# 1950–51 Syracuse Nationals season

The 1950–51 Syracuse Nationals season was the 5th season of the franchise and the second in the National Basketball Association (NBA). In the regular season, the Nationals finished in fourth place in the Eastern Division & their 32–34 record gave them an NBA playoffs berth. Syracuse faced the Philadelphia Warriors in the 1st round of the Eastern Division playoffs and won the best-of-three series 2–0 to advance to the division finals. In that series, the Nationals lost to the New York Knicks 2–3 in a best-of-five series.

## NBA draft

| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | School/Club Team |
| 1 | 11 | Don Lofgran | F/C | United States | San Francisco |
| 2 | 23 | Gerald Calabrese | G | United States | St. John's |

## Regular season
### Standings

| Eastern Divisionvte | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Neutral | Div |
| x-Philadelphia Warriors | 40 | 26 | .606 | – | 28–4 | 11–21 | 1–1 | 22–14 |
| x-Boston Celtics | 39 | 30 | .565 | 1 | 25–5 | 10–23 | 4–2 | 21–19 |
| x-New York Knicks | 36 | 30 | .545 | 4 | 22–5 | 10–25 | 4–0 | 21–15 |
| x-Syracuse Nationals | 32 | 34 | .485 | 8 | 23–10 | 9–24 | – | 19–17 |
| Baltimore Bullets | 24 | 42 | .364 | 16 | 20–12 | 4–24 | 0–6 | 12–24 |
| Washington Capitols | 10 | 25 | .286 | 30 | 7–12 | 3–12 | 0–1 | 6–12 |

### Record vs. opponents

1950–51 NBA records :
| Team | BAL | BOS | FWP | IND | MIN | NYK | PHI | ROC | SYR | TCB | WAS |
| Baltimore | — | 3–6 | 4–2 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 2–5 | 3–6 | 1–5 | 3–5 | 3–3 | 1–2 |
| Boston | 6–3 | — | 5–1 | 4–1 | 3–3 | 4–4 | 4–4 | 2–4 | 2–5 | 4–2 | 4–3 |
| Fort Wayne | 2–4 | 1–5 | — | 5–3 | 5–3 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 3–5 | 3–3 | 5–5 | 3–1 |
| Indianapolis | 4–2 | 1–4 | 3–5 | — | 3–7 | 5–1 | 1–5 | 5–4 | 3–3 | 4–4 | 2–2 |
| Minneapolis | 4–2 | 3–3 | 3–5 | 7–3 | — | 3–3 | 4–2 | 4–4 | 4–2 | 10–0 | 2–0 |
| New York | 5–2 | 4–4 | 4–2 | 1–5 | 3–3 | — | 5–3 | 3–3 | 5–5 | 4–2 | 2–1 |
| Philadelphia | 6–3 | 4–4 | 3–3 | 5–1 | 2–4 | 3–5 | — | 4–2 | 6–2 | 4–2 | 3–0 |
| Rochester | 5–3 | 5–2 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 5–5 | 2–6 | — | 4–2 | 5–3 | 5–0 |
| Syracuse | 5–3 | 5–2 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 5–5 | 2–6 | 2–4 | — | 3–3 | 2–0 |
| Tri-Cities | 3–3 | 2–4 | 5–5 | 4–4 | 0–10 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 3–5 | 3–3 | — | 1–1 |
| Washington | 2–1 | 3–4 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 0–5 | 0–2 | 1–1 | — |

### Game log

1950–51 Game Log Total: 32–34 (Home: 23–10; Road: 9–24) :
November: 7–7 (Home: 6–2; Road: 1–5)
GameDateOpponentScoreLocationHigh pointsRecord
1November 2Fort Wayne Pistons92–77State Fair ColiseumGeorge Ratkovicz (23)1–0
2November 5Minneapolis Lakers90–87State Fair ColiseumPaul Seymour (18)2–0
3November 9Tri-Cities Blackhawks89–70State Fair ColiseumDolph Schayes (15)3–0
4November 11@ New York Knicks72–74 (OT)Madison Square GardenDolph Schayes (20)3–1
5November 12Baltimore Bullets83–57State Fair ColiseumPaul Seymour (16)4–1
6November 14@ Indianapolis Olympians78–108Butler FieldhouseBelus Smawley (15)4–2
7November 15@ Minneapolis Lakers71–72 (OT)Minneapolis AuditoriumBelus Smawley (16)4–3
8November 16@ Tri-Cities Blackhawks75–79Wharton Field HouseEd Peterson (19)4–4
9November 19New York Knicks96–83State Fair ColiseumBelus Smawley (14)5–4
10November 23Indianapolis Olympians85–92State Fair ColiseumGabor, Hannum (17)5–5
11November 25@ Washington Capitols77–67Uline ArenaBilly Gabor (17)6–5
12November 26Washington Capitols90–76State Fair ColiseumBilly Gabor (22)7–5
13November 28@ New York Knicks84–108Madison Square GardenDolph Schayes (25)7–6
14November 30@ Philadelphia Warriors78–81Philadelphia ArenaGeorge Ratkovicz (17)7–7 :
December: 7–7 (Home: 3–3; Road: 4–4)
GameDateOpponentScoreLocationHigh pointsRecord
15December 2@ Baltimore Bullets99–96 (OT)Baltimore ColiseumBilly Gabor (31)8–7
16December 3Indianapolis Olympians84–81State Fair ColiseumCervi, Schayes (16)9–7
17December 7Rochester Royals69–76State Fair ColiseumDolph Schayes (27)9–8
18December 9@ Boston Celtics86–85Boston GardenDon Lofgran (19)10–8
19December 10Baltimore Bullets76–86State Fair ColiseumDolph Schayes (16)10–9
20December 14Tri-Cities Blackhawks69–78State Fair ColiseumAl Cervi (15)10–10
21December 16@ Rochester Royals79–75 (OT)Edgerton Park ArenaBilly Gabor (24)11–10
22December 17New York Knicks95–86State Fair ColiseumDolph Schayes (23)12–10
23December 20@ Tri-Cities Blackhawks83–86Wharton Field HouseAl Cervi (19)12–11
24December 21@ Fort Wayne Pistons72–97North Side High School GymDolph Schayes (17)12–12
25December 25Fort Wayne Pistons81–69State Fair ColiseumDolph Schayes (16)13–12
26December 26@ Boston Celtics100–102Boston GardenNoble Jorgensen (23)13–13
27December 28@ Philadelphia Warriors88–91 (OT)Philadelphia ArenaDolph Schayes (28)13–14
28December 30@ Baltimore Bullets90–80 (OT)Baltimore ColiseumDolph Schayes (23)14–14 :
January: 7–7 (Home: 5–3; Road: 2–4)
GameDateOpponentScoreLocationHigh pointsRecord
29January 1Boston Celtics106–89State Fair ColiseumDolph Schayes (21)15–14
30January 4Minneapolis Lakers77–80State Fair ColiseumBilly Gabor (20)15–15
31January 6@ New York Knicks87–85 (OT)Madison Square GardenDolph Schayes (26)16–15
32January 7Baltimore Bullets73–65State Fair ColiseumGeorge Ratkovicz (18)17–15
33January 10@ Tri-Cities Blackhawks97–96Wharton Field HouseRatkovicz, Schayes (20)18–15
34January 11@ Fort Wayne Pistons76–84North Side High School GymDolph Schayes (16)18–16
35January 14Rochester Royals92–63State Fair ColiseumDolph Schayes (17)19–16
36January 18Rochester Royals87–96State Fair ColiseumGeorge Ratkovicz (20)19–17
37January 21Philadelphia Warriors86–96State Fair ColiseumNoble Jorgensen (18)19–18
38January 24@ Baltimore Bullets82–87Baltimore ColiseumGeorge Ratkovicz (23)19–19
39January 25Tri-Cities Blackhawks113–87State Fair ColiseumGeorge Ratkovicz (24)20–19
40January 27@ Rochester Royals83–85Edgerton Park ArenaDolph Schayes (24)20–20
41January 28Boston Celtics104–83State Fair ColiseumDolph Schayes (22)21–20
42January 30@ Boston Celtics87–96Boston GardenDolph Schayes (23)21–21 :
February: 7–7 (Home: 5–2; Road: 2–5)
GameDateOpponentScoreLocationHigh pointsRecord
43February 1New York Knicks90–93State Fair ColiseumDolph Schayes (26)21–22
44February 2@ Boston Celtics90–96 (OT)Boston GardenDolph Schayes (19)21–23
45February 5Philadelphia Warriors78–75State Fair ColiseumDolph Schayes (19)22–23
46February 7@ Baltimore Bullets82–102Baltimore ColiseumJohnny Macknowski (20)22–24
47February 8New York Knicks96–83State Fair ColiseumGeorge Ratkovicz (19)23–24
48February 11Baltimore Bullets80–72State Fair ColiseumDolph Schayes (18)24–24
49February 14@ Fort Wayne Pistons75–77North Side High School GymDolph Schayes (18)24–25
50February 15Boston Celtics94–80State Fair ColiseumDolph Schayes (24)25–25
51February 17@ New York Knicks75–88Madison Square GardenDolph Schayes (26)25–26
52February 18Minneapolis Lakers91–80State Fair ColiseumBilly Gabor (26)26–26
53February 20@ Indianapolis Olympians81–79Butler FieldhouseDolph Schayes (18)27–26
54February 21@ Minneapolis Lakers76–82Minneapolis AuditoriumJohnny Macknowski (17)27–27
55February 25New York Knicks98–93State Fair ColiseumFred Scolari (18)28–27
56February 27@ Philadelphia Warriors72–86Philadelphia ArenaDolph Schayes (18)28–28 :
March: 4–6 (Home: 4–1; Road: 0–5)
GameDateOpponentScoreLocationHigh pointsRecord
57March 1Fort Wayne Pistons108–86State Fair ColiseumGabor, Schayes (19)29–28
58March 3@ New York Knicks78–97Madison Square GardenJohnny Macknowski (15)29–29
59March 4Philadelphia Warriors85–79State Fair ColiseumDolph Schayes (23)30–29
60March 8Indianapolis Olympians121–97State Fair ColiseumNoble Jorgensen (27)31–29
61March 10@ Rochester Royals86–107Edgerton Park ArenaDolph Schayes (17)31–30
62March 11Philadelphia Warriors91–95State Fair ColiseumDolph Schayes (26)31–31
63March 13@ Indianapolis Olympians93–98Butler FieldhouseAlex Hannum (23)31–32
64March 14@ Minneapolis Lakers76–100Minneapolis AuditoriumDolph Schayes (24)31–33
65March 17@ Philadelphia Warriors86–100Philadelphia ArenaGeorge Ratkovicz (20)31–34
66March 18Boston Celtics97–89State Fair ColiseumGeorge Ratkovicz (20)32–34 :
1950–51 Schedule :

## Playoffs

1951 playoff game log :
Division Semifinals: 2–0 (home: 1–0; road: 1–0)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocationRecord
1
March 20
@ Philadelphia
W 91–89 (OT)
Fred Scolari (23)
Dolph Schayes (13)
Seymour, Cervi (7)
Philadelphia Arena
1–0
2
March 22
Philadelphia
W 90–78
Dolph Schayes (24)
Dolph Schayes (16)
Seymour, Hannum (5)
State Fair Coliseum
2–0 :
Division Finals: 2–3 (home: 2–0; road: 0–3)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
1
March 28
@ New York
L 92–103
George Ratkovicz (22)
Alex Hannum (7)
Madison Square Garden III
0–1
2
March 29
New York
W 102–80
Dolph Schayes (21)
Al Cervi (9)
State Fair Coliseum
1–1
3
March 31
@ New York
L 75–77 (OT)
Dolph Schayes (17)
Madison Square Garden III
1–2
4
April 1
New York
W 90–83
Dolph Schayes (34)
Al Cervi (8)
State Fair Coliseum
2–2
5
April 4
@ New York
L 81–83
Dolph Schayes (14)
four players tied (3)
Madison Square Garden III
2–3 :
1951 schedule :

## Awards and records

* Dolph Schayes, All-NBA Second Team