Minneapolis Lakers record equal-biggest NBA playoff win over St. Louis Hawks
March 19, 1956 - Minneapolis Auditorium, Minneapolis, Minnesota
The old adage may claim that a week is a long time in sports but for some, just a couple of days is all that is needed to make seismic shifts.
Take the 1955/56 Minneapolis Lakers, for example.
Two years on from winning the franchise's sixth title, the Lakers would again qualify for the playoffs, with a 33-39 record no obstacle for John Kundla's side advancing to the post-season.
It was here that the Lakers were drawn to face the St Louis Hawks, two years out from their lone franchise title, and just over a decade away from trading Missouri for Georgia; becoming the Atlanta Hawks ahead of the 1968 season.
On the opening day of the best-of-three series, the Lakers would travel to the River City to face the Hawks, eventually being eclipsed 115-116 and falling behind 1-0.
After this opening salvo on the Saturday, Kundla's charges would earn their opportunity for redemption on the Wednesday back at home in Minnesota.
And it would not be an opportunity they would spurn.
Propelled by all ten of their players scoring 10 or more points - including 13 from Hall of Famer George Mikan - the Lakers won by a then-standalone playoff record margin of 58 points, mopping the Minneapolis Auditorium floor with the Hawks.
However, despite the series standing at 1-1, and the third-and-final game scheduled to take place in Minnesota, Mikan's Lakers felt the world spin back on its axis, going down to the Hawks in the decider by the same margin as game one, 115-116.
Easy come, easy go, it seems.
Fear not, however, Laker fans, at the end of 1958, the now Elgin Baylor-led Lakers made the cross-country shift to Tinsel Town, recreating themselves several times over and regrowing their winning roots to add another 12 titles to their stacked trophy cabinet.
