| ||||||||||
| Dates: | April 4–9 | |||||||||
| Eastern Finals: | Celtics defeated Nationals, 4–3 | |||||||||
| Western Finals: | Lakers defeated Hawks, 4–2 | |||||||||
| NBA Finals | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ← 1958 | ||||||||||
| 1960 → | ||||||||||
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 the Houston Rockets in 1981, who made the Finals with a 40–42 (.488) record).
1959 NBA Playoffs[]
| Minneapolis Lakers (Western Division Champion) | Boston Celtics (Eastern Division Champion) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33–39 (.458)
2nd Western, 6th Overall |
Regular season | 52–20 (.722)
1st Eastern, 1st Overall | ||
| Defeated the (3) Detroit Pistons, 2–1 | Division Semifinals | Earned first-round bye | ||
| Defeated the (1) St. Louis Hawks, 4–2 | Division Finals | Defeated the (3) Syracuse Nationals, 4–3 | ||
Series summary[]
| Game | Date | Away Team | Result | Home Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game 1 | April 4 | Minneapolis | 115–118 | Boston |
| Game 2 | April 5 | Minneapolis | 108–128 | Boston |
| Game 3 | April 7 | Boston | 123–110 | Minneapolis |
| Game 4 | April 9 | Boston | 118–113 | Minneapolis |
| Preceded by 1958 |
NBA Finals 1959 |
Succeeded by 1960 |