Summary
It wasn't the NBA yet, of course. In its first three seasons, the league was known as the Basketball Association of America (BAA).
The BAA had a screwy playoff format, to put it politely. In the first round, the second-place teams and third-place teams from each division played each other in best-of-three series, with the winners advancing to the semifinals.
In the semis, though, the first-place teams clashed in a best-of-seven series, while the winners from the first round played another best-of-three series.
The Washington Capitols, coached by a young Red Auerbach, were the class of the league with a regular-season record of 49-11. However, the Caps were upset in six games by the Chicago Stags, who had gone 39-21 during the season.
And then the Philadelphia Warriors, who had finished behind the Capitols with a 35-25 record in the Eastern Division, upset the Stags in five games to win the league's first championship.
The Warriors were led by Joe Fulks, a previously unknown 6-5 forward who had played college ball at Murray State in Kentucky. Fulks easily led the BAA in scoring by averaging 23.2 points a game.
