1951-52 - A Wider Lane Can't Stop Mikan
The jump shot was slowly becoming a standard in the game. Mastered by Paul
Arizin, a young forward from Philadelphia, who took over the league scoring
title from George Mikan with the 25.4ppg average.
Also, the lane was widened from six to 12 feet in order to diminish the
dominance of tall players. There was still no shot clock that would prevent any
stalling tactics. When a team gained a comfortable lead the palyers would play
for time. Meanwhile all 10 NBA teams played 66 games each. The most talented
players were picked by NBA. Players like Mikan, Arizin, Ed Macauley, Bob Cousy
Bob Davies and Dolph Schayes made the All-NBA First Team. For the second time in
a row New York played much better in the Playoffs than during the regular season
and made it to the Finals. Minneapolis reasserted its position in the Finals by
defeating Rochester. Another seven-game NBA Finals resulted in Lakers victory,
who took advanatge of the home-court.
The change to the 12-foot lane influance the play of Mikan, who learned how
to use it to his advantage. He couldn't any longer position himself closed to
the hoop so he learned how to dribble across the lane , which gave him more
freedom to chose shot positions.
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