1949–50 Syracuse Nationals season

Syracuse Nationals

Company type	Professional basketball team (NBA franchise)
Industry	Sports
Founded	1949
Headquarters	Syracuse , United States
Key people	Al Cervi (player-coach), Dolph Schayes (key player)
Products	Basketball team

The 1949–50 season for the Syracuse Nationals represented the franchise's inaugural year competing in the National Basketball Association (NBA) after the consolidation of the National Basketball League and the Basketball Association of America. Unlike most Eastern Division franchises, the Nationals completed 62 regular-season contests rather than the usual 68, a reflection of their NBL heritage. Similarly, three other expansion NBA teams also played 62 games, while four former NBL squads in the Western Division participated in 64 games each.

Under the leadership of player-coach Al Cervi, nicknamed "Digger" due to his tenacious defensive skills, the Nationals implemented a defense-first game plan to offset their shooting deficiencies. Cervi’s intense competitive spirit was a driving force behind the team’s achievements.

The Nationals reached the 1950 NBA Finals by overcoming both the Philadelphia Warriors and New York Knicks, but ultimately were defeated in six games by the Minneapolis Lakers.

Draft picks

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College

Roster

Syracuse Nationals 1949–50 roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Ht. Wt. From Head coach: Al Cervi (East HS (NY))

Game log

|- | 1 || November 3 || Denver Nuggets || 78–58 || State Fair Coliseum || Al Cervi (17) || 1–0 |- | 2 || November 5 || vs Denver Nuggets || 84–51 || (Auburn, New York) || Billy Gabor (12) || 2–0 |- | 3 || November 6 || Philadelphia Warriors || 82–72 || State Fair Coliseum || Dolph Schayes (17) || 3–0 |- | 4 || November 9 || Indianapolis Olympians || 103–73 || State Fair Coliseum || Dolph Schayes (22) || 4–0 |- | 5 || November 10 || @ St. Louis Bombers || 67–73 || St. Louis Arena || Billy Gabor, Alex Hannum (13) || 4–1 |- | 6 || November 12 || @ Anderson Packers || 84–69 || Anderson High School Wigwam || Al Cervi (23) || 5–1 |- | 7 || November 13 || New York Knicks || 80–66 || State Fair Coliseum || Billy Gabor (20) || 6–1 |- | 8 || November 15 || @ New York Knicks || 77–74 || Madison Square Garden III || Dolph Schayes (13) || 7–1 |- | 9 || November 17 || Tri-Cities Blackhawks||79–76||State Fair Coliseum||Dolph Schayes (20)||8–1 |- |10||November20||Denver Nuggets||102–76||State Fair Coliseum||Billy Gabor (22)||9–1 |- |11||November21||vs Denver Nuggets||(Oneida, New York)||77–67||Andrew Levane (20)||10–1 |- |12||November24||Anderson Packers||125–123 (5OT)||State Fair Coliseum||Johnny Macknowski (21)||11–1 |- |13||November27||Waterloo Hawks||80-62||State Fair Coliseum||Dolph Schayes(27)||12-1 |- |14||November30||@Boston Celtics||87-71||Boston Garden||Billy Gabor(16)||13-1

|- |15||December4||Indianapolis Olympians||67-61||State Fair Coliseum||Al Cervi(18)||14-1 |- |16||December7||@Tri-Cities Blackhawks||77-69||Wharton Field House||Dolph Schayes(31)||15-1 |- |17||December8||@Sheboygan Red Skins||86-72||Sheboygan Municipal Auditorium and Armory||Dolph Schayes(18)||16-1 |- |18||December10||@Rochester Royals||63-69||Edgerton Park Arena||Ed Peterson,Dolph Schayes(15)||16-2 |- |19||December11||Sheboygan Red Skins||89-72||State Fair Coliseum||Dolph Schayes(23)||17-2 |- |20||December14||Fort Wayne Pistons||96-83||State Fair Coliseum||Dolph Schayes(29)||18-2 |- |21||December15||@Anderson Packers||88-100||Anderson High School Wigwam||Al Cervi(17)||18-3 |- |22||December18||Chicago Stags||86-73||State Fair Coliseum||Dolph Schayes(23)||19-3 |- |23||December20||@Waterloo Hawks||95-70||McElroy Auditorium||George Ratkovicz,Dolph Schayes(14)||20-3 |- |24||December21||@Tri-Cities Blackhawks||96-84||Wharton Field House||Billy Gabor(23)||21-3 |- |25||December22||@Sheboygan Red Skins||83-74||Sheboygan Municipal Auditorium and Armory||Alex Hannum(17)||22-3 |- |26|||December25|||Anderson Packers|||94-88|||State Fair Coliseum|||Paul Seymour(24)||23-3 |- |27|||December28@@Washington Capitols|||85-87|||Uline Arena|||Billy Gabor(23)||23-4 |- |28|||December29|||vs Philadelphia Warriors|||64-62||(Atlantic City, New Jersey)||Dolph Schayes(18)||24-4

|- |29|||January1|||Washington Capitols|||79-73|||State Fair Coliseum|||Billy Gabor(20)||25-4 |- |30|||January5|||Tri-Cities Blackhawks|||82-73|||State Fair Coliseum|||Al Cervi(18)||26-4 |- |31|||January8|||Waterloo Hawks|||84-68|||State Fair Coliseum|||Billy Gabor(19)||27-4 |- |32|||January10|||@Waterloo Hawks|||84-86 (OT)||McElroy Auditorium|||Paul Seymour(14)||27-5 |- |33|||January11|||@Minneapolis Lakers|||88−98|||Minneapolis Auditorium]|||[[Al Cervi](19)||27−6 |- |34|||January12|||@Fort Wayne Pistons|||64−62|||North Side High School Gym]|||[[Al Cervi](17)||28−6 |- |35|||January15|||Indianapolis Olympians|||82−69|||State Fair Coliseum|||[[Dolph Schayes](23)||29−6 |- |36|||January19|||Denver Nuggets|||107−86|||State Fair Coliseum|||[[Johnny Macknowski](19)||30−6 |- |37|||January22|||Anderson Packers|||75−77 (OT)||State Fair Coliseum|||[[George Ratkovicz](15)||30−7 |- |38|||January26|||Rochester Royals|||76−72|||State Fair Coliseum|||[[Billy Gabor](20)||31−7 |- |39|||January29|||Sheboygan Red Skins|||85−70|||State Fair Coliseum|||[[Dolph Schayes](21)||32−7 |- |40|||January30|||vs Indianapolis Olympians||||91−75||(Louisville, Kentucky)||[[Dolph Schayes](24)||33−7

|- |41||||February1||||@Tri-Cities Blackhawks||||83−91||||Wharton Field House||||[[Dolph Schayes](25)||33−8 |- |42||||February2||||@Indianapolis Olympians||||73−67||||Butler Fieldhouse]||||[[George Ratkovicz](16)||34−8 |- |43||||February3||||Waterloo Hawks||||103−79||||State Fair Coliseum||||[[Billy Gabor](32)||35−8 |- |44||||February5||||(Baltimore Bullets)]||||96−87||||State Fair Coliseum||||Johnny Macknowski(22)||36−8 |- |45||||February8||||Sheboygan Red Skins||||106−81||||State Fair Coliseum||||Billy Gabor(19)||37−8 |- |46||||February11||||@Baltimore Bullets||||77−76||||Baltimore Coliseum||||Al Cervi(18)||38−8 |- |47||||February12||||Waterloo Hawks||||102−98||||State Fair Coliseum||||Andrew Levane(21)||39−8 |- |48||||February16||||Tri-Cities Blackhawks||||105−74||||State Fair Coliseum||||Dolph Schayes(17)||40−8 |- |49||||February19||||Indianapolis Olympians||||82−78||||State Fair Coliseum||||Dolph Schayes(29)||41−8 |- |50||||February21||||@Denver Nuggets||||78−89||||Denver Auditorium Arena||||Dolph Schayes(31)||41−9 |- |51||||February23||||@Denver Nuggets||||108−80||||Denver Auditorium Arena||||Dolph Schayes(25)||42−9 |- |52||||February24||(Chicago)||(Neutral)||(vs Indianapolis Olympians)||(72−67)||(George Ratkovicz)(19)||(43−9) |-

Playoffs

1	March 22	Philadelphia	W 93–76	George Ratkovicz (25 points)	Dolph Schayes (6 rebounds)	State Fair Coliseum	Series 1–0
2	March 23	@ Philadelphia	W 59–53	Dolph Schayes (16 points)	Al Cervi (2 assists)	Philadelphia Arena	Series 2–0

1	March 26	New York	W 91–83 (OT)	Dolph Schayes (26 points)	Andrew Levane (4 rebounds)	State Fair Coliseum	Series 1–0
2	March 30	@ New York	L 76–80	George Ratkovicz (17 points)	Al Cervi (4 assists)	Madison Square Garden III	Series tied 1–1
3	April 2	New York	W 91–80	Dolph Schayes (24 points)	Dolph Schayes, Al Cervi (3 assists each)	Toyota Coliseum	Series lead 2–1

1	April 8	"minneapolis"	"L 66–68"	"Dolph Schayes (19 points)"	"—"	"Toyota Coliseum Attendance: 7,552"	"Series deficit 0–1"
"2"	"April 9"	"minneapolis"	"W 91–85"	"George Ratkovicz (17 points)"	"—"	"Toyota Coliseum Attendance: 8,280"	"Series tied 1–1"
"3"	"April 14"	"@ minneapolis"	"L 77–91"	"Johnny Macknowski (25 points)"	"Paul Seymour (5 assists)"	"St. Paul Auditorium Attendance: 10,288"	"Series trailing 1–2"
"4"	"April 16"	"@ minneapolis"	"L 69–77"	"Dolph Schayes, Alex Hannum (18 points each)"	"Bill Gabor (6 rebounds)"	"St. Paul Auditorium Attendance: 10,512"	"Series behind 1–3"
"5"	"April 20"	"minneapolis"	"W 83–76"	"Dolph Schayes (19 points)"	"—"	"Toyota Coliseum Attendance: 9,024"	"Series narrowed to 2–3"
"6"	"April 23"	"@ minneapolis"	"L 95–110"	"Dolph Schayes (23 points)"	"Johnny Macknowski (5 assists)"	"Minneapolis Auditorium Attendance: 9,812"	"Series concluded at 2–4"

• The Nationals were granted a bye in the NBA Semifinals as the leading team progressing from the Division Finals.

Awards and records

• Al Cervi, named to the All-NBA Second Team
• Dolph Schayes, selected for the All-NBA Second Team