Basketball in 1950    
To begin the 1949-50 season, following a three year battle for fans and players, the Basketball Association of America (BAA) agreed to absorb the rival National Basketball League (NBL), creating the new National Basketball Association (NBA).  
Division
Semi-Finals
Finals
IND 262
SBY 264
AND 258
TRI 224
MIN 160
CHI 142
ROC 162
FW 169
SYR 152
PHI 129
NYK 193
WAS 170
IND 1
AND 2
MIN 2
FW 0
SYR 2
NYK 1
MIN 2
AND 0
SYR Bye
 
MIN 4
SYR 2
Champ
MIN
1949-50 NBA Champion Minneapolis Lakers
The NBA was created in 1949 by merger of two competing professional basketball leagues, the BAA and NBL. For its first season only, the NBA teams were arranged in three divisions: Eastern, comprising the five surviving BAA Eastern Division teams plus Syracuse from the NBL; Central, comprising the five surviving BAA Western Division teams; and Western, comprising all the NBL teams except Syracuse. Within each division the top four teams were matched in two rounds of short series to generate a champion, after which the three division champions contended for the NBA title. With three contenders the third round of the tournament comprised a bye for one and a best-of-three match between the other two.

Central Division Tiebreaker

Single game matchup
DateAwayScoreHomeSeries
3/21 LA Lakers 78-76 Rochester MIN 1-0
3/20 Chicago 69-86 Fort Wayne FW 1-0

DateAwayScoreHomeSeries
3/21 New York 90-87 Washington NYK 1-0
3/22 Washington 83-103 New York NYK 2-0
3/22 Philadelphia 76-93 Syracuse SYR 1-0
3/23 Syracuse 59-53 Philadelphia SYR 2-0
3/23 Fort Wayne 90-84 Rochester FW 1-0
3/24 Rochester 78-79
OT
Fort Wayne FW 2-0
3/22 Chicago 75-85 LA Lakers MIN 1-0
3/25 LA Lakers 75-67 Chicago MIN 2-0
3/21 Tri-Cities 77-89 Anderson AND 1-0
3/23 Anderson 75-76 Tri-Cities Tied 1-1
3/24 Tri-Cities 71-94 Anderson AND 2-1
3/21 Sheboygan 85-86 Indianapolis IND 1-0
3/23 Indianapolis 85-95 Sheboygan Tied 1-1
3/25 Sheboygan 84-91 Indianapolis IND 2-1

Division Finals

Best of 3-game series
DateAwayScoreHomeSeries
3/26 New York 83-91
OT
Syracuse SYR 1-0
3/30 Syracuse 76-80 New York Tied 1-1
4/2 New York 80-91 Syracuse SYR 2-1

Division Finals

Best of 3-game series
DateAwayScoreHomeSeries
3/27 Fort Wayne 79-93 LA Lakers MIN 1-0
3/28 LA Lakers 89-82 Fort Wayne MIN 2-0

Division Finals

Best of 3-game series
DateAwayScoreHomeSeries
3/28 Anderson 74-77 Indianapolis IND 1-0
3/30 Indianapolis 67-84 Anderson Tied 1-1
4/1 Anderson 67-65 Indianapolis AND 2-1

NBA Semifinals

Best of 3-game series
The three Division Champions were re-seeded based on their respective
regular season records, with the top seed earning a bye into the NBA Finals.
DateAwayScoreHomeSeries
4/5 Anderson 50-75 LA Lakers MIN 1-0
4/6 LA Lakers 90-71 Anderson MIN 2-0

NBA Finals

Best of 7-game series
DateAwayScoreHomeSeries
4/8 LA Lakers 68-66 Syracuse MIN 1-0
4/9 LA Lakers 85-91 Syracuse Tied 1-1
4/14 Syracuse 77-91 LA Lakers MIN 2-1
4/16 Syracuse 69-77 LA Lakers MIN 3-1
4/20 LA Lakers 76-83 Syracuse MIN 3-2
4/23 Syracuse 95-110 LA Lakers MIN 4-2

1 Comment

  1. I sincerely appreciate the research work, and the information being shared. It is important and interesting history.

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