1950–51 Rochester Royals season

The 1950–51 Rochester Royals season was the third season for the team in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Royals finished the season by winning their first NBA Championship. The Royals scored 84.6 points per game and allowed 81.7 points per game.[1] Rochester was led up front by Arnie Risen, a 6–9, 200-pound center nicknamed "Stilts", along with 6–5 Arnie Johnson and 6–7 Jack Coleman. The backcourt was manned by Bob Davies and Bobby Wanzer. Among the key reserves was a guard from City College of New York named William "Red" Holzman.[2]

1950–51 Rochester Royals season
NBA champions
Head coachLes Harrison
OwnersJack Harrison
Les Harrison
ArenaEdgerton Park Arena
Results
Record41–27 (.603)
PlaceDivision: 2 place (Western)
Playoff finishNBA Champions
(Defeated Knicks 4–3)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
RadioWHAM

Regular season

Standings
Western Division
 W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
x-Minneapolis Lakers4424.647–29–312–213–024–12
x-Rochester Royals4127.603329–512–22–18–15
x-Fort Wayne Pistons3236.4711227–75–270–218–6
x-Indianapolis Olympians3137.4561319–1210–242–115–20
Tri-Cities Blackhawks2543.3681922–132–281–212–24

Record vs. opponents
1950-51 NBA Records
Team BAL BOS FWP IND MIN NYK PHI ROC SYR TCB WAS
Baltimore —3–64–22–42–42–53–61–53–53–31–2
Boston 6–3—5–14–13–34–44–42–42–54–24–3
Fort Wayne 2–41–5—5–35–32–43–33–53–35–53–1
Indianapolis 4–21–43–5—3–75–11–55–43–34–42–2
Minneapolis 4–23–33–57–3—3–34–24–44–210–02–0
New York 5–24–44–21–53–3—5–33–35–54–22–1
Philadelphia 6–34–43–35–12–43–5—4–26–24–23–0
Rochester 5–35–23–33–32–45–52–6—4–25–35–0
Syracuse 5–35–23–33–32–45–52–62–4—3–32–0
Tri-Cities 3–32–45–54–40–102–42–43–53–3—1–1
Washington 2–13–41–32–20–21–20–30–50–21–1—

Game log
1950–51 Game log
#DateOpponentScoreHigh pointsRecord
1October 31Washington70–78Arnie Risen (20)1–0
2November 4Fort Wayne71–95Bobby Wanzer (18)2–0
3November 11Tri-Cities77–86Davies, Risen (18)3–0
4November 12at Tri-Cities79–82 (OT)Bobby Wanzer (17)3–1
5November 15at Fort Wayne85–89Jack Coleman (22)3–2
6November 18Minneapolis86–77 (2OT)Bob Davies (21)3–3
7November 19at Minneapolis77–90Coleman, Davies (15)3–4
8November 21at Indianapolis79–91Arnie Risen (16)3–5
9November 23at Philadelphia71–89Jack Coleman (15)3–6
10November 25Boston82–90Risen, Saul (17)4–6
11November 28Washington71–87Davies, Johnson (15)5–6
12November 29at Washington72–71Bob Davies (14)6–6
13November 30at New York74–79Davies, Risen (14)6–7
14December 2Indianapolis72–94Arnie Risen (22)7–7
15December 3at Fort Wayne79–80Arnie Risen (16)7–8
16December 6at Baltimore74–70Bob Davies (18)8–8
17December 7at Syracuse76–69Bob Davies (18)9–8
18December 10Philadelphia84–99Jack Coleman (23)10–8
19December 12Baltimore87–102Bobby Wanzer (24)11–8
20December 13at Minneapolis82–72Bob Davies (28)12–8
21December 16Syracuse79–75 (OT)Arnie Risen (19)12–9
22December 17at Boston75–88Bob Davies (17)12–10
23December 20at Washington94–76Arnie Risen (23)13–10
24December 23Fort Wayne65–77Bill Calhoun (15)14–10
25December 25Boston77–90Bobby Wanzer (25)15–10
26December 27at Fort Wayne74–68Red Holzman (18)16–10
27December 28Minneapolis67–75Arnie Risen (17)17–10
28December 30Washington77–91Bobby Wanzer (21)18–10
29January 1New York88–91 (OT)Arnie Risen (28)19–10
30January 6Indianapolis75–73 (6OT)Arnie Risen (26)19–11
31January 7at Minneapolis57–69Jack Coleman (16)19–12
32January 9at Indianapolis77–59Arnie Risen (19)20–12
33January 10at Baltimore80–78 (OT)Arnie Johnson (17)21–12
34January 11at Philadelphia79–82Jack Coleman (24)21–13
35January 13Fort Wayne78–99Frank Saul (14)22–13
36January 14at Syracuse63–92Jack Coleman (14)22–14
37January 16Tri-Cities89–97Arnie Risen (20)23–14
38January 18at Syracuse96–87Johnson, Risen (16)24–14
39January 20Philadelphia101–87Davies, Risen (19)24–15
40January 21at New York83–88 (OT)Arnie Risen (20)24–16
41January 23New York92–102 (4OT)Arnie Risen (26)25–16
42January 27Syracuse83–85Arnie Risen (20)26–16
43January 28at Fort Wayne88–93Arnie Risen (22)26–17
44January 30Baltimore90–95Bob Davies (28)27–17
45January 31at Indianapolis63–68Arnie Risen (21)27–18
46February 3Philadelphia61–65Arnie Risen (24)28–18
47February 4at Tri-Cities81–84Arnie Risen (24)28–19
48February 6at Indianapolis76–78Arnie Risen (24)28–20
49February 8at Minneapolis58–69Calhoun, Davies, Risen (11)28–21
50February 10Tri-Cities90–98Bob Davies (25)29–21
51February 11at Boston77–93Bob Davies (24)29–22
52February 14at New York65–81Red Holzman (13)29–23
53February 17Minneapolis82–87Bob Davies (28)30–23
54February 18at Tri-Cities83–89Bob Davies (18)30–24
55February 20Baltimore89–105Bobby Wanzer (27)31–24
56February 22at Philadelphia90–98Arnie Risen (23)31–25
57February 24Tri-Cities89–99Bob Davies (17)32–25
58February 25at Tri-Cities82–78Bob Davies (14)33–25
59February 27New York90–100Bob Davies (19)34–25
60March 3Fort Wayne79–89Arnie Risen (24)35–25
61March 6Minneapolis79–90Arnie Risen (23)36–25
62March 9at Indianapolis91–84Bobby Wanzer (22)37–25
63March 10Syracuse86–107Bob Davies (25)38–25
64March 11Indianapolis95–88Jack Coleman (23)38–26
65March 13at Boston111–107 (2OT)Jack Coleman (25)39–26
66March 15at Baltimore87–93Arnie Risen (26)39–27
67March 17Boston89–114Bobby Wanzer (29)40–27
68March 18Indianapolis79–91Arnie Risen (25)41–27

Roster

Playoffs
1951 playoff game log
Division Semifinals: 2–1 (home: 2–0; road: 0–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsLocationSeries
1 March 20 Fort Wayne W 110–81 Bob Davies (21) Edgerton Park Arena 1–0
2 March 22 @ Fort Wayne L 78–83 Risen, Davies (16) North Side High School Gym 1–1
3 March 24 Fort Wayne W 97–78 Bobby Wanzer (20) Edgerton Park Arena 2–1
Division Finals: 3–1 (home: 2–0; road: 1–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsLocationSeries
1 March 29 @ Minneapolis L 73–76 Arnie Risen (24) Minneapolis Auditorium 0–1
2 March 31 @ Minneapolis W 70–66 Red Holzman (23) Minneapolis Auditorium 1–1
3 April 1 Minneapolis W 83–70 Johnson, Wanzer (20) Edgerton Park Arena 2–1
4 April 3 Minneapolis W 80–75 Arnie Risen (26) Edgerton Park Arena 3–1
NBA Finals: 4–3 (home: 3–1; road: 1–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Series
1 April 7 New York W 92–65 Arnie Risen (24) Arnie Risen (15) Bobby Wanzer (9) Edgerton Park Arena
4,200		 1–0
2 April 8 New York W 99–84 Bob Davies (24) Jack Coleman (28) Jack Coleman (8) Edgerton Park Arena
4,200		 2–0
3 April 11 @ New York W 78–71 Arnie Risen (27) Arnie Risen (18) Bob Davies (8) 69th Regiment Armory
5,000		 3–0
4 April 13 @ New York L 73–79 Arnie Risen (26) Arnie Risen (20) Jack Coleman (9) 69th Regiment Armory
4,000		 3–1
5 April 15 New York L 89–92 Bobby Wanzer (21) Arnie Risen (14) Bob Davies (10) Edgerton Park Arena
4,200		 3–2
6 April 18 @ New York L 73–80 Arnie Johnson (27) Arnie Johnson (15) Jack Coleman (8) 69th Regiment Armory
4,500		 3–3
7 April 21 New York W 79–75 Arnie Risen (24) Arnie Risen (13) Jack Coleman (9) Edgerton Park Arena
4,200		 4–3
1951 schedule

NBA Finals

The Royals took Game 1 easily, 92–65, as Risen and Wanzer recorded 24 and 19 points. Rochester won Game 2 99–84, behind 24 points from Davies and 28 rebounds from Coleman.[2] Three nights later, the finals shifted to the 69th Regiment Armory in New York, but the result was no different. The Royals defeated the Knicks 78–71 and took a 3–0 series lead, thanks to 27 points and 18 rebounds from Risen. The Knicks rebounded in Game 4 by a score of 79–73. The Knicks key player was Harry Gallatin who scored 22 points and 14 rebounds. Game 5 took place in Rochester and the Knicks won 92–89. Connie Simmons had 26 points; and then tied the series by taking Game 6 back in New York 80–73. Max Zaslofsky led the way with 23 points.[2] The seventh and deciding game was held on April 21 back in Rochester. The Royals jumped to an early 14-point lead, but the Knicks came back. With 44 seconds left and the score tied at 75, Davies was fouled by the Knicks’ Dick McGuire and sunk two free throws. Rochester would go on to win the seventh game and the NBA Championship. Davies finished the game with 20 points, and Risen scored 24 points and 13 rebounds in the deciding game.[2] Risen finished the series with averages of 21.7 points and 14.3 rebounds, Davies averaged 17 points and 5.3 assists, Wanzer 12.4 points and Coleman 13.1 rebounds. The Knicks remain the only time in NBA Finals history a team has bounced back from a 3–0 deficit to force a Game 7.[2]

Awards and honors

References
  1. 1950–51 Rochester Royals Statistics – Basketball-Reference.com
  2. NBA.com: Their Royal Highnesses
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