1959 NBA Finals

1959 NBA Finals

Team Coach Wins Boston Celtics Red Auerbach 4 Minneapolis Lakers John Kundla 0
Dates	April 4–9
Hall of Famers	Celtics: Bob Cousy (1971) Bill Russell (1975) Bill Sharman (1976, player/2004, coach) Tom Heinsohn (1986, player/2015, coach) Frank Ramsey (1982) Lakers: Vern Mikkelsen (1995) Elgin Baylor (1977) Coaches: Red Auerbach (1969) John Kundla (1995)
Eastern Finals	Celtics defeated Nationals, 4–3
Western Finals	Lakers defeated Hawks, 4–2

The 1959 NBA World Championship Series was the championship series of the 1958–59 National Basketball Association season, and was the conclusion of the 1959 NBA Playoffs. The best-of-seven series was played between the Western Division champion Minneapolis Lakers and the Eastern Division champion Boston Celtics. It was Boston's third trip to the NBA Finals and Minneapolis's sixth. The Boston Celtics swept the Lakers 4–0. That was the start of the skein of the Celtics' eight consecutive championships, from 1959–1966. To date, this is the most recent time that an NBA team from Minnesota appeared in an NBA Finals, as well as the first of two times in NBA history that a team with a losing record made the NBA Finals (the other was in 1981).

Series summary

Game	Date	Home team	Result	Road team
Game 1	April 4	Boston Celtics	118–115 (1–0)	Minneapolis Lakers
Game 2	April 5	Boston Celtics	128–108 (2–0)	Minneapolis Lakers
Game 3	April 7	Minneapolis Lakers	110–123 (0–3)	Boston Celtics
Game 4	April 9	Minneapolis Lakers	113–118 (0–4)	Boston Celtics

Celtics win series 4–0

Team rosters

Boston Celtics

• 6 Russell
• 14 Cousy
• 15 Heinsohn
• 16 Swain
• 17 Conley
• 18 Loscutoff
• 21 Sharman
• 23 Ramsey
• 24 S. Jones
• 25 K. Jones
• 29 Tsioropoulos
• Head coach: Auerbach

Minneapolis Lakers

• 14 Foust
• 16 Garmaker
• 19 Mikkelsen
• 21 Leonard
• 22 Baylor
• 23 Ellis
• 30 Hamilton
• 32 Krebs
• 33 Hundley
• 50 Fleming
• 69 Lindahl
• Coach Kundla

External links

• NBA History