Play Begins
The Braves were one of three NBA expansion franchises that began play in the 1970–71 season (the others being the Portland Trail Blazers and Cleveland Cavaliers). They played their home games at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, sharing the arena with another new franchise, the NHL's Buffalo Sabres, who also debuted in 1970. In addition, from 1971–75, the Braves played a total of 16 home games at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario in the hopes of expanding their fan base beyond Western New York and into the Greater Toronto Area (a similar strategy has been employed by the NFL's Buffalo Bills since 2008). The NBA had two previous teams in Upstate New York, the Rochester Royals and the Syracuse Nationals, but these teams are now the Sacramento Kings and Philadelphia 76ers.
Read more about this topic: Buffalo Braves
Famous quotes containing the words play and/or begins:
“Aged ears play truant at his tales,
And younger hearings are quite ravished,
So sweet and voluble is his discourse.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“I would sell my life to avoid
the pain that begins in the crib
with its bars or perhaps
with your first breath
when the planets drill
your future into you....”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)