1959 Overview

From Hoopedia

1958-59 NBA Season

Elgin Baylor had a nervous tic that he turned into the NBA’s most dreaded head fake. Add in his remarkable hang time and vast array of spectacular moves, and it’s no wonder opponents were left spinning in confusion as they tried to adjust to the Minneapolis Lakers’ exciting rookie.

A 6-5 forward from the University of Seattle, Baylor helped a Lakers team that had been 19-53 a year before to a 33-39 record and a playoff berth. He averaged 24.9 points and 15.0 rebounds per game, making the All-NBA First Team. His early magic included a 55-point game that first season, the third highest in NBA history. It foreshadowed a surprising playoffs.

Boston won the East by 12 games, while St. Louis won the West by 16. The Celtics had a tough time with Syracuse, which added George Yardley to a front line that already boasted Dolph Schayes and Red Kerr. Pushed to the limit, Boston won the seventh game of the Eastern Finals, 130-125. In the West, Baylor and the Lakers upset the Hawks, overcoming a 2-1 St. Louis lead by winning three straight games.

Nobody gave the Lakers much chance against the Celtics, and although the Lakers kept three of the four games close, Boston recorded the first 4-0 sweep in NBA Finals history. It would be the first of eight NBA Finals appearances for Baylor—and the first of eight defeats. Without ever having won a title, the great forward would retire in early in the 1971-72 season, on the eve of the Lakers’ first championship in Los Angeles.