Summary
During the summer of 1948, the war between the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League virtually ended, as four of the NBL franchises, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Rochester, moved into the BAA.
With those teams came some outstanding players, including George Mikan of Minneapolis, who led the league in scoring, and Bob Davies of Rochester, the assists leader.
The former NBL teams were all put in the Western Division, with Chicago and St. Louis, while the other six teams from the BAA's previous season were placed in the East. The parity of 1947-48 was gone: Only five of the BAA's 12 teams had winning records.
The BAA finally went to a more sensible playoff format. The first round pitted first-place teams against fourth-place teams and second-place teams against third-place teams, with the winners meeting in the semifinals. Those were all best-of-three series, played within a single division.
In both divisions, the first- and second-place teams won in the first round. The first-place Washington Capitals then beat the New York Knickerbockers in the East to advance into the finals. In the West, though, second-place Minneapolis beat Rochester in two straight games and went on to win the league championship by toppling Washington in a six-game final series.
