Basketball at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Basketball at the 1948 Summer Olympics was the second appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. A total number of 23 nations entered the competition.

Olympic basketball returned to indoor competition in Harringay Arena, after the disastrous weather conditions of the final game in the 1936 Summer Olympics.

Format

 * In the preliminary rounds, teams were divided into 3 groups of 6 squads and a group with 5 squads.
 * The preliminary round was played in a single round-robin format
 * The Group tournament ranking system was observed as follows:
 * Ties were broken by the ratio of points scored to points allowed.
 * After the preliminaries, the top 2 teams in each group will advance to the final round.
 * The 4 remaining teams went to their respective classification playoffs.

Group A

 * Uruguay def. Great Britain, 69–17
 * Brazil def. Hungary, 45–41
 * Canada def. Italy, 55–37
 * Brazil def. Uruguay, 36–32
 * Canada def. Great Britain, 44–24
 * Hungary def. Italy, 32–19
 * Brazil def. Great Britain, 76–11
 * Hungary def. Canada, 37–36
 * Uruguay def. Italy, 46–34
 * Italy def. Great Britain, 49–28
 * Uruguay def. Hungary, 49–31
 * Brazil def. Canada, 57–35
 * Hungary def. Great Britain, 60–23
 * Brazil def. Italy, 47–31
 * Canada def. Uruguay, 52–50

Group B

 * Philippines def. Iraq, 102–30
 * Korea def. Belgium, 29–27
 * Chile def. China, 44–39
 * Chile def. Iraq, 100–18
 * Philippines def. Korea, 35–33
 * China def. Belgium, 36–34
 * Chile def. Philippines, 68–39
 * Belgium def. Iraq, 98–20
 * China def. Korea, 49–48
 * Belgium def. Chile, 38–36
 * Korea def. Iraq, 120–20
 * Philippines def. China, 51–32
 * Belgium def. Philippines, 35–34
 * China def. Iraq, 125–25
 * Korea def. Chile, 28–21

Group C



 * United States def. Switzerland, 86–21
 * Czechoslovakia def. Peru, 38–30
 * Argentina def. Egypt, 57–38
 * Peru def. Egypt, 52–27
 * Argentina def. Switzerland, 49–23
 * United States def. Czechoslovakia, 53–28
 * Peru def. Switzerland, 49–19
 * United States def. Argentina, 59–57
 * Czechoslovakia def. Egypt, 52–38
 * United States def. Egypt, 66–28
 * Czechoslovakia def. Switzerland, 54–28
 * Argentina def. Peru, 42–34
 * Egypt def. Switzerland, 31–29
 * United States def. Peru, 61–33
 * Czechoslovakia def. Argentina, 45–41

Group D

 * France def. Iran, 62–30
 * Mexico def. Cuba, 39–31
 * Mexico def. Ireland, 71–9
 * France def. Cuba, 37–31
 * Mexico def. France, 56–42
 * Iran def. Ireland, 49–22
 * Mexico def. Iran, 68–27
 * Cuba def. Ireland, 88–25
 * Cuba def. Iran, 63–30
 * France def. Ireland, 73–14

17th–23rd place classification rounds
A bye was given to Egypt as total number of teams is not a multiple of 2, which gave them bye to the classification semifinals. Also, Ireland was deemed to have finished last, due to the loss to Switzerland and a bye they earned from Iraq.

9th-16th place classification playoffs
Hungary forfeited all of their matches in the classification round, and a win were awarded to their respective opponents, which are marked by asterisks.

Participating nations
For the team rosters see: Basketball at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's team squads.

Each country was allowed to enter one team of up to 14 players and they all were eligible for participation (with a maximum of five on the court at any given moment). A total of 298(*) basketball players from 23 nations competed at the London Games:



''(*) NOTE: There are only players counted, which participated in one game at least, according to the official report, because the rosters for the matches are unknown. It is also unknown up to now, if there were more reserve players.''

''(*) and (**) It is uncertain if P. Benedek and J. Verbenyi played for Hungary in this tournament. The official report shows them, but Hungarian sources did not, however they are counted.''