The 1949 BAA Finals was the championship round following the Basketball Association of America (BAA)'s 1948–49 season, its third and last. Later that year, the BAA and National Basketball League merged to create the National Basketball Association (NBA).
6'10" George Mikan and the Minneapolis Lakers proved dominant. They routed the Washington Capitols in six games. This was the first of several successive NBA titles for the Lakers. It was the beginning of the George Mikan and the Lakers Dynasty. This was the first professional sports championship ever won by a Minneapolis-St. Paul-based team.
As for the Capitols, they would never reach the Finals again, but their coach in Red Auerbach would do so several times over the next two decades, and this represented his only loss in a Final until 1958 (Auerbach would win nine of his eleven appearances in a Final); this would be the first of six overall finals that featured Auerbach against the Lakers, for which he beat them five times, including in 1959 when he beat Kundla in his last game as head coach of the Lakers.
The six games of the final series were played in ten days – Monday, April 4, to Wednesday, April 13 – with one day off except after game three, the first of three played in Washington (Minneapolis led 3–0). Prior to its start, however, Minneapolis had been idle for five days, having qualified on the preceding Tuesday; Washington idle for only one day, having qualified on Saturday. The entire playoff tournament extended 23 days.
Series summary Game Date Home team Result Road team Game 1 April 4 Minneapolis Lakers 88–84 (1–0) Washington Capitols Game 2 April 6 Minneapolis Lakers 76–62 (2–0) Washington Capitols Game 3 April 8 Washington Capitols 74–94 (0–3) Minneapolis Lakers Game 4 April 9 Washington Capitols 83–71 (1–3) Minneapolis Lakers Game 5 April 11 Washington Capitols 74–65 (2–3) Minneapolis Lakers Game 6 April 13 Minneapolis Lakers 77–56 (4–2) Washington Capitols Lakers win series 4–2
Team rosters Minneapolis Lakers
Washington Capitols
Box scores
References "1948–49 BAA Season Summary". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-03-02. Select "Next Season" from the heading for 1949–50, and so on. Select "Finals" from League Playoffs for the daily schedule of the final series, and so on.
External links 1949 Finals at NBA.com 1949 BAA Playoffs at Basketball-Reference.com