From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

1951 NBA playoffs

Postseason tournament

Field	Value
title	NBA playoffs
year	1951
season	[1950–51](1950-51-nba-season)
dates	March 20 – April 21, 1951
num_teams	8
winners	Rochester Royals
count	1
second	New York Knicks
semifinal1	Minneapolis Lakers
semifinal2	Syracuse Nationals
prev_season	[1950](1950-nba-playoffs)
next_season	[1952](1952-nba-playoffs)

The 1951 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association 1950–51 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Division champion Rochester Royals defeating the Eastern Division champion New York Knicks 4 games to 3 in the NBA Finals.

The eight qualified teams began tournament play on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 20 and 21, and the Finals concluded on Saturday, April 21. Rochester and New York played 14 games in a span of 33 days; their seven final games in fifteen days.

The Rochester Royals (now the Sacramento Kings) were "royalty" in their first nine seasons, from 1945–46 to 1953–54 always one of the strong teams in their league. Rochester had played three seasons in the National Basketball League, winning the 1946 NBL championship and losing the Finals in 1947 and 1948. In one BAA and one NBA season, the team had won 75% of its games before losing in the second round, then first round, of the 1949 and 1950 playoffs. The 1950–51 team won more than 60% of its games, as the Royals would do for three more seasons, and participated in the club's only NBA Finals. That remains true more than 60 years later, covering stints in Rochester, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Sacramento.

The New York Knicks were an original Basketball Association of America franchise, now in its sixth season and participating in the BAA or NBA Finals for the first time. It would be the first three consecutive years as losing finalist.

Another six-year-old, original BAA team, the Boston Celtics had qualified only for the 1948 BAA Playoffs. Now the second-place Eastern Division team, Boston had earned home-court advantage for a first-round series with third-place New York. It was the first playoff meeting in the Celtics–Knicks rivalry and it would be the first of 19 consecutive years in the playoffs.

Bracket

| RD1-group1=Eastern Division | RD1-group2=Western Division

| RD3-seed1=E3 | RD3-team1=New York | RD3-score1=3 | RD3-seed2=W2 | RD3-team2=Rochester | RD3-score2=4 |* Division winner |Bold Series winner |Italic Team with home-court advantage in NBA Finals}}

Division Semifinals

Eastern Division Semifinals

(1) [[Philadelphia Warriors]] vs. (4) [[Syracuse Nationals]]

This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the 76ers/Nationals winning the first meeting.

Philadelphia 76ers/ Syracuse Nationals leads 1–0 in all-time playoff series

(2) [[Boston Celtics]] vs. (3) [[New York Knicks]]

This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.

Western Division Semifinals

(1) [[Minneapolis Lakers]] vs. (4) [[Indianapolis Olympians]]

This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.

(2) [[Rochester Royals]] vs. (3) [[Fort Wayne Pistons]]

This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Pistons winning the first meeting.

Fort Wayne leads 1–0 in all-time playoff series

Division Finals

Eastern Division Finals

(3) [[New York Knicks]] vs. (4) [[Syracuse Nationals]]

This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Nationals winning the first meeting.

Syracuse leads 1–0 in all-time playoff series

Western Division Finals

(1) [[Minneapolis Lakers]] vs. (2) [[Rochester Royals]]

This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Lakers winning the first meeting.

As of , this is the last time the Royals/Kings won a conference championship.

Minneapolis leads 1–0 in all-time playoff series

NBA Finals: (W2) Rochester Royals vs. (E3) New York Knicks

Main article: 1951 NBA Finals

This was the first time in NBA playoff history a team has forced a seventh game after falling behind 3–0 in the series, and the only time to date in the NBA Finals.

This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.

References

"Team Rivalry Finder — Golden State Warriors versus Philadelphia 76ers (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com.
"Team Rivalry Finder — Boston Celtics versus New York Knicks (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com.
"Team Rivalry Finder — Detroit Pistons versus Sacramento Kings (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com.
"Team Rivalry Finder — New York Knicks versus Philadelphia 76ers (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com.
"Team Rivalry Finder — Los Angeles Lakers versus Sacramento Kings (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com.
"Team Rivalry Finder — New York Knicks versus Sacramento Kings (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

nba-playoffs 1950–51-nba-season

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 1951 NBA playoffs — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report