{"id":1513564,"date":"2022-06-08T13:36:52","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T17:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1513564"},"modified":"2022-06-08T14:10:52","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T18:10:52","slug":"who-won-first-ever-nba-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Won the First-Ever NBA Championship?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1250\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/First-ever-NBA-championship.jpg?w=1024&#038;h=655&#038;strip=all&#038;quality=89\" alt=\"There have been some legendary teams to win titles over the years, but only won won the first-ever NBA championship.\" class=\"wp-image-1513568\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/First-ever-NBA-championship.jpg 1250w, https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/First-ever-NBA-championship.jpg?w=300&amp;h=192 300w, https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/First-ever-NBA-championship.jpg?w=768&amp;h=492 768w, https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/First-ever-NBA-championship.jpg?w=1024&amp;h=655 1024w, https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/First-ever-NBA-championship.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=768 1200w, https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/First-ever-NBA-championship.jpg?w=94&amp;h=60 94w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1250px) 100vw, 1250px\" \/><figcaption>The Larry O'Brien Trophy, which the NBA gives to its champion every year. | Mike Calendrillo\/Sports7<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re reading this, you likely have great memories from watching the <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/nba\/\">NBA<\/a> Finals. There have been some legendary champions over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You may remember when <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/kareem-abdul-jabbar-brushed-aside-jealousy-magic-johnson-put-winning-first\/\">Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won<\/a> all their titles, or the era in which <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/michael-jordan-surprised-hall-of-famer-winning-6-titles-chicago-bulls\/\">Michael Jordan led the Chicago Bulls<\/a> to six championships. Perhaps you enjoyed watching <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/heres-the-real-difference-in-the-nba-finals-records-of-michael-jordan-and-lebron-james\/\">LeBron James reach nine NBA Finals<\/a> in 10 years and go to 10 overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, who started it all? What team won the first-ever NBA championship? Here\u2019s your answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Philadelphia Warriors technically won the first-ever NBA championship<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"1947 BAA Finals Look Back: Philadelphia Warriors vs Chicago Stags\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bnGWyqEb3dA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The 1946-47 campaign was the first-ever NBA season. Actually, it was the first BAA season (Basketball Association of America), but it turned into the NBA in 1949.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There were only 11 teams in the league, but the Philadelphia Warriors and Chicago Stags were the final two and battled it out in the NBA\/BAA Finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Warriors \u2013 who went 35-25 during the regular season \u2013 took a 3-0 lead in the series, but the Stags \u2013 who went 39-22 \u2013 won 74-73 in Game 4. As you likely know, there still hasn\u2019t been a team to <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/nba-playoffs-has-team-won-series-trailing-3-0\/\">come back after trailing 3-0<\/a> in a playoff series, so Philly closed things out in Game 5. Howie Dallmar\u2019s basket with under a minute left broke an 80-80 tie between the teams, and the Warriors went on to win 83-80 to clinch the NBA\u2019s (or BAA\u2019s) first-ever championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Warriors star <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/how-many-nba-scoring-champions-won-nba-title-same-season\/\">Joe Fulks led the league in scoring<\/a> that season with 23.2 points per game. He then averaged 26.2 points in the Finals and had 34 in Game 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Philadelphia Warriors later became the Golden State Warriors and have won four titles since their move to California. They also won another in Philly in 1956.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-minneapolis-lakers-won-the-first-nba-championship\">The Minneapolis Lakers won the first \u201cNBA\u201d championship<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">70 years ago today, George Mikan scored 51 of the Lakers 77 points vs the Rochester Royals. <br> <br>Scoring leaders in 1950<br>Mikan: 27.4<br>Alex Groza: 23.4<br>Frankie Brian: 17.8<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/dmzb77ZTpP\">pic.twitter.com\/dmzb77ZTpP<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Ballislife\/status\/1217166896711241728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 14, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The NBA will always consider the 1947 Warriors as their first-ever champion, but the Minneapolis Lakers won the first title after the league changed its name from the BAA to the NBA in 1949-50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Lakers, who went 51-17 that year, beat the Syracuse Nationals 4-2 in the Finals. Hall of Famer George Mikan dropped 40 in Game 6 to help clinch the title. Mikan also led the league in scoring that season with 27.4 points per game. It was one of three scoring titles for the 6-foot-10-inch center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The championship marked the Lakers\u2019 second straight. They also won five of six from 1949 to 1954. Like the Warriors, the team also moved to Cali, becoming the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1960s. They have since won 12 titles in LA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether you consider the Warriors or Lakers the winners of the first-ever NBA championship, the league has certainly come a long way since then. Instead of Joe Fulks and George Mikan, we have Stephen Curry and LeBron James, and we\u2019re all thankful for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Stats courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/playoffs\/1947-baa-finals-stags-vs-warriors.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Basketball Reference<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/news\/history-season-recaps-index?amp=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NBA.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/how-many-nba-championships-have-golden-state-warriors-won\/\">How Many NBA Championships Have the Golden State Warriors Won?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Of all the legendary teams to win it over the years, who won the first-ever NBA championship? We looked at that historic squad and who they beat in the Finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":1513568,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4849,4817,4865],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Who Won the First-Ever NBA Championship? - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Of all the legendary teams to win it over the years, who won the first-ever NBA championship? Here&#039;s a look at that historic squad.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who Won the First-Ever NBA Championship?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Of all the legendary teams to win it over the years, who won the first-ever NBA championship? Here&#039;s a look at that historic squad.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"DavidWysong22\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-08T17:36:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-08T18:10:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/First-ever-NBA-championship.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Wysong\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/First-ever-NBA-championship.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@DavidWysong_\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Wysong\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/\",\"name\":\"Who Won the First-Ever NBA Championship? - Sports7\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/First-ever-NBA-championship.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-08T17:36:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-08T18:10:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/806b496832206b5b47429530659e1331\"},\"description\":\"Of all the legendary teams to win it over the years, who won the first-ever NBA championship? Here's a look at that historic squad.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/First-ever-NBA-championship.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/First-ever-NBA-championship.jpg\",\"width\":1250,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"The Larry O'Brien Trophy, which the NBA gives to its champion every year. | Mike Calendrillo\/Sports7\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Who Won the First-Ever NBA Championship?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/\",\"name\":\"Sports7\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/806b496832206b5b47429530659e1331\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/author\/david-wysong\/\",\"name\":\"David Wysong\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d374f13183e1e747d29b08ed291be6a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d374f13183e1e747d29b08ed291be6a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Wysong\"},\"description\":\"David Wysong began his sportswriting career in 2013 while still in high school and joined Sports7 in 2020, where he channels his die-hard passion for the NFL (Indianapolis Colts), NBA (Cleveland Cavaliers), college football (Ohio State), and MLB (Cincinnati Reds) into covering the NFL, NBA, and LeBron James. David's inspiration comes from pursuing his childhood dream to write about sports. He served as the Editor-in-Chief of The News Record, the student newspaper at the University of Cincinnati, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism, a double minor in electronic media and sports management, and the University of Cincinnati service to journalism award. David was a Society of Professional Journalists Region 4 Mark of Excellence finalist for in-depth reporting at The News Record and an Ohio Associated Press Media Editors Division I Best Sports Writer finalist at the Chillicothe Gazette.\",\"sameAs\":[\"\",\"DavidWysong_\",\"david-wysong\",\"DavidWysong22\",\"\"],\"jobTitle\":\"David Wysong | Sports7 Senior Writer, Coach - NBA\",\"email\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Who Won the First-Ever NBA Championship? - Sports7","description":"Of all the legendary teams to win it over the years, who won the first-ever NBA championship? Here's a look at that historic squad.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Who Won the First-Ever NBA Championship?","og_description":"Of all the legendary teams to win it over the years, who won the first-ever NBA championship? Here's a look at that historic squad.","og_url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/","og_site_name":"Sports7","article_author":"DavidWysong22","article_published_time":"2022-06-08T17:36:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-06-08T18:10:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1250,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/First-ever-NBA-championship.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"David Wysong","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/First-ever-NBA-championship.jpg","twitter_creator":"@DavidWysong_","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Wysong","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/","name":"Who Won the First-Ever NBA Championship? - Sports7","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/First-ever-NBA-championship.jpg","datePublished":"2022-06-08T17:36:52+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-08T18:10:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/806b496832206b5b47429530659e1331"},"description":"Of all the legendary teams to win it over the years, who won the first-ever NBA championship? Here's a look at that historic squad.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/First-ever-NBA-championship.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/First-ever-NBA-championship.jpg","width":1250,"height":800,"caption":"The Larry O'Brien Trophy, which the NBA gives to its champion every year. | Mike Calendrillo\/Sports7"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/who-won-first-ever-nba-championship\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Who Won the First-Ever NBA Championship?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/","name":"Sports7","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/806b496832206b5b47429530659e1331","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/author\/david-wysong\/","name":"David Wysong","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d374f13183e1e747d29b08ed291be6a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d374f13183e1e747d29b08ed291be6a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Wysong"},"description":"David Wysong began his sportswriting career in 2013 while still in high school and joined Sports7 in 2020, where he channels his die-hard passion for the NFL (Indianapolis Colts), NBA (Cleveland Cavaliers), college football (Ohio State), and MLB (Cincinnati Reds) into covering the NFL, NBA, and LeBron James. David's inspiration comes from pursuing his childhood dream to write about sports. He served as the Editor-in-Chief of The News Record, the student newspaper at the University of Cincinnati, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism, a double minor in electronic media and sports management, and the University of Cincinnati service to journalism award. David was a Society of Professional Journalists Region 4 Mark of Excellence finalist for in-depth reporting at The News Record and an Ohio Associated Press Media Editors Division I Best Sports Writer finalist at the Chillicothe Gazette.","sameAs":["","DavidWysong_","david-wysong","DavidWysong22",""],"jobTitle":"David Wysong | Sports7 Senior Writer, Coach - NBA","email":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513564"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1513564"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1513585,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513564\/revisions\/1513585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1513568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1513564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1513564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1513564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}