Not even close to a full game, but a bit of the '48 finals that I hadn't seen before between the Lakers and Royals:
Accompanied by an interesting story of the '51 season and the Royals from and old poster on the site:
DocHoops wrote:The Kings without Rings: Bob Davies and the Rochester Royals
The early days of pro basketball owe a lot to the small towns. The National Leagues Osh Kosh All-Stars, the Ft. Wayne Pistons, the Minneapolis Lakers and the team from upstate New York that was so small time they never got rings when they won the NBA Championship. Basketball “royalty”, Rochester was the original home of what is today the Sacramento Kings. In 1951, amidst the Korean War entrenched and the still recovering from World War II United States, pro basketball was being dominated by the biggest star it ever had, George Mikan. Rochester had the next best team, but luck was never on their side. During the 1951 playoffs, Rochester caught all the good fortune they would need and brought original owner Lester B. Harrison the first and only NBA Championship the franchise has won to date. Perhaps if Harrison and the Royal’s brass (which then was more likely tin) knew what we know now, they’ve have taken the time to pass out Championship rings to their players…
While it was the BAA that won the battle of the leagues historically, following the 1949 Merger it was NBL teams that set the pace for the young league with the senior circuits squads winning five of the first six Championships in NBA history, confirming the suspicions of many observers at the time. George Mikan’s Lakers were the most common conqueror, winning five titles in six years between 1949 and 1954. The only time they did falter, it was at the hands of another NBL team with a winning pedigree. Their star however was on the opposite end of the spectrum from the 6’10” Mikan; Rochester won the 1951 NBA title behind the masterful playmaking of 5’10” Bob Davies, the games finest little man. The upstate New York based franchise had lived up to its regal name since its professional existence. Born from the Rochester Pro’s, a semi-pro team organized by basketball enthusiast and pioneer Lester Harrison; they became the Royals when Harrison purchased an NBL Franchise prior to the start of the 1945-46 season. The Royals were Harrison’s baby, he had no other major source of income and wanted so badly for them to succeed that he served as coach and owner simultaneously from the franchises inception until 1955 when he turned the reigns over to guard Bobby Wanzer. As a coach (and owner) he won two titles, one in the NBL and one in the NBA.
With a number of men returning home from the war, the NBL, previously on the brink of extinction, began expanding again allowing Harrison and the Royals to assemble one of the most star-studded rosters in the history of the game, and not just basketball talent. The group would cruise to a 24-10 record and win the NBL title in their first season as professionals. Included on the roster was legendary NFL quarterback Otto Graham (Cleveland Browns), Major League Baseball catcher Del Rice and future Hollywood actor Chuck "Rifleman" Connors who would also play pro baseball for Chicago and Brooklyn in the 1950’s and was drafted by but never played for the Chicago Bears. Connors played just one season with the Royals, winning the title in ’46 before moving to the BAA and the Boston Celtics where he became the first player to shatter a backboard; he did so in warm-ups. Graham also would play just one season before switching to pro football full-time at the start of the 1946 season. And Rice, a journeyman catcher who would also one day manage professionally, played a limited role for all three of Rochester’s BAA seasons.
In addition to the crossover stars, the Royals had some very good basketball players. Their guards Bob Davies and Al Cervi joined the team in 1945, after both completed their military service in the Second World War. Adding to the star power a third guard was future Knicks Coach and Hall of Famer Red Holzman who was an all-NBL first team selection for the Royals 1946 season along with 6’7” center George Glamack, nicknamed the Blind Bomber because of his poor eyesight. Holzman remained one of the team’s premier players throughout their NBL days making the second-team in ’47 and first team again in 1948. Al Cervi had played professionally in the NBL previously for the Buffalo Bison in 1938 at just 19 years old; he had a knack for playing aggressive defense and was one the best guards and minds of his era. Cervi was an all-NBL staple from 1946-1949. He’d later go onto to serve as a player coach for the rival Syracuse Nationals when a contract dispute with Harrison led to him staying in the NBL as Rochester left for the BAA. Finally there was Davies; he was an all-American at Seton Hall where his masterful ball handling and creative dribbling maneuvers attracted National attention and enormous crowds. It’s Davies, not Bob Cousy, who was first to use the behind the back dribble in the pro game. He played a modest role helping Rochester win the title in 1946 and then became one of the league’s elite players and even won the MVP in 1947 while simultaneously coaching his alma mater Seton Hall to a 24-3 record. So no wonder, with all that talent and three future coaches playing for the team plus a future pro baseball manager, they won the title in 1946 and were the official league Champions in 1947 when the league decided that regular season record, not the post-season playoffs would determine the league title. The Royals compiled a 31-13 record and were named the “pennant winner” and official league Champion. In the post-season playoff they beat Syracuse 3-1 and Ft. Wayne 2-0 but lost to the Chicago American Gears and their rookie center George Mikan in the finals 3-1. Mikan would become a familiar roadblock for all of pro basketball, but Harrison and the Royals in particular. Harrison and the Royals would fall to Mikan in the playoffs of the 1948, ‘49, ‘52 & ’54 seasons.
After the 1947-48 season when Mikan, having joined the Minneapolis Lakers, dispatched the Royals in the NBL Finals both teams, along with Ft. Wayne and Indianapolis, made the jump to the BAA. Harrison, like many NBL owners liked the model of the BAA and was hoping to see a complete merger between the two leagues. A year later he’d have his wish as the remaining stable NBL franchises were absorbed into the new NBA. There, the Royals and Lakers were paired together in the Western Division. They finished first and second in the Western (and one year Central) division for six consecutive seasons from 1949-1954. They were the powers of the new league, but there was no doubt that the Lakers got top billing, they had won the title in each of their three years of existence. So when the 1951 playoffs started and Minneapolis with 44 wins (league best) had the #1 seed in the west and Rochester with 41 was second in the entire league it was no surprise and seemed that again the Western Division finals would be the end of the Royals road. But this year’s team was different. In addition to holdovers from the 1946 Champions; Red Holzman and Bob Davies (first team all-NBA from 1949-1953) there were newcomers playing key roles. Arnie Risen, a center who had joined the Royals when they moved to the BAA (leaving the Indianapolis Kautskys) in 1948 was their leading scorer (16.3) and rebounder (12.0). Bobby Wanzer (11-3-3), another former Seton Hall star who Davies had recruited to the Royals and Harrison signed the year before was Davies backcourt running mate. Jack Coleman was a talented forward who finished third in scoring and second in rebounding for Rochester as well as being the in the top five in field goal percentage league wide. He’d win a title again with the Hawks in 1958. This core had played together for two full seasons and had proven to themselves they had what it took to beat the Lakers. Now it was time to go and do it.
The Western Division Finals began with Mikan, hobbled but playing with his fractured leg in a cast. He was slowed down, but not stopped, he had scored 30 points closing out Indianapolis in the first round, and so Rochester went big with their line-up adding 6’5” 250 pound forward Arnie Johnson to a line-up that included 6’9” Arnie Risen and 6’7” Jack Coleman. They held Mikan to 22 points, but Johnson, a lumbering brute, was no match for the more athletic Mikkelsen who had 25 and the Lakers won. In game two Royals coach Lester Harrison went against type and inserted veteran Red Holzman into the line-up to speed up the pace. Coleman switched to Mikkelsen and Risen was left alone to handle to hobbled Mikan. Pollard took advantage of the smaller line-up with 20 points and 14 rebounds, but the Royals took game two 77-60 in Minneapolis where the Lakers had lost just four games the past two seasons combined. Back in Rochester the Royals ran up the score with an 83-70 win. Knowing they needed to win to stay alive, Mikan played the entire game and scored 32 points on one leg, but the Royals left him in the dust with their make-shift fast break and won 80-75 closing out the vaunted Lakers and their star George Mikan. There is no doubt that the injury more than anything else derailed the Lakers in 1951, but it’s only fitting that Rochester, which won the last NBL title before Mikan showed up, would be the one’s to finally dethrone him in his fifth pro season. Now all that was left to do was win the best of seven NBA Finals against the survivor of the Eastern Division playoffs. The New York Knickerbockers.
The Knicks had been one of the more consistent winners in the leagues first four seasons but their talented roster which put them in the top half of the standings was missing something come playoff time. Now heading into the 1950-51 season they were going to lose their leading scorer Carl Braun, who would be serving in the Army. However, some good fortune did strike them that off-season, they acquired Max Zaslofsky, a consistent all-pro from Chicago when the Stags folded just before the season began. In addition they were able to sign the first black player in NBA history, Sweetwater Clifton from the Harlem Globetrotters just after Boston drafted Chuck Cooper and Syracuse selected Earl Lloyd in the 1950 draft. The addition of Clifton (9 points 8 rebounds) gave the Knicks a formidable front court with 6’8” Connie Simmons (9 points 7 rebounds) and 6’6” Harry “The Horse” Gallatin (13 points 12 rebounds). At forward they had leading scorer Vince Boryla (15-4-3) and dependable back up Ernie Vandeweghe (8-4-3). The backcourt had steady point man Dick McGuire (8-5-6) and Zaslofsky (13-4-2) in a limited role. The depth and talent the Knicks had was formidable, they were fast becoming the Eastern Division’s powerhouse. But the Royals were riding high from the Lakers win and rolled New York upstate at Rochester 92-65 in game one and 99-84 in game two. Risen had 22 in the opener and Davies 24 in the second game. The Royals put five in double figures in each of the first two games and had command of the series. For game three the scene shifted to New York City and the tempo slowed, Rochester led 35-33 at the half and held on in a back and forth battle behind the excellent post play of Risen who finished with 27 points and 20 rebounds. Davies struggled from the field going 2 for 12 but finished 9-9 from the line for 13 points to go with 8 rebounds and 8 assists and Rochester won 78-71 to take a 3-0 series lead. For New York, star forward Harry Gallatin had been held scoreless for the first time all season. With the title within their grasp, just one win away, Rochester could almost taste it, but much to their surprise it was going to be anything but easy.
The Knicks flashed their resiliency in game four, building a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter before the pesky Royals clawed their way back in. But the Knicks rallied behind the play of Gallatin (22 points 15 rebounds) and Sweetwater Clifton as well as surprise starter Vandeweghe who scored seven of his nine points in the final stanza. The Knicks tied the game at 69 with less than two minutes to go and rode Clifton (14 points 18 rebounds 6 assists) to victory 79-73 staying alive in the series. Still Rochester had little reason to worry it seemed, game five was back at Edgerton Park Arena and the Royals were still flawless during the postseason in their building. It was again, an unsung hero who came through for the Knicks. Rochester held a double digit lead for much of the first half, but their fortunes changed when Arnie Risen was called for his fifth foul in the third quarter. Risen became conservative and veteran Connie Simmons, who had led the BAA Champion Baltimore Bullets in scoring during the 1948 Finals, caught fire for the Knickerbockers hitting 9 of 13 shots on his way to 26 points. With Zaslofsky adding 24 points, the Knicks again pulled the upset 92-89. Back in New York for game six, Davies had posted a triple double in the fifth game struggled in game six going 6-17 from the field and with Risen shooting 3-13 the Royals were overmatched. Zaslofsky, who had shared the ball willingly during the regular season, continued to lead the Knicks and went for his fourth 20-point game of the series and with Vandeweghe offering 18 in support, the Knicks won 80-73 and forced a game seven. At this point everyone was questioning the Royals and if they could recover. The Knicks had stolen all the momentum, they had ended the Royals winning streak at home and their personal losing streak in Rochester. The Royals jumped on the Knicks early 13-3 and held a 32-19 lead later in the first half before the Knicks found their range, doubled up the Royals 16-8 and quieted the crowd to close the half with a 40-36 deficit. The Royals held on to the led throughout the third with Risen, Davies and Wanzer leading the way. Rochester was getting closer to the title but no one expected the New York to quit now, and surely, they battled back. With their formidable front-court leading the way, the Knicks finally drew even half way into the fourth and actually took the lead on a bucket from Harry Gallatin 71-70 with 5 minutes left. The stage was set for a fantastic finale.
Sadly though, from there it was the era and its rules that killed what should have been a classic finals finish. Simmons fouled out for New York with just under two minutes, joining Clifton on the bench and leaving the 6’6” Gallatin, known more for his force than his leaping ability, to fend with the 6’9” Risen alone. Still New York managed to tie it at 75 in the final minutes before a bang-bang play went the Royals way and resulted in two Davies free throws. The as per 1951 rules, the Royals won the jump ball that followed the second make and did so rather easily with New York’s two tallest leapers on the bench. From there they ran out the clock and sunk free throws to seal the deal. In the end Rochester had caught a lot of breaks on their way to the 1951 Championship, but they probably deserved them. Without Mikan standing in the way, both literally and figuratively, they’d probably have won two or three in that era, players like Risen and Davies were highly skilled athletic innovators who always played big in the big moments. Coleman became on of the most versatile and dynamic players of the 1950’s, Wanzer was a do everything guard who posted double digit points, rebounds and assists in separate games in the Finals. Holzman would go on to coach the New York Knicks, ironically enough, to their only two NBA titles in the 1970’s. And the coach, Lester Harrison, well it was guys like him who made the NBA survive its earliest and darkest days. The franchise would survive most of the decade in small town Rochester before moving to Cincinnati and eventually Kansas City and now Sacramento. They’ve had a number of stars pass through in the years since their 1951 Championship, Oscar Robertson, Jerry Lucas, Sam Lacey, Otis Birdsong, Mitch Richmond, Chris Webber; some exciting teams and some great runs, but that seven game series against the Knicks remains their only Finals win in franchise history. Their greatest moment, their greatest season and is one they thing they can truly call their own.
