1947–48 Minneapolis Lakers season

1947–48 Minneapolis Lakers season
NBL champions
Division champions
Head coachJohn Kundla
General managerMax Winter
OwnersBen Berger
ArenaMinneapolis Auditorium
Results
Record43–17 (.717)
PlaceDivision: 1st (Western)
Playoff finishNBL Champions
(Defeated Royals 3–1)
Stats at Basketball Reference

The 1947–48 Minneapolis Lakers season was the inaugural season for the Lakers in Minneapolis following its relocation from Detroit where it played as the Detroit Gems the previous season.[1][2] This season would be considered a hard reboot for the franchise, to the point where some fans and sports historians claim that the Detroit Gems and Minneapolis Lakers exist as two separate franchises due to the myriad of ways the franchise reset itself from the past in Detroit to the way it became what it was out in Minneapolis. During this season, on February 19, 1948, the Lakers would play a notable exhibition game against the Harlem Globetrotters to decide which of the two teams were considered the best team of the two at that time; while the Globetrotters would stun the Lakers with a 61–59 defeat for the Lakers due to a buzzer-beating 30-foot shot by Ermer Robinson, the game itself would be a catalyst for not just many more exhibition matches between the two teams for a few years afterward once the Lakers entered the BAA and then the NBA (which saw Harlem winning their first rematch before the Lakers won the rest of their subsequent match-ups not long afterward), but also helped see the end of racial segregation in the sport of basketball as well.[3] The Lakers won the National Basketball League championship against the Rochester Royals. George Mikan led the team with 21.3 points per game and was the league's MVP. After this season ended for the NBL, both the Lakers and Royals would leave the NBL to join the newly rivaling Basketball Association of America (BAA) along with two other longstanding NBL clubs, the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons and the Indianapolis Kautskys, though Fort Wayne and Indianapolis would rebrand themselves as the Fort Wayne Pistons and Indianapolis Jets respectively in order to join properly due to the BAA not allowing for teams to have brand promotions as a part of their team names on display.[4]

After talks of a 1948 championship series between the champions of the National Basketball League (which were the Minneapolis Lakers) and the newly-rivaling Basketball Association of America (which were formerly the older rivaling American Basketball League's own Baltimore Bullets, which was also the BAA's original Baltimore Bullets franchise) ultimately never came to fruition, it was decided that the Lakers would also participate in what would ultimately become the final World Professional Basketball Tournament ever held.[5] In the final tournament ever held, the Lakers would crush the original American Basketball League's Wilkes-Barre Barons (who were the only non-NBL professional team competing in that event) 98–48 in the quarterfinal round and barely held on against the Anderson Duffey Packers with a 59–56 win in the semifinal round before winning the final championship over the independent New York Renaissance with a 75–71 victory that year,[6] with the championship match having them being led behind George Mikan's tournament record and (MVP performing) 40 points scored that night.[7]

Roster

1947–48 Minneapolis Lakers roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From
C 99 George Mikan 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 245 lb (111 kg) 1924-06-18 DePaul
F/C 17 Jim Pollard 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1922-07-09 Stanford
G/F 6 Don Carlson 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1919-03-22 Minnesota
G/F 3 Jack Dwan 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1921-05-03 Loyola Chicago
G/F 24 Herm Schaefer 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1919-12-20 Indiana
G/F 20 Tony Jaros 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1920-02-21 Minnesota
G/F 12 Don Smith 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1920-07-27 Minnesota
G/F 18 Paul Napolitano 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1923-02-03 San Francisco
G/F 7 Johnny Jorgensen 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1921-12-28 DePaul
G/F 16 Bill Durkee 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1923-05-15 California
F/C 15 Bob Gerber 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1924-01-01 Toledo
G 9 Ken Exel 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1925-06-10 Minnesota
F 11 Joe Patanelli 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1919-09-18 Indiana
F/C 4 Jack Rocker 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1922-08-12 California
F/C 10 Warren Ajax 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1921-05-12 Minnesota
G 2 Ted Cook 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1922-02-06 Tennessee
Head coach

John Kundla

Legend
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured

Roster

National Basketball League

Regular season

Does not include exhibition games played either within the NBL or by other teams outside of the NBL, such as the famous 1948 Globetrotters–Lakers exhibition game involving the world famous all-black Harlem Globetrotters. While the Lakers would initially struggle with getting fully acclimated with George Mikan's presence at first (to the point of having a low starting point of a 4–6 record early on), once they got used to working with him properly, they would become a near unstoppable force going forward by December 20, with them being fully undefeated against NBL teams during the month of February 1948.

# Date Opponent Score Record
1 November 1 @ Oshkosh W 49–47 1–0
2 November 9 @ Tri-Cities L 58–66 1–1
3 November 13 Tri-Cities W 57–41 2–1
4 November 17 Sheboygan W 58–43 3–1
5 November 20 @ Sheboygan L 41–56 3–2
6 November 23 Indianapolis W 67–56 4–2
7 November 27 @ Syracuse L 66–72 4–3
8 November 29 @ Rochester L 53–56 4–4
9 December 1 @ Flint (Midland) L 68–75 4–5
10 December 2 @ Toledo L 57–59 4–6
11 December 3 @ Fort Wayne W 68–58 5–6
12 December 4 N Fort Wayne W 56–42 6–6
13 December 6 N Anderson W 88–67 7–6
14 December 7 Oshkosh L 38–44 7–7
15 December 10 Toledo W 49–46 8–7
16 December 12 N Fort Wayne L 55–60 8–8
17 December 13 @ Oshkosh W 67–57 9–8
18 December 14 Anderson W 60–49 10–8
19 December 17 Anderson L 53–57 10–9
20 December 18 N Toledo W 66–56 11–9
21 December 21 Tri-Cities W 68–62 12–9
22 December 22 Sheboygan W 61–52 13–9
23 December 27 Toledo W 55–52 14–9
24 December 28 Indianapolis W 58–48 15–9
25 January 2 Fort Wayne L 41–46 15–10
26 January 4 Flint W 75–50 16–10
27 January 5 Flint W 80–42 17–10
28 January 8 @ Syracuse W 68–59 18–10
29 January 10 @ Flint (Midland) W 66–49 19–10
30 January 11 @ Tri-Cities L 35–44 19–11
31 January 13 @ Indianapolis W 64–45 20–11
32 January 17 @ Syracuse L 65–71 20–12
33 January 18 @ Rochester W 75–73 21–12
34 January 19 @ Flint (Midland) W 85–72 22–12
35 January 22 N Rochester W 69–64 23–12
36 January 24 Fort Wayne W 69–52 24–12
37 January 26 Rochester W 76–58 25–12
38 January 28 Rochester L 50–53 25–13
39 February 1 Indianapolis W 85–55 26–13
40 February 4 Syracuse W 70–55 27–13
41 February 5 Syracuse W 95–75 28–13
42 February 8 Oshkosh W 78–56 29–13
43 February 12 @ Sheboygan W 68–57 30–13
44 February 14 Toledo W 65–50 31–13
45 February 16 @ Anderson W 63–54 32–13
46 February 17 @ Indianapolis W 66–58 33–13
47 February 22 Oshkosh W 85–58 34–13
48 February 23 Tri-Cities W 57–48 35–13
49 February 25 Anderson W 60–54 36–13
50 February 29 N Syracuse W 66–56 37–13
51 March 2 @ Indianapolis L 63–83 37–14
52 March 4 @ Anderson L 70–73 37–15
53 March 6 @ Oshkosh W 69–67 38–15
54 March 7 @ Sheboygan W 68–67 39–15
55 March 8 Sheboygan W 65–55 40–15
56 March 13 Fort Wayne W 92–64 41–15
57 March 14 Flint/Midland W 80–54 42–15
58 March 16 @ Rochester L 63–66 42–16
59 March 17 @ Toledo W 60–56 43–16
60 March 20 @ Tri-Cities L 61–65 43–17

Western Division standings

Pos. Western Division Wins Losses Win %
1 Minneapolis Lakers 43 17 .717
2 Tri-Cities Blackhawks 30 30 .500
3 Oshkosh All-Stars 29 31 .483
4 Indianapolis Kautskys 24 35 .407
5 Sheboygan Red Skins 23 37 .383

Playoffs

Western Division Opening Round

(1W) Minneapolis Lakers vs. (3W) Oshkosh All-Stars: Minneapolis wins series 3–1

  • Game 1: March 23, 1948 @ Minneapolis: Minneapolis 80, Oshkosh 68[8]
  • Game 2: March 24, 1948 @ Minneapolis: Minneapolis 88, Oshkosh 65
  • Game 3: March 26, 1948 @ Oshkosh: Oshkosh 69, Minneapolis 51
  • Game 4: March 27, 1948 @ Oshkosh: Minneapolis 61, Oshkosh 55[9][10]

This would be the first and only playoff meeting the Lakers would ever have with the Oshkosh All-Stars, as the Oshkosh franchise would decide to not join up with the other teams in entering the BAA/NBA in later seasons (first unintentionally before later doing so intentionally through concerns involving the All-Stars team potentially moving to Milwaukee in order to find success in the new league).

Western Division Semifinals

(1W) Minneapolis Lakers vs. (2W) Tri-Cities Blackhawks: Minneapolis wins series 2–0

  • Game 1: March 30, 1948 @ Moline, IL (Tri-Cities): Minneapolis 98, Tri-Cities 79[8]
  • Game 2: March 31, 1948 @ Minneapolis: Minneapolis 83, Tri-Cities 59

This would be the first official playoff meeting the Lakers would ever have with the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, who are now known as the Atlanta Hawks. They would have more meetings in the NBA Playoffs until 1970, when divisional realignment limited potential playoff meetings between them to just the NBA Finals going forward.

NBL Championship

(1W) Minneapolis Lakers vs. (1E) Rochester Royals: Minneapolis wins series 3–1

  • Game 1: April 13, 1948 @ Minneapolis: Minneapolis 80, Rochester 72[8]
  • Game 2: April 14, 1948 @ Minneapolis: Minneapolis 82, Rochester 67
  • Game 3: April 15, 1948 @ Rochester: Rochester 74, Minneapolis 60
  • Game 4: April 18, 1948 @ Rochester: Minneapolis 75, Rochester 65

Interestingly, this championship series would occur after the 1948 World Professional Basketball Tournament was played (which the Lakers would participate in) as opposed to during or before the World Professional Basketball Tournament like the NBL had done in previous years whenever the WPBT had existed as a tournament, which brought further criticism upon NBL commissioner Ward Lambert (this time upon the Royals' end after the Lakers and other NBL teams criticized Lambert earlier on when he allowed for Rochester to do a late buyout trade for center Arnie Risen from the Indianapolis Kautskys) and later led to his subsequent resignation after the season's conclusion once the Lakers, Royals, Kautskys, and Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (alongside failed attempts by the Oshkosh All-Stars and the Toledo Jeeps) all left the NBL for the rivaling BAA (with everyone but the Indianapolis team still active to this day in the NBA).[11] Also, this would become the first official playoff meeting the Lakers would ever have with the Rochester Royals, who are now known as the Sacramento Kings, with them continuing to have a rivalry to this very day.

Awards and records

World Professional Basketball Tournament

Shortly prior to the NBL Finals, during the days of April 8-11, the Lakers played in the annual World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago, with the final eight teams that participated in the event mostly being in the National Basketball League for a change of pace, with the only other professional team competing being the Wilkes-Barre Barons of the American Basketball League (who competed against the Lakers in the quarterfinal round) and the only two independently ran teams being the New York Renaissance and the Bridgeport Newfields, who competed against each other in the quarterfinal round. Initially, there was supposed to have been a championship series between the champions of the National Basketball League (which were the Minneapolis Lakers) and the newly-rivaling Basketball Association of America (which were formerly the older rivaling American Basketball League's own Baltimore Bullets, which was also the BAA's original Baltimore Bullets franchise) in 1948, but that ultimately never came to fruition. Being considered the favorites, they did not disappoint in the first round, blowing out the original American Basketball League's Wilkes-Barre Barons 98–48.[14]

In the semifinal round, the Lakers came out on top against a fellow NBL competing team in the Anderson Duffey Packers, 59–56, behind Mikan's 21 points.[15] In addition to Mikan, Don Carlson would also score 12 points himself, while Herm Schaefer would pick up 10 points on his end in order for the Lakers to win their semifinal match over Anderson.[16]

In the final WPBT championship game that was ever held, the Lakers defeated the independently owned and ran New York Renaissance 75–71,[17][6] behind George Mikan's tournament record 40 points.[7] Mikan led all scorers and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Along with Mikan, Jim Pollard was named to the All-Tournament First Team.[18][19] This final championship also made the Minneapolis Lakers in their first season under that name become the third and final team to win both the NBL's championship and the WPBT's championship in the same season, joining the Oshkosh All-Stars from the 1941–42 season and the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons in both 1944 and 1945 as the only NBL teams to claim the same honor that these Lakers had done.

Games

Awards and records

References

  1. ^ "Pro cagers say adieu". Detroit Free Press. June 4, 1947. p. 16. Retrieved September 8, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Detroit Gems Nat'l cage franchise sold". The Herald-Press. Associated Press. January 4, 1947. Retrieved September 8, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Christgau, John (2004). Tricksters in the Madhouse. University of Nebraska Press.
  4. ^ Sachare, Alex. "The Dynasties: Minneapolis Lakers". nba.com. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  5. ^ Nelson, Murry R. (2009). The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7864-4006-1., p. 179
  6. ^ a b Bill Carlson (April 12, 1948). "Lakers 'World Champions' now". The Minneapolis Star. p. 23. Retrieved March 15, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b Edward Prell (April 12, 1948). "Lakers defeat Rens, 75 to 71, for pro title". Chicago Tribune. p. 57. Retrieved April 5, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. Mikan's 40 points, on 14 field goals and 12 of 15 free throws, broke the tournament individual scoring record.
  8. ^ a b c Bradley, Robert; Grasso, John (2003). Total Basketball: The Ultimate Basketball Encyclopedia. SPORT Media Publishing, Inc. ISBN 1-894963-01-6., p. 423
  9. ^ https://www.retroseasons.com/leagues/NBL/1948/playoffs/
  10. ^ https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-oshkosh-northwestern-61-55/187032999/
  11. ^ Nelson, Murry R. (2009). The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7864-4006-1., pp. 198–201
  12. ^ "Steve Dimitry's NBL Web Site". www.geocities.com. Archived from the original on March 11, 2005. Retrieved October 25, 2025.
  13. ^ 1947-48 NBL Season Summary
  14. ^ "Minneapolis Five is top-seeded". The Tampa Times. Associated Press. April 7, 1948. p. 9. Retrieved June 8, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Rens to meet Lakers in pro cage playoffs". Cumberland Evening Times. INS. April 10, 1948. p. 5. Retrieved June 8, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Nelson, Murry R. (2009). The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7864-4006-1., p. 199
  17. ^ Jim Peterson (April 6, 1948). "Mikan's Foe highly rated". Minnesota Star Tribune. p. 15. Retrieved June 8, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Lakers beat Rens 75-71 and cop title". Journal and Courier. April 12, 1948. p. 8. Retrieved April 5, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Sid Hartman. "Lakers dominated pro meet in all phases". Times, the Picture Paper. pp. 26–30. Retrieved April 5, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
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