NBA Finals MVPs Before 1969

The first official NBA Finals MVP Award was given to Lakers guard Jerry West at the conclusion of the 1969 Finals. West's Lakers had just lost in seven games to the Boston Celtics. West is still the only Finals MVP from a losing team, and probably will hold this distinction forever. In January 1971, Dallas Cowboys linebacker Chuck Howley won Super Bowl MVP despite the Cowboys' loss to the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl V. Today, voters are united in their belief that the MVP must come from the winning team. I have mixed feelings about that, but it's not really what we're doing here. The problem is that even though West was the first Finals MVP winner, the Finals existed before 1969. We've got almost 20 MVPs unrecognized by the official awards — more than that if you include the BAA in the late '40s.

As a historian, it's frustrating not to have a record of winners from the NBA's first two decades. So here, I'll cover my best guess for who would have won NBA Finals MVP from 1950-68. These are predictions, not preferences, though there's a lot of overlap. This is not a detailed breakdown of each series and its stars; it's intended as a concise resource.

1968: Boston Celtics def. Los Angeles Lakers, 4-2
John Havlicek — 27.3 ppg / 8.7 rpg / 6.7 apg

Havlicek averaged 48.5 minutes during the series (including overtime), led the Celtics in scoring and assists, and was second in rebounds. Alternate: Bill Russell.

1967: Philadelphia 76ers def. San Francisco Warriors, 4-2
Wilt Chamberlain — 17.7 ppg / 28.5 rpg / 6.8 apg

Chamberlain was fifth on his own team in scoring, but he easily had the best shooting percentage, and he led all players in rebounds and assists. He was also the Sixers' defensive rock. Wilt probably could have won this just on reputation, but instead he was the best player in the series. Alternate: Hal Greer.

1966: Boston Celtics def. Los Angeles Lakers, 4-3
Bill Russell — 23.6 ppg / 24.3 rpg / 3.7 apg

Russell led the Celtics in scoring and field goal percentage, and grabbed 170 rebounds in the series. He was also clearly the best player in the decisive Game 7. Alternate: None. It has to be Russell.

1965: Boston Celtics def. Los Angeles Lakers, 4-1
Bill Russell — 17.8 ppg / 25.0 rpg / 5.8 apg

Russell shot over 70% for the series. He also, in case you skimmed the stats above, averaged 25 rebounds and 6 assists, and of course, he played stifling defense in the Celtics' near-sweep. Alternate: Sam Jones.

1964: Boston Celtics def. San Francisco Warriors, 4-1
Sam Jones — 21.2 ppg / 4.4 rpg / 2.8 apg

Jones was the leading scorer on the winning Celtics, and his 55.6 FG% led the series. That was a great shooting percentage in the '60s — it would have led the NBA in 1964 — especially for a backcourt player. Alternate: Bill Russell. Russell (11/25/5) was clearly better, but I think Jones would win simply to inject some variety.

1963: Boston Celtics def. Los Angeles Lakers, 4-2
Bill Russell — 20.0 ppg / 26.0 rpg / 5.3 apg

Take a moment to appreciate that Bill Russell routinely averaged 25 rpg in the NBA Finals. Alternate: None.

1962: Boston Celtics def. Los Angeles Lakers, 4-3
Bill Russell — 22.9 ppg / 27.7 rpg / 5.7 apg

Russell led the Celtics in scoring this time. He also set a (still standing) record for rebounds in a seven-game series, 189. He had 30 points and 40 rebounds in Game 7. Alternate: Elgin Baylor, from the losing Lakers, averaged 40.6 ppg and 17.9 rpg over seven games.

1961: Boston Celtics def. St. Louis Hawks, 4-1
Bill Russell — 17.6 ppg / 28.8 rpg / 4.4 apg

By this time, Russell had established dominance that transcended scoring. He was named NBA regular-season MVP every year from 1961-63, even with Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson in their primes. Alternate: Bob Cousy or Tom Heinsohn.

1960: Boston Celtics def. St. Louis Hawks, 4-3
Bill Russell — 16.7 ppg / 24.9 rpg / 3.0 apg

Russell was the leading rebounder in all seven games of the series. Alternate: Bob Cousy or Tom Heinsohn.

1959: Boston Celtics def. Minneapolis Lakers, 4-0
Tom Heinsohn — 24.3 ppg / 8.8 rpg / 3.0 apg

Heinsohn led the Celtics in scoring and shooting percentage, and he was second in rebounds and assists. Alternate: Bill Russell or Bob Cousy.

1958: St. Louis Hawks def. Boston Celtics, 4-2
Bob Pettit — 29.3 ppg / 17.0 rpg / 2.2 apg

Pettit led all scorers, was the only player in the series with over 100 rebounds, and scored 50 in the decisive Game 6. Alternate: Cliff Hagan.

1957: Boston Celtics def. St. Louis Hawks, 4-3
Bob Cousy — 20.7 ppg / 6.7 rpg / 9.1 apg

Bob Pettit, from the losing Hawks, would have had a good chance, too (30 ppg, 18 rpg). Alternate: Tommy Heinsohn had 37 points and 23 rebounds in the Celtics' double-overtime Game 7 win. Cousy went 2-for-20 in that game, which might have been enough to cost him the MVP. On the other hand, the Celtics won anyway, and you will go broke betting against Bob Cousy to win awards and honors.

One of the things that becomes obvious when you study award selections is that the voters (no matter who's voting) prefer to mix things up: they don't want to select Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as MVP 10 times in a row. So Bill Russell's not going to win 11 Finals MVPs, even if he deserves to. The exact years might shake out a little differently than I've predicted here, but I'm reasonably confident that Cousy, Heinsohn, and Jones would have won Finals MVP at least once apiece. So if Cousy doesn't win in '57, he'll pick up a trophy in '59 or '60. My best guess is that it's exactly one for each of that trio, one for Havlicek in '68, and six for Russell. If you noticed that only adds up to 10, remember that Jerry West won MVP in the dynasty's last championship year.

1956: Philadelphia Warriors def. Fort Wayne Pistons, 4-1
Paul Arizin — 27.6 ppg / 8.0 rpg / 2.8 apg

Arizin's 42.6 FG% was among the best in the series, and he went 28/32 on FTs (87.5%). He was the leading scorer in the series, and he would have been favored to win MVP anyway because people respected the hell out of him. Alternate: George Yardley, from the losing Pistons, averaged 25 points and 15 rebounds, but that's tough to justify in a 4-1 series. Maybe Tom Gola.

Warriors center Neil Johnston is a Hall of Famer, and he was in his prime in '56, but he didn't have an outstanding series. Arizin was the star.

1955: Syracuse Nationals def. Fort Wayne Pistons, 4-1
Dolph Schayes — 19.0 ppg / 11.9 rpg / 3.0 apg

Schayes was the leading scorer and rebounder in the series, plus he led the Nationals in FG%. Alternate: Red Kerr or Paul Seymour, but Schayes is a pretty obvious choice. The Syracuse Nationals still exist, but today we call them the Philadelphia 76ers. Schayes is still the franchise's all-time rebounding leader.

Prior to 1955, there's limited film and very few stats exist, but it would have been mostly George Mikan, who led the Lakers to championships in 1948, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, and 1954. In 1951, when the Rochester Royals (today the Sacramento Kings) won, I'm sure it would have gone to center Arnie Risen or point guard Bob Davies. Risen probably had the stronger series, but Davies' reputation was greater.

My best guesses:

1950: George Mikan, MNL
1951: Bob Davies, ROC
1952: George Mikan, MNL
1953: George Mikan, MNL
1954: George Mikan, MNL
1955: Dolph Schayes, SYR
1956: Paul Arizin, PHW
1957: Bob Cousy, BOS
1958: Bob Pettit, STL
1959: Tom Heinsohn, BOS
1960: Bill Russell, BOS
1961: Bill Russell, BOS
1962: Bill Russell, BOS
1963: Bill Russell, BOS
1964: Sam Jones, BOS
1965: Bill Russell, BOS
1966: Bill Russell, BOS
1967: Wilt Chamberlain, PHI
1968: John Havlicek, BOS

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