1951–52 New York Knicks season explained

The 1951–52 New York Knicks season was the sixth season for the team in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Knicks finished third in the Eastern Division with a 37–29 record, and advanced to the NBA Playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.^[1]

In the first round of the Eastern Division playoffs, the Knicks defeated the Boston Celtics in a best-of-three series, two games to one, to move on to the Eastern Division finals. New York won 3–1 in a best-of-five series with the Syracuse Nationals to reach its second straight NBA Finals.^[1] ^[2] In the Finals, the Knicks lost to the Minneapolis Lakers in seven games.^[2] The Knicks became the first NBA team to erase a 3–0 deficit in a best-of-seven series and force a deciding game 7.^[3]

NBA draft

See main article: 1951 NBA draft. Note: This is not an extensive list; it only covers the first and second rounds, and any other players picked by the franchise that played at least one game in the league.^[4]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	School/Club Team
1	6	Ed Smith	F	Harvard
2	15		G	Brigham Young
6	55		G/F	St. John's

Regular season

Season standings

x = clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

1951–52 NBA records
width=100	Team	BAL	BOS	FWP	IND	MIL	MIN	NYK	PHI	ROC	SYR
	—	1–8	2–4	2–4	4–2	0–6	2–7	4–5	2–4	3–6
	8–1	—	3–3	3–3	5–1	3–3	4–5	6–3	3–3	4–5
	4–2	3–3	—	5–4	4–5	5–4	3–3	2–4	3–6	0–6
	4–2	3–3	4–5	—	7–2	4–5	3–3	2–4	3–6	4–2
	2–4	1–5	5–4	2–7	—	1–8	2–4	1–5	1–8	2–4
	6–0	3–3	4–5	5–4	8–1	—	4–2	2–4	7–2	1–5
New York	7–2	5–4	3–3	3–3	4–2	2–4	—	6–3	2–4	5–4
	5–4	3–6	4–2	4–2	5–1	4–2	3–6	—	2–4	3–6
	4–2	3–3	6–3	6–3	8–1	2–7	4–2	4–2	—	4–2
	6–3	5–4	6–0	2–4	4–2	5–1	4–5	6–3	2–4	—

Game log

1951–52 game log
	Date	Opponent	Score	High points	Record
1	November 3		68–66	Vince Boryla (25)	1–0
2	November 4		75–84	Vince Boryla (23)	1–1
3	November 6		83–73	Harry Gallatin (19)	2–1
4	November 10		89–73	Nathaniel Clifton (15)	2–2
5	November 11		78–80	Ray Lumpp (22)	2–3
6	November 13		85–82	Max Zaslofsky (19)	3–3
7	November 17		79–72	Ernie Vandeweghe (17)	3–4
8	November 18		93–87	Ernie Vandeweghe (21)	4–4
9	November 20		88–86	Max Zaslofsky (21)	5–4
10	November 22	Philadelphia	88–102	Nathaniel Clifton (23)	6–4
11	November 24	Boston	70–68	Max Zaslofsky (14)	6–5
12	November 23	@ Syracuse	73–100	Vince Boryla (19)	6–6
13	November 27	@ Philadelphia	81–83	Nathaniel Clifton (22)	6–7
14	November 29	Rochester	78–74	Nathaniel Clifton (17)	6–8
15	December 1	@ Baltimore	82–84	Max Zaslofsky (20)	6–9
16	December 2	Philadelphia	72–86	Vince Boryla (30)	7–9
17	December 7	@ Philadelphia	91–93	Boryla, Gallatin (19)	7–10
18	December 9	@ Boston	94–103	Dick McGuire (20)	7–11
19	December 11	Milwaukee	83–88	Gallatin, Zaslofsky (19)	8–11
20	December 14	@ Indianapolis	79–83	Max Zaslofsky (21)	8–12
21	December 16	@ Fort Wayne	80–71	Max Zaslofsky (16)	9–12
22	December 18	Minneapolis	86–77	Max Zaslofsky (14)	10–12
23	December 22	Syracuse	73–92	Dick McGuire (21)	11–12
24	December 23	@ Syracuse	75–72	Harry Gallatin (19)	12–12
25	December 25	Fort Wayne	65–72	Max Zaslofsky (23)	13–12
26	December 26	N Milwaukee	76–78	Vince Boryla (16)	13–13
27	December 27	@ Rochester	85–98	Connie Simmons (20)	13–14
28	December 30	@ Boston	90–100	Connie Simmons (16)	13–15
29	December 31	Boston	86–87 (OT)	Max Zaslofsky (30)	14–15
30	January 1	@ Milwaukee	68–65	Vince Boryla (16)	15–15
31	January 2	N Milwaukee	89–67	Max Zaslofsky (27)	16–15
32	January 4	@ Indianapolis	73–83	Dick McGuire (15)	16–16
33	January 6	@ Minneapolis	92–107	Max Zaslofsky (18)	16–17
34	January 8	Rochester	74–107	Ernie Vandeweghe (18)	17–17
35	January 10	@ Syracuse	96–110	Connie Simmons (15)	17–18
36	January 12	Indianapolis	77–86	Harry Gallatin (23)	18–18
37	January 13	@ Rochester	70–97	Dick McGuire (15)	18–19
38	January 19	Philadelphia	88–94	Vandeweghe, Zaslofsky (20)	19–19
39	January 21	@ Baltimore	99–83	Dick McGuire (22)	20–19
40	January 22	@ Philadelphia	82–78	Simmons, Zaslofsky (17)	21–19
41	January 26	Indianapolis	93–99	Connie Simmons (25)	22–19
42	January 27	@ Fort Wayne	92–100	Max Zaslofsky (25)	22–20
43	January 29	N Indianapolis	72–100	George Kaftan (13)	22–21
44	January 30	@ Minneapolis	65–77	Max Zaslofsky (14)	22–22
45	February 2	Boston	83–91	Dick McGuire (21)	23–22
46	February 3	@ Boston	95–100	Harry Gallatin (23)	23–23
47	February 4	@ Baltimore	81–82	Nathaniel Clifton (16)	23–24
48	February 6	Baltimore	70–73	McGuire, Zaslofsky (14)	24–24
49	February 8	N Baltimore	103–83	Ray Lumpp (23)	25–24
50	February 9	Philadelphia	86–96	Connie Simmons (18)	26–24
51	February 12	Syracuse	69–78	Connie Simmons (15)	27–24
52	February 16	Baltimore	82–102	Max Zaslofsky (26)	28–24
53	February 17	@ Syracuse	61–66	Harry Gallatin (11)	28–25
54	February 19	Minneapolis	96–98	Max Zaslofsky (23)	29–25
55	February 22	@ Philadelphia	95–118	Harry Gallatin (22)	29–26
56	February 23	Fort Wayne	77–82 (OT)	Max Zaslofsky (24)	30–26
57	February 25	@ Baltimore	89–84	Dick McGuire (17)	31–26
58	March 1	Boston	84–78	Ernie Vandeweghe (22)	32–26
59	March 2	@ Boston	89–87	Harry Gallatin (21)	33–26
60	March 4	Rochester	90–92 (OT)	George Kaftan (30)	34–26
61	March 5	N Baltimore	88–82	Simmons, Zaslofsky (19)	35–26
62	March 8	N Milwaukee	99–103	Max Zaslofsky (24)	35–27
63	March 9	@ Fort Wayne	79–80	Harry Gallatin (25)	35–28
64	March 12	@ Minneapolis	83–85	Harry Gallatin (19)	35–29
65	March 15	Syracuse	90–97	Harry Gallatin (24)	36–29
66	March 16	@ Syracuse	90–84	Ernie Vandeweghe (19)	37–29

Playoffs

External links

1951–52 New York Knickerbockers Statistics

Notes and References

Web site: New York Knickerbockers Franchise Index. Basketball-Reference. January 2, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100106014855/http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/NYK/. 6 January 2010 . live.
Web site: 1952 NBA Playoff Summary. Basketball-Reference. January 2, 2010.
Web site: Celtics–Heat Game 7 by the numbers: Can Boston complete NBA's first 3–0 comeback?. WBZ-TV. May 29, 2023. June 19, 2023.
Web site: 1951 NBA Draft. Basketball-Reference. September 17, 2011.