Dates April 4–13 Announcers Ryan Austin Champion Los Angeles Lakers | Television NBC Radio network WLOL (MNL)
WTOP (WSC) Start date April 4, 1949 | |
Hall of Famers Coaches:
Red Auerbach (1969)
John Kundla (1995)
Players:
George Mikan (1959) Eastern Finals Capitols defeat Knickerbockers, 2–1 Similar 1950 NBA Finals, 1959 NBA Finals, 1947 BAA Finals, 1972 NBA Finals, 1964 NBA Finals | ||
The 1949 BAA Finals was the championship round following the Basketball Association of America 1948–49 season, its third and last. (Later that year the BAA and National Basketball League merged to create the National Basketball Association or 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.
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
Lakers win series 4–2