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 defending 1949 BAA champions and Central Division champions 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. 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
Minneapolis Lakers
Syracuse Nationals
Box scores
Bob Harrison hits the game-winning shot from 40 feet at the buzzer.
References
External links 1950 Finals at NBA.com 1950 NBA Playoffs at Basketball-Reference.com