NBA Tournament of Champions: George Mikan Bracket First Round

Back in the 1950's, George Mikan dominated the game with his interior presence and skill near the basket. Rule changes definitely made a lot of his style obsolete, though his offensive skill set is still taught today. But how would his Minneapolis squads fare against other title teams, both around his time and well after it? That's largely what this tournament was designed to find out.

Today we have four new matchups following the same pattern as the first couple days. Where applicable, I will try to adjust lineups to accurately reflect what they would have looked like in a situation like this (though yesterday I didn't really have to tweak anything). All series are best of seven (2-2-1-1-1 format) with home court going to the team with the better overall (regular season plus playoffs) record. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play some basketball.

'64 Boston Celtics (67-23) vs '52 Minneapolis Lakers (49-30)
Game 1: @ '64 Celtics 120, '52 Lakers 93 (BOS leads 1-0)
Game 2: @ '64 Celtics 98, '52 Lakers 79 (BOS leads 2-0)
Game 3: '64 Celtics 120, @ '52 Lakers 103 (BOS leads 3-0)
Game 4: @ '52 Lakers 123, '64 Celtics 103 (BOS leads 3-1)
Game 5: @ '64 Celtics 114, '52 Lakers 103 (BOS wins 4-1)
One thing you can say: George Mikan did not go quietly. I worried he wouldn't be able to keep up to the pace of the Celtics, and in a way, I was right. The Lakers seemed to run out of gas late in games, though it was Mikan who pretty much won Game 4 for Minneapolis with a playoff-high 42 points. Maybe it was Bill Russell giving Mikan the Chamberlain treatment, I'm not sure. Either way the Celtics move on.

'91 Chicago Bulls (76-23) vs '53 Minneapolis Lakers (57-25)
Game 1: @ '91 Bulls 120, '53 Lakers 83 (CHI leads 1-0)
Game 2: @ '91 Bulls 97, '53 Lakers 84 (CHI leads 2-0)
Game 3: '91 Bulls 114, @ '53 Lakers 72 (CHI leads 3-0)
Game 4: '91 Bulls 123, @ '53 Lakers 89 (CHI wins 4-0)
This was another series where Mikan certainly was still a factor, but nowhere near to the same extent. Michael Jordan was his usual self, and Horace Grant was a big factor like he was in the early 90's. This one was definitely not a surprise.

'50 Minneapolis Lakers (62-19)* vs '73 New York Knicks (69-30)
Game 1: '73 Knicks 106, @ '50 Lakers 92 (NY leads 1-0)
Game 2: '73 Knicks 108, @ '50 Lakers 98 (NY leads 2-0)
Game 3: @ '73 Knicks 109, '50 Lakers 75 (NY leads 3-0)
Game 4: @ '73 Knicks 104, '50 Lakers 86 (NY wins 4-0)
*WhatIfSports does not go back to the 1950 season, so the '52 Lakers were used instead.
Even with the substitution, Mikan could only do so much. Dave DeBusschere was a huge reason why the Knicks moved on, though that duo of Reed and Frazier were definitely helpful as well. Relax, New Yorkers: one of your title teams advanced. You can breathe now.

'06 Miami Heat (68-37) vs '89 Detroit Pistons (78-21)
Game 1: @ '89 Pistons 101, '06 Heat 99 (DET leads 1-0)
Game 2: @ '89 Pistons 97, '06 Heat 82 (DET leads 2-0)
Game 3: '89 Pistons 109, @ '06 Heat 106 (DET leads 3-0)
Game 4: '89 Pistons 108, @ '06 Heat 105 (OT) (DET wins 4-0)
This one threw me for a loop. I figured the talent on this Heat team would at least make the series interesting (and other than Game 2, it was a fun series). Dwyane Wade couldn't shoot for much of the series, and the Pistons were their usual balanced selves from this time. Game 4 though was fantastic. In only the 2nd overtime game of the playoffs, Isiah Thomas was the hero, hitting a three with 2 seconds left in the extra stanza to give Detroit the sweep.

To see the updated bracket, click here.

The next bracket we're going to is one that my friend Trevor from North Central seemed to be really impressed by. 3 champions from the Golden Age of the Celtics, and a lot of tough opponents, including one of the best Lakers teams ever, and that legendary Kareem-Robertson pairing in Milwaukee. Should be fun. Hopefully it will see some more classic series than this bracket showed.