The 1949–50 New York Knickerbockers season was the fourth season for the team and the first following the merger of the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League that formed the National Basketball Association (NBA). In the regular season, the Knickerbockers finished in second place in the Eastern Division, posting a 40–28 record and advancing to the NBA playoffs. New York won its first round series against the Washington Capitols, 2–0, to make it to the Eastern Division finals. There, the team was defeated two games to one by the Syracuse Nationals.
BAA/NBA draft
Round Pick Player Position Nationality School/Club team 1 7 Dick McGuire G St. John's 2 – Harry Donovan G Muhlenberg College 3 – Ernie Vandeweghe F/G Colgate
Roster {| class="toccolours" style="font-size: 95%; width: 100%;"|} |- ! colspan="2" style="background-color: #1560BE; color: #FFFFFF; text-align: center;" | New York Knicks 1949–50 roster |- style="background-color: #FF7518; color: #FFFFFF; text-align: center;" ! Players !! Coaches
| valign="top" | {| class="sortable" style="background:transparent; margin:0px; width:100%;"|} ! Pos. !! # !! Name !! Ht. !! Wt. !! From
Regular season
Season standings
Game log 1949–50 game log # Date Opponent Score High points Record 1 November 1 at Chicago 89–87 (OT) Gallatin, McGuire (18) 1–0 2 November 2 at Waterloo 68–60 Vince Boryla (19) 2–0 3 November 3 at Fort Wayne 72–87 Harry Gallatin (13) 2–1 4 November 5 at Tri-Cities 76–72 Carl Braun (19) 3–1 5 November 6 at Sheboygan 93–99 Carl Braun (22) 3–2 6 November 8 at Indianapolis 79–64 Paul Noel (15) 4–2 7 November 10 Indianapolis 79–83 Connie Simmons (18) 4–3 8 November 12 at Rochester 73–94 Tex Ritter (14) 4–4 9 November 13 at Philadelphia 66–80 Harry Gallatin (18) 4–5 10 November 15 Syracuse 74–77 Vince Boryla (19) 4–6 11 November 18 vs Denver 85–78 Connie Simmons (15) 5–6 12 November 19 Philadelphia 85–69 Harry Gallatin (16) 6–6 13 November 22 at Washington 89–74 Carl Braun (19) 7–6 14 November 23 Washington 87–67 Carl Braun (17) 8–6 15 November 24 at Philadelphia 75–70 Donovan, McGuire (14) 9–6 16 November 26 Boston 96–84 Vince Boryla (20) 10–6 17 November 27 at Fort Wayne 77–72 Harry Gallatin (19) 11–6 18 November 30 at Minneapolis 92–102 Harry Gallatin (20) 11–7 19 December 1 at St. Louis 85–68 Tex Ritter (26) 12–7 20 December 3 Baltimore 85–55 Harry Gallatin (16) 13–7 21 December 8 at Baltimore 82–60 Vince Boryla (23) 14–7 22 December 10 Chicago 93–91 (OT) Connie Simmons (21) 15–7 23 December 14 Minneapolis 94–84 Carl Braun (26) 16–7 24 December 17 St. Louis 81–76 (2OT) Carl Braun (23) 17–7 25 December 19 at Anderson 86–83 Harry Gallatin (17) 18–7 26 December 20 at Chicago 77–79 Carl Braun (23) 18–8 27 December 21 at St. Louis 52–75 Carl Braun (11) 18–9 28 December 23 at Denver 83–72 Ernie Vandeweghe (19) 19–9 29 December 26 Rochester 80–83 (OT) Connie Simmons (31) 19–10 30 December 27 at Boston 78–97 Carl Braun (15) 19–11 31 December 28 at Philadelphia 79–72 Braun, Gallatin (19) 20–11 32 December 31 at Washington 64–70 Carl Braun (17) 20–12 33 January 1 Philadelphia 81–59 Ernie Vandeweghe (16) 21–12 34 January 5 vs Waterloo 82–70 Connie Simmons (21) 22–12 35 January 7 Fort Wayne 80–88 Ernie Vandeweghe (20) 22–13 36 January 11 Washington 73–72 Harry Gallatin (18) 23–13 37 January 14 Boston 82–80 Carl Braun (21) 24–13 38 January 19 Minneapolis 83–94 Carl Braun (18) 24–14 39 January 22 Rochester 81–71 Carl Braun (23) 25–14 40 January 24 vs Sheboygan 101–68 Connie Simmons (19) 26–14 41 January 25 Fort Wayne 96–66 Harry Gallatin (22) 27–14 42 January 26 at Baltimore 79–77 (2OT) Carl Braun (19) 28–14 43 January 28 Philadelphia 55–58 Dick McGuire (14) 28–15 44 January 29 at Fort Wayne 70–92 Ray Lumpp (16) 28–16 45 January 31 vs Tri-Cities 77–83 Carl Braun (16) 28–17 46 February 1 at Minneapolis 81–96 Harry Donovan (19) 28–18 47 February 2 at St. Louis 87–73 Carl Braun (18) 29–18 48 February 4 at Washington 76–71 Carl Braun (24) 30–18 49 February 5 Rochester 65–73 Braun, Simmons (13) 30–19 50 February 8 St. Louis 82–84 (2OT) Ernie Vandeweghe (22) 30–20 51 February 11 Chicago 85–75 Vince Boryla (19) 31–20 52 February 15 Baltimore 80–67 Carl Braun (20) 32–20 53 February 18 Fort Wayne 80–84 Tex Ritter (16) 32–21 54 February 19 at Rochester 92–105 Connie Simmons (30) 32–22 55 February 21 at Philadelphia 84–73 Vince Boryla (16) 33–22 56 February 22 Washington 89–81 Carl Braun (38) 34–22 57 February 25 Chicago 86–79 Tex Ritter (13) 35–22 58 March 1 Baltimore 82–76 Harry Gallatin (16) 36–22 59 March 2 at Boston 81–72 Carl Braun (21) 37–22 60 March 4 Minneapolis 75–84 Carl Braun (22) 37–23 61 March 8 St. Louis 80–78 (OT) Braun, Gallatin (20) 38–23 62 March 9 at Baltimore 79–91 Ray Lumpp (17) 38–24 63 March 11 vs Anderson 89–91 Carl Braun (36) 38–25 64 March 12 at Minneapolis 66–87 Carl Braun (17) 38–26 65 March 14 at Chicago 75–85 Carl Braun (24) 38–27 66 March 15 Boston 88–84 (OT) Harry Gallatin (26) 39–27 67 March 17 at Boston 98–96 (2OT) Carl Braun (20) 40–27 68 March 18 at Rochester 74–77 Harry Gallatin (17) 40–28
Playoffs
| 1 | March 21 | @ Washington | W 90–87 | Carl Braun (26) | Carl Braun (6) | Uline Arena | 1–0 |- | 2 | March 22 | Washington | W 103–83 | Harry Gallatin (20) | Dick McGuire (6) | Madison Square Garden III | 2–0
| 1 | March 26 | @ Syracuse | L 83–91 (OT) | Carl Braun (22) | Carl Braun (4) | State Fair Coliseum | 0–1
| 2 | March 30 | Syracuse | W 80–76 | Vince Boryla (21) | Dick McGuire (7) | Madison Square Garden III | 1–1 |- | 3 | April 2 | @ Syracuse | L 80–91 | Gallatin, Vandeweghe (17) | Dick McGuire (5) | State Fair Coliseum | 1–2
References