Division
Semi-Finals
Finals
The NBA was created in 1949 by merger of two competing professional basketball leagues, the BAA and NBL. For its first season only, the NBA teams were arranged in three divisions: Eastern, comprising the five surviving BAA Eastern Division teams plus Syracuse from the NBL; Central, comprising the five surviving BAA Western Division teams; and Western, comprising all the NBL teams except Syracuse. Within each division the top four teams were matched in two rounds of short series to generate a champion, after which the three division champions contended for the NBA title. With three contenders the third round of the tournament comprised a bye for one and a best-of-three match between the other two.
| Date | Opponent | Result | Score | OT | Series | ||||||||||||||
| 3/21 | vs Tri-Cities (3) | W | 89-77 | 1-0 | |||||||||||||||
| 3/23 | at Tri-Cities (3) | L | 75-76 | 1-1 | |||||||||||||||
| 3/24 | vs Tri-Cities (3) | W | 94-71 | 2-1 | |||||||||||||||
Division FinalsBest of 3-game series | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date | Opponent | Result | Score | OT | Series | ||||||||||||||
| 3/28 | at Indianapolis (1) | L | 74-77 | 0-1 | |||||||||||||||
| 3/30 | vs Indianapolis (1) | W | 84-67 | 1-1 | |||||||||||||||
| 4/1 | at Indianapolis (1) | W | 67-65 | 2-1 | |||||||||||||||
NBA SemifinalsBest of 3-game seriesThe three Division Champions were re-seeded based on their respective regular season records, with the top seed earning a bye into the NBA Finals. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date | Opponent | Result | Score | OT | Series | ||||||||||||||
| 4/5 | at LA Lakers (1) | L | 50-75 | 0-1 | |||||||||||||||
| 4/6 | vs LA Lakers (1) | L | 71-90 | 0-2 | |||||||||||||||