Tip-Off championship. At the time it was called the "Big Apple NIT."
- 1991 - Isiah Thomas became the Detroit Pistons' all-time leading scorer, with 15,493 points, after scoring a game-high 22 points in a 94-87 win over Houston at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Thomas passed previous leader Bob Lanier on Detroit’s all-time scoring chart.
- 1997 - Angered by what he calls ongoing verbal abuse, Golden State Warriors guard Latrell Sprewell hits, then chokes his coach, P. J. Carlesimo, during a team practice. While later admitting that he made a mistake, Sprewell never apologizes to Carlesimo.
