Colleague Joel Rippel (who says he was reminded of this by the estimable Patrick Reusse), sent us scurrying to Basketballreference.com to dig out what proved to be a true and amazing stat. You might have noticed that on some of the writeups of Orlando's 114-71 shellacking of the Hawks, it was noted that the game was only the second-worst playoff defeat in Hawks franchise history. The first came in 1956 against your Minneapolis Lakers.
We'll get to that final margin in a minute, but first the truly remarkable part: it was a three-game series ... and the Lakers lost the series! The teams played a "tiebreaker" game to determine which got home court advantage (the Lakers won meaning the Hawks had home court for Game 1 and the Lakers got it for Games 2 and 3.
Then, in Game 1 of the actual playoff series, the Hawks (then in St. Louis) pulled out a 116-115 victory. But when the series shifted to Minneapolis, the Lakers unleashed a 133-75 clobbering -- a margin of 58 points. With a day off before the crucial third game, however, the Hawks apparently regrouped enough to steal the series with yet another 116-115 victory.
So if you're adding that up: Minneapolis held a 56-point advantage in a three-game series ... and lost. Feel free to discuss where this odd series fits into your overall view of Minnesota playoff history in all sports.
(Note: File photo of Vern Mikkelsen from 1958. It was as close as we could find in the archives. Vern had 40 total points in the three-game series vs. the Hawks in 1956).
