# 1949 BAA Finals

The 1949 BAA Finals was the championship round following the Basketball Association of America (BAA)'s 1948–49 season, its third and last. Later that year, the BAA and National Basketball League merged to create the National Basketball Association (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. As for the Capitols, they would never reach the Finals again, but their coach in Red Auerbach would do so several times over the next two decades, and this represented his only loss in a Final until 1958 (Auerbach would win nine of his eleven appearances in a Final); this would be the first of six overall finals that featured Auerbach against the Lakers, for which he beat them five times, including in 1959 when he beat Kundla in his last game as head coach of the Lakers.
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

| Game | Date | Home team | Result | Road team |
| Game 1 | April 4 | Minneapolis Lakers | 88–84 (1–0) | Washington Capitols |
| Game 2 | April 6 | Minneapolis Lakers | 76–62 (2–0) | Washington Capitols |
| Game 3 | April 8 | Washington Capitols | 74–94 (0–3) | Minneapolis Lakers |
| Game 4 | April 9 | Washington Capitols | 83–71 (1–3) | Minneapolis Lakers |
| Game 5 | April 11 | Washington Capitols | 74–65 (2–3) | Minneapolis Lakers |
| Game 6 | April 13 | Minneapolis Lakers | 77–56 (4–2) | Washington Capitols |
Lakers win series 4–2

## Box scores

* April 4
* Boxscore
Washington Capitols 84, Minneapolis Lakers 88 :
| Scoring by quarter: 13–23, 27–25, 21–19, 23–21 |||
| Pts: Fred Scolari 20 | Pts: George Mikan 42 |
| Minneapolis leads series, 1–0 |||
* Minneapolis Auditorium, Minneapolis, Minnesota Attendance: 8,210
* April 6
* Boxscore
Washington Capitols 62, Minneapolis Lakers 76 :
| Scoring by quarter: 13–20, 19–27, 13–11, 17–18 |||
| Pts: Sonny Hertzberg 13 | Pts: Don Carlson 16 |
| Minneapolis leads series, 2–0 |||
* Minneapolis Auditorium, Minneapolis, Minnesota Attendance: 10,212 Referees: Pat Kennedy, Phil Fox
* April 8
* Boxscore
Minneapolis Lakers 94, Washington Capitols 74 :
| Scoring by quarter: 26–14, 17–15, 28–24, 23–21 |||
| Pts: George Mikan 35 | Pts: Nichols, Zunic 12 each |
| Minneapolis leads series, 3–0 |||
* Uline Arena, Washington, D.C. Attendance: 4,919
* April 9
* Boxscore
Minneapolis Lakers 71, Washington Capitols 83 :
| Scoring by quarter: 23–22, 12–23, 16–20, 20–18 |||
| Pts: George Mikan 27 | Pts: Jack Nichols 27 |
| Minneapolis leads series, 3–1 |||
* Uline Arena, Washington, D.C. Attendance: 4,471
* April 11
* Boxscore
Minneapolis Lakers 65, Washington Capitols 74 :
| Scoring by quarter: 12–22, 18–19, 22–15, 13–18 |||
| Pts: George Mikan 22 | Pts: Hermsen, Nichols 13 each |
| Minneapolis leads series, 3–2 |||
* Uline Arena, Washington, D.C. Attendance: 3,840
* April 13
* Boxscore
Washington Capitols 56, Minneapolis Lakers 77 :
| Scoring by quarter: 12–19, 12–21, 17–22, 15–15 |||
| Pts: Kleggie Hermsen 12 | Pts: George Mikan 29 |
| Minneapolis wins series, 4–2 |||
* St. Paul Auditorium, Saint Paul, Minnesota Attendance: 10,482