1953 Overview

From Hoopedia

1952-53 NBA Season

John Kundla’s coaching career presents a study in delayed gratification. He directed the Minneapolis Lakers to six pro championships in the 1940s and ’50s, yet had to wait four decades to gain entry into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Kundla’s Laker roster featured Mikan, Jim Pollard and Vern Mikkelsen, which left observers assuming that he did little coaching.

“I’ve seen a lot of great teams, at least on paper, that won nothing,” Red Auerbach noted. “Sure, Kundla had a great team, but he did great things with them.”

By the 1953 playoffs, Kundla was in the midst of driving his team to its fourth NBA title and its fifth overall league title.

Opponents tried to counter Mikan’s power game with furious foulfests, prompting officials to whistle an average of 58 per game. If teams weren’t trying to stop Mikan, they were zeroing in on Philly center Neil Johnston, the great hook shooter who won the first of his three consecutive scoring titles with a 22.3 average. The season also featured the rise of Celtics guards Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman.

Again the playoffs brought more highlights in New York, where the Knicks won the Eastern Division, then held off Baltimore and Boston to reach the NBA Finals for the third straight year.

The Knicks, with a lineup that featured Carl Braun, Dick McGuire, Harry Gallatin and Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, even took a 1-0 series lead on the Lakers with an upset in Minneapolis. Their hopes, however, didn’t last long.

Kundla’s guys won the next four.