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1951–52 New York Knicks season
1951–52 New York Knicks season
Head coach	Joe Lapchick
General manager	Ned Irish
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Results
Record	37–29 (.561)
Place	Division: 3rd (Eastern)
Playoff finish	NBA Finals; (lost to Lakers 3–4)
	Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	WPIX
Radio	WMGM
< 1950–51	1952–53 >

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.^[3]

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.^[3]^[4] In the Finals, the Knicks lost to the Minneapolis Lakers in seven games.^[4] 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.^[5]

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.^[6]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	School/Club Team
1	6	Ed Smith	F	United States	Harvard
2	15	Roland Minson	G	United States	Brigham Young
6	55	Al McGuire	G/F	United States	St. John's

Regular season

Season standings

Eastern Division v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Neutral	Div
x-Syracuse Nationals	40	26	.606	–	26–7	12–18	2–1	21–15
x-Boston Celtics	39	27	.591	1	22–7	10–19	7–1	22–14
x-New York Knicks	37	29	.561	3	21–4	12–22	4–3	23–13
x-Philadelphia Warriors	33	33	.500	7	24–7	6–25	3–1	14–22
Baltimore Bullets	20	46	.303	20	17–15	2–22	1–9	10–26

x = clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

1951–52 NBA records
Team	BAL	BOS	FWP	IND	MIL	MIN	NYK	PHI	ROC	SYR
Baltimore	—	1–8	2–4	2–4	4–2	0–6	2–7	4–5	2–4	3–6
Boston	8–1	—	3–3	3–3	5–1	3–3	4–5	6–3	3–3	4–5
Fort Wayne	4–2	3–3	—	5–4	4–5	5–4	3–3	2–4	3–6	0–6
Indianapolis	4–2	3–3	4–5	—	7–2	4–5	3–3	2–4	3–6	4–2
Milwaukee	2–4	1–5	5–4	2–7	—	1–8	2–4	1–5	1–8	2–4
Minneapolis	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
Philadelphia	5–4	3–6	4–2	4–2	5–1	4–2	3–6	—	2–4	3–6
Rochester	4–2	3–3	6–3	6–3	8–1	2–7	4–2	4–2	—	4–2
Syracuse	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	@ Milwaukee	68–66	Vince Boryla (25)	1–0
2	November 4	@ Fort Wayne	75–84	Vince Boryla (23)	1–1
3	November 6	@ Indianapolis	83–73	Harry Gallatin (19)	2–1
4	November 10	Minneapolis	89–73	Nathaniel Clifton (15)	2–2
5	November 11	@ Rochester	78–80	Ray Lumpp (22)	2–3
6	November 13	@ Philadelphia	85–82	Max Zaslofsky (19)	3–3
7	November 17	Syracuse	79–72	Ernie Vandeweghe (17)	3–4
8	November 18	@ Boston	93–87	Ernie Vandeweghe (21)	4–4
9	November 20	N Baltimore	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

1952 playoff game log

Division semifinals: 2–1 (home: 1–0; road: 1–1)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High assists	Location	Series
1	March 19	@ Boston	L 94–105	Max Zaslofsky (20)	Dick McGuire (7)	Boston Garden	0–1
2	March 23	Boston	W 101–97	Connie Simmons (22)	Dick McGuire (7)	Madison Square Garden III	1–1
3	March 26	@ Boston	W 88–87 (2OT)	Max Zaslofsky (21)	Dick McGuire (9)	Boston Garden	2–1

Division finals: 3–1 (home: 2–0; road: 1–1)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	Location	Series
1	April 2	@ Syracuse	W 87–85	Max Zaslofsky (26)	Onondaga War Memorial	1–0
2	April 3	@ Syracuse	L 92–102	Harry Gallatin (16)	Onondaga War Memorial	1–1
3	April 5	Syracuse	W 99–92	Max Zaslofsky (20)	Madison Square Garden III	2–1
4	April 6	Syracuse	W 100–93	Max Zaslofsky (20)	Madison Square Garden III	3–1

NBA Finals: 3–4 (home: 2–1; road: 1–3)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Series
1	April 12	@ Minneapolis	L 79–83 (OT)	Simmons, McGuire (15)	Nat Clifton (12)	Dick McGuire (5)	St. Paul Auditorium 8,722	0–1
2	April 13	@ Minneapolis	W 80–72	Harry Gallatin (18)	Harry Gallatin (11)	Dick McGuire (5)	St. Paul Auditorium	1–1
3	April 16	Minneapolis	L 77–82	Max Zaslofsky (17)	Nat Clifton (10)	Dick McGuire (10)	69th Regiment Armory 4,500	1–2
4	April 18	Minneapolis	W 90–89 (OT)	Connie Simmons (30)	Nat Clifton (12)	Dick McGuire (6)	69th Regiment Armory 5,200	2–2
5	April 20	@ Minneapolis	L 89–102	Nat Clifton (17)	Clifton, Gallatin (8)	six players tied (1)	St. Paul Auditorium 7,244	2–3
6	April 23	Minneapolis	W 76–68	Max Zaslofsky (23)	Harry Gallatin (13)	Ernie Vandeweghe (7)	69th Regiment Armory 3,000	3–3
7	April 25	@ Minneapolis	L 65–82	Max Zaslofsky (21)	Nat Clifton (10)	Nat Clifton (3)	Minneapolis Auditorium 8,612	3–4

1952 schedule

Player statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game