At first glance, the viewer notices the most simple aspects of the content of the picture. First, there are competing basketball players in action, and second, there is a crowd. The basketball on display in this photo demonstrates a past generation of the pioneering stage of professional basketball. The Syracuse Nationals uniforms contain belts, a completely foreign concept to modern uniforms. Another contrasting factor to modern basketball culture is the lack of accessories. Other than one player wearing a knee brace, there are no accessories present, while modern NBA players wear a variety of performance and aesthetic gear in games (ex. headbands, shooting sleeves, and compression pants). Also, the players are wearing Chuck Taylor All-Star Converse shoes, a relic of pre-Jordan era shoes, when Converse was the dominating brand for basketball shoes. Another aspect displayed in the photo is the close proximity of the crowd and photographer. Presumably, the photographer is courtside on the baseline capturing up-close photos of the action and the crowd on the first level of the arena is on the same level as the court. This aspect of viewership is not heavily discussed in sports media, but basketball is one of the few sports where there are no true physical barriers between player and fan, court and stands. While this image is not truly famous in the basketball world, the contents of the photograph reveal the interesting dynamics at play in early NBA basketball. 

First, this photograph was taken before the original television broadcast deal that made professional basketball accessible to a wider audience. Also, the location of the event reveals professional basketball in the hierarchy of sports at the time. In early NBA basketball, games were played in arenas that typically hosted hockey games. In this instance, Philadelphia Arena, the home of the Philadelphia Warriors, was used for hockey in all other instances before and during the team's residency in Philadelphia. Another aspect to consider is the crowd and the players. The season this game took place in, was the first integrated NBA season, when Earl Lloyd became the first African-American to play a game in the league. The photograph displays a white crowd and players, demonstrating the lack of diversity in early professional basketball. 

The contents of the photograph itself that evoke meaning include the players illuminated by the flash, while the crowd is subjected to darkness and relative obscurity. The photograph captures a specific moment in time not documented in any other visual medium. While the game has some statistics recorded, this photograph is one of the few visual records of this event. By being photographed at the players’ level, we are thrust into this specific moment in time, experiencing the content of the basketball game as a participant rather than a viewer. The static nature of this photograph demonstrates the acrobatic and poetic aspect of the game of basketball, but since the image is still, the photograph evokes a feeling of intrigue about a specific moment in time, that can only be recounted through memory of a viewer or a column in a paper.

The photographer of this work is named Charles T. Higgins, who worked for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. His other work includes photographs documenting architecture and other events in the Philadelphia area. There is another instance of him photographing the Philadelphia Warriors, during their 1956 NBA championship run.