The 1951 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the 1951 NBA Playoffs, which concluded the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

1950–51 season. The Western Division champion

Rochester Royals The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

faced the Eastern Division champion New York Knicks in a best-of-seven series with Rochester having home-court advantage. Rochester won the first three games, two at home, but New York won the next three, two at home. It was the first BAA or NBA Finals (spanning 1947 to 1951) that extended to a seventh-game conclusion, a 4-point win by Rochester at home on Saturday, April 21. The seven games were played in fifteen days, beginning Saturday and Sunday, April 7 and 8, in Rochester and incorporating one game in Rochester on each following weekend. Three Wednesday or Friday games were played in New York City. The entire postseason tournament spanned 33 days in which both Rochester and New York played 14 games. The Royals appeared in their first NBA finals by defeating the

Fort Wayne Pistons A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

in the semifinals and the two-time defending champion

Minneapolis Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers franchise has a long and storied history, predating the formation of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Founded in 1947, the Lakers are one of the NBA's most famous and successful franchises. As of summer 2012, th ...

in the division finals while the Knicks defeated the Boston Celtics in the semifinals and the

Syracuse Nationals The Philadelphia 76ers are an American basketball team currently playing in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 76ers are third in NBA history in wins and playoff appearances. 1946– ...

in the division finals. This was the first finals appearance for both teams, and the first Finals with two teams that had not made a finals appearance since the

1947 BAA Finals The 1947 BAA Finals was the championship round of playoffs following the inaugural Basketball Association of America (BAA)'s 1946–47 season. The Philadelphia Warriors of the Eastern Division faced the Chicago Stags of the Western Division for ...

Series summary

''Royals win series 4–3'' The Rochester / Cincinnati Royals / Kansas City / Sacramento Kings won their first ever NBA Championship.

Aftermath

This was the first and to date last title for the Rochester Royals, who would move to Cincinnati for the

1957–58 NBA season The 1957–58 NBA season was the 12th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the St. Louis Hawks winning the NBA Championship, beating the Boston Celtics 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals. Notable occurrences * The Pi ...

. The Royals would spend 15 years mired in mediocrity before moving to Kansas City in 1972, changing their name in the process to the Kings. One notable highlight was their appearance in the 1981 NBA Playoffs, in which their 40-42 team reached the Conference Finals before losing to the Houston Rockets who also had a 40-42 record. The Kings moved to Sacramento in 1985. The team reached the conference finals in the 2002 NBA Playoffs, their closest to reaching the NBA finals in recent years. The Royals/Kings have the longest NBA title drought, and also the longest Finals appearance drought in NBA history and actively in all of the American major four pro sports leagues. This would be the Knicks first of three consecutive appearances in the Finals, but they would lose all three times. They would not return to the Finals until 1970, which they won.

Notes

References

External links

1951 Finals
at NBA.com

at Basketball-Reference.com {{1950–51 NBA season by team National Basketball Association Finals

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

Rochester Royals NBA NBA Finals NBA Finals Sports competitions in New York City Sports in Rochester, New York NBA Finals 1950s in Manhattan Rose Hill, Manhattan