| 1946 | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Chicago, Illinois |
| Dates | 25 March–8 April |
| Teams | 14 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons |
| 1st runner-up | Oshkosh All-Stars |
| 2nd runner-up | Chicago American Gears |
| Tournament statistics | |
| MVP | George Mikan |
| Top scorer | George Mikan |
The1946 World Professional Basketball Tournament was the eighth edition of theWorld Professional Basketball Tournament. It was held inChicago, Illinois, during the days of 25 March - 8 April 1946 and featured 14 teams, with the teams mostly comprising a mixture of independently ran teams and teams from theNational Basketball League, alongside the addition of theAmerican Basketball League's champion team that year, theBaltimore Bullets. This year's tournament would also be the only WPBT event where the championship match and the third place match would be in a best of three format instead of a winner takes all format. The event had a home town team for local fans to cheer on during the tournament with theChicago American Gears of the NBL, but they would be knocked out by the semifinal round against the NBL'sOshkosh All-Stars due to Oshkosh fouling out star centerGeorge Mikan and stealing the match away from them afterward. The tournament was won by theFort Wayne Zollner Pistons, who won their third straight championship in the event (and final championship in the WPBT's history), though wouldn't also win the NBL's championship alongside it due to theRochester Royals winning that league's championship that year, after defeating theOshkosh All-Stars (under what later became their final year competing for the championship in that event) 2–1 in the championship series.[1] TheChicago American Gears came in third after beating theBaltimore Bullets 2–0 in the third-place best-of-three series. Despite his team not even participating in the championship series,George Mikan of the American Gears was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player after finishing as its top scorer with 100 points in five games.[2]
| Round 1 single match | Quarterfinals single match | Semifinals single match | Final best-of-three series | ||||||||||||||
| Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons | 65 | ||||||||||||||||
| Midland Dow Chemicals | 62 | ||||||||||||||||
| Midland Dow Chemicals | 72 | ||||||||||||||||
| Indianapolis Kautskys | 59 | ||||||||||||||||
| Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons | 50 | ||||||||||||||||
| Baltimore Bullets | 49 | ||||||||||||||||
| Dayton Mickeys | 58 | ||||||||||||||||
| Baltimore Bullets | 61 | ||||||||||||||||
| Baltimore Bullets | 67 | ||||||||||||||||
| Anderson Chiefs | 65 | ||||||||||||||||
| Anderson Chiefs | 59 | ||||||||||||||||
| Cleveland Allmen Transfers | 46 | ||||||||||||||||
| Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons | 59 | 56 | 73 | ||||||||||||||
| Oshkosh All-Stars | 61 | 47 | 57 | ||||||||||||||
| Sheboygan Red Skins | 51 | ||||||||||||||||
| Chicago American Gears | 52 | ||||||||||||||||
| Chicago American Gears[3][4] | 69 | ||||||||||||||||
| Pittsburgh Raiders | 58 | ||||||||||||||||
| Chicago American Gears | 66 | ||||||||||||||||
| Oshkosh All-Stars | 72 | ||||||||||||||||
| Detroit Mansfields | 32 | Third place | |||||||||||||||
| Oshkosh All-Stars | 60 | ||||||||||||||||
| Oshkosh All-Stars | 50 | Chicago American Gears | 59 | 65 | |||||||||||||
| New York Rens | 44 | Baltimore Bullets | 54 | 50 | |||||||||||||
| New York Rens | 82 | ||||||||||||||||
| Toledo White Huts | 39 | ||||||||||||||||
5 April 1946 |
| Chicago American Gears59,Baltimore Bullets 54 | ||
| Pts:G. Mikan – 17 | ||
Chicago Stadium Attendance: 11,131 |
6 April 1946 |
| Chicago American Gears65,Baltimore Bullets 50 | ||
| Pts:G. Mikan – 27 | Pts:S. Stutz – 11 | |
Chicago Stadium Attendance: 17,782 |
5 April 1946 |
| Oshkosh All-Stars61,Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons 59 | ||
| Scoring by half: 40–25, 21–34 | ||
| Pts:B. Carpenter – 19 | Pts:B. McDermott – 17 | |
6 April 1946 |
| Oshkosh All-Stars 47,Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons56 | ||
| Scoring by half: 24–32, 23–24 | ||
| Pts:L. Edwards – 24 | Pts:B. McDermott – 13 | |
8 April 1946 |
| Oshkosh All-Stars 57,Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons73 | ||
| Scoring by half: 32–39, 25–34 | ||
| Pts:L. Edwards – 24 | Pts:B. McDermott – 20 | |
