|
Basketball Heroes
Page:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99 (Index)
Pro Basketball during World War II
After World War II, the merger between two rival basketball leagues, the NBL and BAA, gave fans the NBA
In 1937 the National Basketball League, NBL, was formed. Three teams from major industries, Firestone and Goodyear Tire Companies from Akron, Ohio, and the General Electric Company from Fort Wayne, Indiana joined 10 mostly traveling professional teams, adding up to a 13-team league. When War broke out across the oceans, fans had other important issues than watching sports. Six teams in the NBL folded, leaving only seven teams left in 1940-41 and 1941-42. The next three seasons there were just 5-teams, then 4-teams and 6-teams. However, college basketball which had a huge fan base prior to World War II kept drawing fans as usual. When the United States of America and her European Allies won World War II, people were looking ahead for some leisure activities. That's when the Basketball Association of America, BAA, came into existence - 1946-1947. Eleven teams were formed, and although many players had recently returned to the States from military service, not one black player was on any roster. Teams in the Basketball Association of America included the Providence Steamrollers with many former Rhode Island State College on its' roster. All of the players on the New York Knicks came from the New York area and all of the Pittsburgh Ironmen came from the surrounding area, and so on. After three seasons of heavy competition and heavy spending between both leagues, the two leagues merged and formed the National Basketball Association.
1949-1950 - Start of the NBA
Scheduling games was a huge problem for Maurice Podoloff, the first NBA Commissioner
Teams from the Basketball Association of American, BAA, joined teams from the more established National Baseball League to establish a new league - the National Basketball Association, or as we know it today - the NBA. The teams from the BAA were the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Washington Wizards, Chicago Stags, St. Louis Bombers, Baltimore Bullets, Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, Philadelphia 76ers, Rochester Royals, and the Minneapolis Lakers. The NBL teams which came onboard were the Syracuse Nats, Tri-Cities Blackhawks, Anderson Packers, Waterloo Hawks of Iowa, Sheboygan Redskins of Wisconsin, and the Denver Nuggets. A new team just starting out was the the Indianapolis Olympians, consisting of many University of Kentucky graduates. The merger caused five former teams to dropped out due to money problems. The two from the BAA were Providence and the old Indianapolis team, an 18-42 w/l record the previous season. The three teams which dropped out from the NBL were Hammond (of Indiana) Oshkosh (of Wisconsin) and Dayton (of Ohio).
1949-50 NBA (first season) Final Standings
The Minneapolis Lakers led by George Mikan defeated the Syracuse Nats 4-games-to 2 in the 1949-50 NBA Championship Finals
National Basketball Association first season Final Standings 1949-1950 Standing Eastern Division: - Syracuse Nationals 51-13...
- New York Knicks 40-28... 13 GB
- Washington Wizards 32-36... 21 GB
- Philadelphia 76ers 26-42... 27 GB
- Baltimore Bullets 25-43... 28 GB
- Boston Celtics 22-46... 31 GB
Central Division: - Minneapolis Lakers 51-17...
- Rochester Royals 51-17...
- Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons 40-28... 11 GB
- Chicago Stags 40-28... 11 GB
- St. Louis Bombers 26-42... 25 GB
Western Division: - Indianapolis Olympians 39-25...
- Anderson Packers 37-27... 2 GB
- Tri-Cities Blackhawks 29-35... 10 GB
- Sheboygan Redskins 22-40... 16 GB
- Waterloo Hawks 19-43... 19 GB
- Denver Nuggets 11-51... 27 GB
1949-1950 NBA Playoffs Tie-Breakers - - Fort Wayne def Chicago 86-69 in Fort Wayne, Indiana
- Minneapolis def Rochester 78-76 in Rochester, NY
Eastern Division Semi-Finals - Syracuse def Philadelphia 2-games-to 0
- New York def Washington 2-games-to 0
Central Division Semi-Finals - Fort Wayne def Rochester 2-games-to 0
- Minneapolis def Chicago 2-games-to 0
Western Division Semi-Finals - Indianapolis def Sheboygan 2-games-to 1
- Anderson def Tri-Cities 2-games-to 1
Eastern Division Finals - Syracuse def New York 2-games-to 1 Central Division Finals - Minneapolis def Fort Wayne 2-games-to 0 Western Division Finals - Anderson def Indianapolis 2-games-to 1 Semi-Finals - Minneapolis Lakers def Anderson Packers 2-games-to 0 Championship Finals (best of 7 games) Minneaoplis Lakers defeated Syracuse Nationals 4-games-to 2 - Minneapolis 68 at Syracuse 66 on April 8, 1950
- Minneapolis 85 at Syracuse 91 on April 9, 1950
- Syracuse 77 Minneapolis 91 on April 14, 1950 in St. Paul MN
- Syracuse 69 Minneapolis 77 on April 16, 1950 in St. Paul MN
- Minneapolis 76 at Syracuse 83 on April 20, 1950
- Syracuse 95 at Minneapolis 110 (basketball legend George Mikan scored 40 points) on April 23, 1950
1949-1950 NBA Scoring Leaders
Basketball legend George Mikan led the NBA in scoring in the National Basketball Association's first season
Three seasons of intense competition after World War II brought about a merger between the Basketball Association of America, the BAA, and the National Basketball League, the NBL, into a new league called the National Basketball Association, the NBA. NBA Points Per Game Leaders 1949-1950 - George Mikan, Minneapolis Lakers 27.4 ppg, 1865 points
- Alex Groza, Indianapolis Olympians 23.4 ppg, 1496 points
- Frankie Brian, Anderson Packers 17.8 ppg, 1138 points
- Max Zaslofsky, Chicago Stags 16.4 ppg, 1115 points
- Ed Maculey, St Louis Bombers 16.1 ppg, 1081 points
- Dolph Schayes, Syracuse Nats 16.8 ppg, 1072 points
- Carl Braun, New York Knicks 15.4 ppg, 1031 points
- Kenny Sailors, Denver Nuggets 17.3 ppg, 987 points
- Jim Pollard, Minneapolis Lakers 14.7 ppg, 973 points
- Fred Schaus, Fort Wayne Pistons 14.3 ppg, 972 points
1949-50 NBA Field Goal Leaders
Alex Groza of the Indianapolis Olympians led the NBA in Field Goal Percentage in 1949-50... Dick Mehen was second highest
Field Goal Percentage Leaders NBA 1949-1950 - Alex Groza, Indianapolis Olympians 521 of 1090 - .478 pct
- Dick Mehen, Waterloo Hawks 347 of 826 - .420 pct
- Bobby Wanzer, Rochester Nationals 254 of 614 - .414 pct
- Harry Boykoff, Waterloo Hawks 288 of 698 - ..413 pct
- George Mikan, Minneapolis Lakers 649 of 1595 - .407 pct
- John Hargis, Anderson Packers 223 of 550 - .405 pct
- Red Rocha, St Louis Bombers 275 of 679 - .405
- Vern Mikkelsen, Minneapolis Lakers 288 of 722 - .399 pct
- Easy Ed Macauley, St. Louis Bombers 351 of 882 - .398 pct
- Jack Toomay, Denver Nuggets 204 of 514 - .397
Presented by sportshistorian.com Archives
Page:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99 (Index)
www.baseballhistorian.com | | www.boxinghistorian.com | www.footballhistorian.com
|
|
|
|
