| ||||||||||
| Dates | April 8−23 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hall of Famers | Lakers: 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) | |||||||||
| Eastern finals | Nationals defeated Knicks, 2–1 | |||||||||
| Western finals | Not the Western final (see text). Central finalist Lakers defeated Western finalist Packers, 2–0 | |||||||||
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.[1]
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.[2]
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.[2]
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. Six-foot-eight-inch (2.03 m) 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.[citation needed] Mikan would lead the Lakers past Syracuse in six games.[1]
The championship was the Lakers third professional championship in a row after winning the NBL championship in 1948 and the BAA championship in 1949.[1]
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.[3][4]
- ^ a b c "Minneapolis Lakers capture NBA crown". Journal and Courier. Associated Press. April 24, 1950. p. 19. Retrieved June 21, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
BBR50was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Curtis Harris (January 21, 2022). "How the NBA's 75th anniversary sweeps away its early history". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
- ^ "NBA Season Recaps: 1946-2019". NBA.com. NBA Media Ventures, LLC. July 24, 2019. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
