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1950 NBA Finals
1950 basketball championship series
1950 basketball championship series
George Mikan (1959) Jim Pollard (1978) Vern Mikkelsen (1995) Slater Martin (1982) Nationals: Dolph Schayes (1973) Alex Hannum (1998, coach) Al Cervi (1985) Coaches: John Kundla (1995) Al Cervi (1985, player) Officials: Pat Kennedy (1959) John Nucatola (1978) The 1950 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s inaugural 1949–50 season following the merger of the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The Central Division champion Minneapolis Lakers faced the Eastern Division champion Syracuse Nationals in a best-of-seven series with Syracuse having home-court advantage.
In the event, six games were played in 16 days, beginning Saturday and Sunday, April 8 and 9, in Syracuse and incorporating two subsequent Sunday games in Minneapolis. Counting a Central Division tiebreaker played on Monday, March 20, the entire postseason tournament spanned five full weeks to Sunday, April 23.
The NBA was arranged in three divisions (for its first season only) and the first two rounds of the 1950 NBA playoffs generated three Division champions. With the league's best regular season record, Syracuse had earned a place in the Finals by winning the Eastern Division title on the preceding Sunday, and had been five days idle while the Central and Western champions had played a best-of-three series mid-week.
In Game 1, the Lakers won on a buzzer beating shot by sub Bob "Tiger" Harrison, the first known case of a buzzer beater in the Finals. 6 ft Dolph Schayes of Syracuse led his team out to the finals after a 16.8 ppg average during the regular season. George Mikan, however, averaged 27.4 ppg and led the league. Mikan would lead the Lakers past Syracuse in six games.
The championship was the Lakers third professional championship in a row after winning the NBL championship in 1948 and the BAA championship in 1949.
While the NBA was considered a new league at the time, it later retconned the three preceding BAA seasons as part of its own history, and thus presents the 1950 Finals as its fourth championship series.
Series summary
| Game | Date | Home team | Result | Road team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game 1 | April 8 | Syracuse Nationals | 66−68 (0−1) | **Minneapolis Lakers** |
| Game 2 | April 9 | **Syracuse Nationals** | 91−85 (1−1) | Minneapolis Lakers |
| Game 3 | April 14 | **Minneapolis Lakers** | 91−77 (2−1) | Syracuse Nationals |
| Game 4 | April 16 | **Minneapolis Lakers** | 77−69 (3−1) | Syracuse Nationals |
| Game 5 | April 20 | **Syracuse Nationals** | 83−76 (2−3) | Minneapolis Lakers |
| Game 6 | April 23 | **Minneapolis Lakers** | 110−95 (4−2) | Syracuse Nationals |
Lakers win series 4−2
Rosters
-
John Kundla
-
Alfred Cervi
Box scores
- Bob Harrison hits the game-winning shot from 40 feet at the buzzer.
References
References
- (24 April 1950). "Minneapolis Lakers capture NBA crown". Journal and Courier.
- (21 January 2022). "How the NBA's 75th anniversary sweeps away its early history". [[The Washington Post]].
- (July 24, 2019). "NBA Season Recaps: 1946-2019". NBA Media Ventures, LLC.
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