Division
Semi-Finals
Finals
IND 262
SBY 264
AND 258
TRI 224
MIN 160
CHI 142
ROC 162
FW 169
SYR 152
PHI 129
NYK 193
WAS 170
IND 1
AND 2
MIN 2
FW 0
SYR 2
NYK 1
MIN 2
AND 0
SYR Bye
 
MIN 4
SYR 2
Champ
MIN
1949-50 NBA Champion Minneapolis Lakers
The NBA was created in 1949 by merger of two competing professional basketball leagues, the BAA and NBL. For its first season only, the NBA teams were arranged in three divisions: Eastern, comprising the five surviving BAA Eastern Division teams plus Syracuse from the NBL; Central, comprising the five surviving BAA Western Division teams; and Western, comprising all the NBL teams except Syracuse. Within each division the top four teams were matched in two rounds of short series to generate a champion, after which the three division champions contended for the NBA title. With three contenders the third round of the tournament comprised a bye for one and a best-of-three match between the other two.

Central Division Tiebreaker

Single game matchup
Date    OpponentResultScoreSeries
3/20vs Chicago (4)W  86-69 1-0

Date    OpponentResultScoreSeries
3/23at Rochester (2)W  90-84 1-0
3/24vs Rochester (2)W  79-78
OT
2-0

Division Finals

Best of 3-game series
Date    OpponentResultScoreSeries
3/27at LA Lakers (1)L  79-93 0-1
3/28vs LA Lakers (1)L  82-89 0-2