1952–53 Minneapolis Lakers season

The 1952–53 Minneapolis Lakers season was the fifth season for the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA).[1] The Lakers continued to be the dominant force in the league as they won the Western Division with a 48–22 record. In the playoffs, the Lakers would sweep the Indianapolis Olympians in 2 straight. In the Western Finals, the Lakers would win the first 2 games at home. Against the Fort Wayne Pistons, the Lakers were pushed to a 5th game. The series returned to Minneapolis, where the Lakers won the 5th game 74–58. In the Finals, the Lakers vanquished the New York Knickerbockers for their 2nd straight Championship, and 4th Championship overall in the franchise's first five seasons in the NBA.[2]

1952–53 Minneapolis Lakers season
NBA champions
Division champions
Head coachJohn Kundla
ArenaMinneapolis Auditorium
Results
Record48–22 (.686)
PlaceDivision: 1st (Western)
Playoff finishNBA Champions
(Defeated Knicks 4–1)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
RadioWLOL

Offseason

NBA draft
Main article: 1952 NBA draft

Roster

Regular season

Season standings
Western Division
 W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
x-Minneapolis Lakers4822.686-24-216-158-517-13
x-Rochester Royals4426.629424-813-177-127-13
x-Fort Wayne Pistons3633.52211.525-98-193-518-22
x-Indianapolis Olympians2843.39420.519-144-235-615-26
Milwaukee Hawks2744.38021.514-83-2410-1215-26

Record vs. opponents
1952-53 NBA Records
Team BAL BOS FWP IND MIL MIN NYK PHI ROC SYR
Baltimore —2–80–62–43–31–50–106–40–62–8
Boston 8–2—4–24–25–11–56–49–14–25–6
Fort Wayne 6–02–4—7–37–31–94–25–03–71–5
Indianapolis 4–22–43–7—5–64–61–55–13–71–5
Milwaukee 3–31–53–76–5—3–71–54–23–73–3
Minneapolis 5–15–19–16–47–3—4–26–04–62–4
New York 10–04–62–45–15–12–4—10–03–36–4
Philadelphia 4–61–90–51–52–40–60–10—2–42–8
Rochester 6–02–47–37–37–36–43–34–2—2–4
Syracuse 8–26–55–15–13–34–24–68–24–2—

Game log
#DateOpponentScoreHigh pointsRecord
1November 1Boston91–94Vern Mikkelsen (17)1–0
2November 2@ Fort Wayne81–69Jim Pollard (18)2–0
3November 5@ Baltimore97–75Slater Martin (21)3–0
4November 8@ Philadelphia93–71George Mikan (18)4–0
5November 9@ Syracuse89–96George Mikan (25)4–1
6November 11@ Boston101–92Slater Martin (20)5–1
7November 13@ New York91–100George Mikan (32)5–2
8November 15@ Rochester89–97George Mikan (29)5–3
9November 16Milwaukee51–87George Mikan (14)6–3
10November 20@ Fort Wayne89–81George Mikan (32)7–3
11November 22Fort Wayne89–96George Mikan (35)8–3
12November 23@ Milwaukee62–46George Mikan (17)9–3
13November 27Indianapolis69–90Vern Mikkelsen (19)10–3
14November 28@ Indianapolis97–82Slater Martin (22)11–3
15November 29@ Rochester71–83Jim Pollard (17)11–4
16November 30Philadelphia66–91George Mikan (23)12–4
17December 1N Baltimore67–89Mikan, Mikkelsen (17)13–4
18December 3@ Boston106–102 (OT)Jim Pollard (29)14–4
19December 4@ New York81–71Vern Mikkelsen (24)15–4
20December 6New York78–85 (OT)George Mikan (27)16–4
21December 8N Indianapolis76–81George Mikan (25)16–5
22December 11Syracuse79–82Vern Mikkelsen (31)17–5
23December 14Rochester77–95Slater Martin (17)18–5
24December 19@ Indianapolis87–69Slater Martin (22)19–5
25December 20@ Milwaukee75–86Vern Mikkelsen (28)19–6
26December 25Indianapolis73–90George Mikan (20)20–6
27December 27Boston71–94Jim Pollard (20)21–6
28December 28Milwaukee77–86Harrison, Mikkelsen (17)22–6
29December 30@ Indianapolis69–74George Mikan (16)22–7
30December 31Baltimore56–82George Mikan (19)23–7
31January 2N Milwaukee74–66Vern Mikkelsen (22)24–7
32January 3N Milwaukee79–75Slater Martin (22)25–7
33January 4Rochester80–83 (OT)George Mikan (23)26–7
34January 6N Rochester85–69George Mikan (26)26–8
35January 8@ Syracuse67–75George Mikan (16)26–9
36January 10N Fort Wayne79–84George Mikan (29)27–9
37January 11New York79–85George Mikan (22)28–9
38January 14@ Baltimore112–104 (2OT)George Mikan (46)29–9
39January 17@ Rochester101–109George Mikan (41)29–10
40January 18Milwaukee83–70George Mikan (22)29–11
41January 23N Milwaukee65–67George Mikan (22)29–12
42January 25Boston82–87George Mikan (30)30–12
43January 27N Fort Wayne96–76Jim Pollard (23)31–12
44January 29Syracuse83–65George Mikan (13)31–13
45January 31Fort Wayne80–87George Mikan (23)32–13
46February 1@ Fort Wayne92–76Slater Martin (19)33–13
47February 3@ Indianapolis93–96 (3OT)George Mikan (29)33–14
48February 5New York73–81George Mikan (36)34–14
49February 7@ Rochester72–87George Mikan (25)34–15
50February 8Indianapolis67–71George Mikan (24)35–15
51February 12Syracuse81–91George Mikan (36)36–15
52February 14Philadelphia84–92George Mikan (19)37–15
53February 15@ Milwaukee80–71George Mikan (23)38–15
54February 17N Baltimore74–70Vern Mikkelsen (19)38–16
55February 19Rochester87–107Mikan, Pollard (17)39–16
56February 21Fort Wayne75–85Jim Pollard (17)40–16
57February 22@ Fort Wayne78–90George Mikan (26)40–17
58February 24@ New York63–79Jim Pollard (12)40–18
59February 25@ Baltimore85–72George Mikan (20)41–18
60February 26@ Philadelphia85–73George Mikan (25)42–18
61February 27N Philadelphia75–98George Mikan (22)43–18
62March 1N Philadelphia80–102George Mikan (33)44–18
63March 3N Fort Wayne86–68Vern Mikkelsen (23)45–18
64March 5@ Syracuse91–94Vern Mikkelsen (23)45–19
65March 6@ Boston85–100Vern Mikkelsen (21)45–20
66March 7@ Rochester82–84Vern Mikkelsen (17)45–21
67March 8Milwaukee73–100George Mikan (18)46–21
68March 9N Indianapolis83–95Vern Mikkelsen (22)46–22
69March 12Rochester77–89George Mikan (28)47–22
70March 17@ Indianapolis73–71Pollard, Skoog (14)48–22

Player stats

Note: GP= Games played; REB= Rebounds; AST= Assists; STL = Steals; BLK = Blocks; PTS = Points; AVG = Average

Player GP REB AST STL BLK PTS AVG

Playoffs
1953 playoff game log
Division Semifinals: 2–0 (home: 1–0; road: 1–0)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsLocationSeries
1 March 22 Indianapolis W 85–69 Vern Mikkelsen (18) Minneapolis Auditorium 1–0
2 March 23 @ Indianapolis W 81–79 Pollard, Mikkelsen (16) Butler Fieldhouse 2–0
Division Finals: 3–2 (home: 3–0; road: 0–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsLocationSeries
1 March 26 Fort Wayne W 83–73 George Mikan (21) Minneapolis Auditorium 1–0
2 March 28 Fort Wayne W 82–75 George Mikan (20) Minneapolis Auditorium 2–0
3 March 30 @ Fort Wayne L 95–98 George Mikan (23) War Memorial Coliseum 2–1
4 April 1 @ Fort Wayne L 82–85 George Mikan (25) War Memorial Coliseum 2–2
5 April 2 Fort Wayne W 74–58 Mikan, Martin (18) Minneapolis Auditorium 3–2
NBA Finals: 4–1 (home: 1–1; road: 3–0)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Series
1 April 4 New York L 88–96 George Mikan (25) — Minneapolis Auditorium
5,000		 0–1
2 April 5 New York W 73–71 George Mikan (18) — Minneapolis Auditorium
4,848		 1–1
3 April 7 @ New York W 90–75 George Mikan (20) — 69th Regiment Armory
5,100		 2–1
4 April 8 @ New York W 71–69 George Mikan (27) — 69th Regiment Armory
5,200		 3–1
5 April 10 @ New York W 91–84 Jim Pollard (17) Vern Mikkelsen (6) 69th Regiment Armory
5,200		 4–1
1953 schedule

Awards and honors

References
  1. 1952–53 Minneapolis Lakers
  2. "Minneapolis Lakers – Sports Ecyclopedia".
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