1949–50 NBA season

1949–50 NBA season
League National Basketball Association
Sport Basketball
Number of games 68
Number of teams 17
Regular season
Top scorer George Mikan (Minneapolis)
Playoffs
Eastern champions Syracuse Nationals
  Eastern runners-up New York Knicks
Central champions Minneapolis Lakers
  Central runners-up Fort Wayne Pistons
Western champions Anderson Packers
  Western runners-up Indianapolis Olympians
Finals
Champions Minneapolis Lakers
  Runners-up Syracuse Nationals

The 1949–50 NBA season was the inaugural season of the National Basketball Association, which was created in 1949 by merger of the 3-year-old BAA and 12-year-old NBL. The postseason tournament at its conclusion, the 1950 NBA Playoffs, ended with the Minneapolis Lakers winning the NBA Championship, beating the Syracuse Nationals 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals.

Commonly 1949–50 is counted as the fourth NBA season. It recognizes the three BAA seasons (1946–47, 1947–48 and 1948–49) as part of its own history, sometimes without comment.[1]

Notable occurrences

Final standings

x – clinched playoff spot

In this inaugural NBA season only, the ten surviving teams from BAA 1949 played a heavy schedule of games with each other and a light schedule with the seven NBL participants in the merger that created the league; and vice versa. The BAA 1949 teams were all except Syracuse in the East and all five in the Central Division; none in the West.[2]

Eastern Division

Eastern Division W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
x-Syracuse Nationals 51 13 .797 – 31–1 15–12 5–0 9–1
x-New York Knicks 40 28 .588 13 19–10 18–16 3–2 20–6
x-Washington Capitols 32 36 .471 21 21–13 10–20 1–3 13–13
x-Philadelphia Warriors 26 42 .382 25 15–15 8–23 3–4 9–17
Baltimore Bullets 25 43 .368 26 16–15 8–25 1–3 8–18
Boston Celtics 22 46 .324 29 12–14 5–28 5–4 11–15

Syracuse played a heavy schedule of 44 games against Western Division teams: on average just over seven games each, same as they played each other (35 to 37 games against five Western rivals). The Western Division teams were generally weaker on the court; none won half of its games played outside the division. Yet Syracuse won at the same 80% rate against the East and Central (16–4) or against the West (35–9).[2]

Central Division

Central Division W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
x-Minneapolis Lakers 51 17 .750 – 30–1 18–16 3–0 16–8
x-Rochester Royals 51 17 .750 – 33–1 17–6 1–0 15–9
x-Fort Wayne Pistons 40 28 .588 11 28–6 12–22 – 14–10
x-Chicago Stags 40 28 .588 11 18–6 14–21 8–1 11–13
St. Louis Bombers 26 42 .382 25 17–14 7–26 2–2 4–20

To define first and third place, the Lakers played one game against the Royals, the Stags one against the Pistons, preliminary to the 1950 NBA Playoffs.

The five Central Division teams and five Eastern teams beside Syracuse—that is, the ten BAA 1949 teams—uniformly played 68 games: six games in each pairing among themselves (54) and two games each against each of the Western teams and Syracuse (14).[2]

Western Division

Western Division W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
x-Indianapolis Olympians 39 25 .609 – 24–7 12–16 3–2 26–9
x-Anderson Packers 37 27 .578 2 22–9 12–18 3–0 25–12
x-Tri-Cities Blackhawks 29 35 .453 10 20–13 6–20 3–2 20–17
x-Sheboygan Red Skins 22 40 .355 17 17–14 5–22 0–4 15–20
Waterloo Hawks 19 43 .306 20 16–15 2–22 1–6 13–22
Denver Nuggets 11 51 .177 28 9–16 1–25 1–10 8–27

The six Western Division teams and Syracuse—that is, the seven NBL participants in the merger—uniformly played two games each against every one of the ten BAA 1949 teams, the East and Central teams except Syracuse (20 games each). They played seven or nine games in each pairing among themselves (at least 42 games).[2]

Statistics leaders

Category Player Team Stat
Points George Mikan Minneapolis Lakers 1,865
Assists Dick McGuire New York Knicks 386
FG% Alex Groza Indianapolis Olympians .478
FT% Max Zaslofsky Chicago Stags .843

Note: Prior to the 1969–70 season, league leaders in points and assists were determined by totals rather than averages.

NBA awards

References

General source: 1949–50 NBA Season Summary basketball-reference.com. Retrieved August 31, 2010.

  1. ↑ "NBA Season Recaps". NBA History (nba.com/history). July 1, 2014. Retrieved 2015-03-04.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Expanded Standings". "1949–50 NBA Standings". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-03-04.

External links

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