The 1950 NBA World Championship Series was the

championship round In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA)'s inaugural 1949–50 season. The Central Division champion

Minneapolis Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers franchise has a long and storied history, predating the formation of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Founded in 1947, the Lakers are one of the NBA's most famous and successful franchises. As of summer 2012, th ...

faced the Eastern Division champion

Syracuse Nationals The Philadelphia 76ers are an American basketball team currently playing in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 76ers are third in NBA history in wins and playoff appearances. 1946– ...

in a best-of-seven series with Syracuse having home-court advantage. The NBA recognizes three preceding Basketball Association of America (BAA) seasons as part of its own history, and thus presents the 1950 Finals as its fourth championship series. Minneapolis had won the

1949 BAA Finals 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 Assoc ...

and its 1950 win over Syracuse is officially the Lakers second of five titles in Minneapolis. 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 In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of ...

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. 6'8"

Dolph Schayes Adolph Schayes (May 19, 1928 – December 10, 2015) was an American professional basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A top scorer and rebounder, he was a 12-time NBA All-Star and a 12-time All-NBA selection. ...

of Syracuse led his team out to the finals after a 16.8 ppg average during the regular season.

George Mikan George Lawrence Mikan Jr. (; June 18, 1924 – June 1, 2005), nicknamed "Mr. Basketball", was an American professional basketball player for the Chicago American Gears of the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Minneapolis Lakers of ...

, however, averaged 27.4 ppg and led the league. Mikan would lead the Lakers past Syracuse in six games.

Series summary

''Lakers win series 4−2''

Rosters

References

External links

1950 Finals
at NBA.com

at Basketball-Reference.com {{1949–50 NBA season by team National Basketball Association Finals

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

NBA NBA NBA Finals NBA Finals 1950s in Minneapolis NBA Finals History of Onondaga County, New York Sports competitions in Minneapolis Sports competitions in New York (state) Sports in Onondaga County, New York