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 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). 6'10"

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 ...

and the

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 ...

proved dominant. They routed the

Washington Capitols The Washington Capitols were a former Basketball Association of America (forerunner of the National Basketball Association) team based in Washington, D.C. from 1946 to 1951. The team was coached from 1946 to 1949 by NBA Hall of Famer Red Auerbac ...

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. 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 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

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. This is the earliest NBA championship with a living player,

Arnie Ferrin Chariton Arnold Ferrin Jr. (July 29, 1925 − December 27, 2022) was an American professional basketball player, executive, and college athletics administrator. He played college basketball for the Utah Utes and earned All-American honors fou ...

. 58

Series summary

''Lakers win series 4–2''

Team rosters

Minneapolis Lakers

Washington Capitols

References

External links

1949 Finals
at NBA.com

at Basketball-Reference.com {{DEFAULTSORT:BAA

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 ...

Minneapolis Lakers games Washington Capitols games Basketball Association of America Finals April 1949 sports events in the United States Sports competitions in Minneapolis Sports competitions in Washington, D.C. 1949 in sports in Washington, D.C. 1940s in Minneapolis 1949 in sports in Minnesota