NBA 1954/55

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
National Basketball Association
◄ previous 1954/55 season next ►
Duration October 30, 1954 - April 10, 1955
Season games per team 72
Number of teams 8 (at the end of the season)
Top seed
Best record Syracuse Nationals
Fort Wayne Pistons
Top scorer Neil Johnston ( Philadelphia Warriors )
Playoffs
Eastern Division - Champion Syracuse Nationals
Western Division - Champion Fort Wayne Pistons
Finals
NBA champions Syracuse Nationals

The 1954/55 NBA season was the ninth season of the National Basketball Association and began on October 30, 1954 and ended regularly after 288 games on March 14, 1955. The postseason began on March 15 and ended on April 10 with 4 - 3 final victories of the Syracuse Nationals over the Fort Wayne Pistons .

Season Notes

  • The Baltimore Bullets stopped playing during the current season after three wins and eleven losses on November 27, 1954. In contrast to the games of the Washington Capitols in the 1950/51 season , the 14 games of the Baltimore Bullets do not appear in any official statistics, not even in those of the opposing teams and players. With the Baltimore Bullets, a former NBA champion broke up for the first time and a franchise for the last time. It wasn't until 1963 that an NBA team would return to Maryland as the Baltimore Bullets with the Chicago Zephyrs franchise for ten years .
  • There were two new rules: the team foul limit and the introduction of the 24-second shot clock . The idea of ​​the Shotclock went back to the owner of the Syracuse Nationals, Danny Biasone , and his sporting director Leo Ferris .
  • The game mode was also new. Twelve games had to be played against opponents in their own division, making a total of 36. Nine games each - also 36 in total - were played against the teams in the other division.
  • In the away game his Milwaukee Hawks against the Minneapolis Lakers threw Frank Selvy on 2 December 1954 a preliminary record of 24 free throws in 26 attempts. Only four people have met more often so far (as of 2018).
  • On December 4, 1954, Neil Johnston set the preliminary record of 39 rebounds for Philadelphia against the Syracuse Nationals . Since then, only four people have had more boards in 24 cases.
  • The fifth NBA All-Star Game took place on Tuesday, January 18, 1955 in front of 15,564 spectators in Madison Square Garden in New York. Al Cervis Eastern All-Stars defeated Charles Eckman's Western All-Stars with 100-91. All-Star Game MVP became Bill Sharman of the Boston Celtics .
  • On Valentine's Day 1955, the game with the fewest rebounds in NBA history took place in Miami between the New York Knickerbockers and the Fort Wayne Pistons, aged 20 and 28.
  • It was the last season in Milwaukee for the Milwaukee Hawks , and they were to move to St. Louis in 1955 . It wasn't until 1968 that an NBA franchise would have returned to Wisconsin with the Milwaukee Bucks .

Closing tables

Pl. = Rank, = qualified for the playoffs, Sp = number of games, S — N = wins and losses,% = win rate (wins divided by number of games played), GB = deficit on the leader of the division in number of wins , Home = home balance, exp. = Away balance, neuter. = Balance on neutral ground, Div. = Balance against the division opponents

Eastern Division

NBA 1954/55 (USA)
Philadelphia
Philadelphia
new York
new York
Syracuse
Syracuse
Boston
Boston
Minneapolis
Minneapolis
Rochester
Rochester
Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne
Milwaukee
Milwaukee
Baltimore
Baltimore
NBA 1954/55: Eastern Division in blue, Western Division in red, Baltimore dissolves during the current season.
Pl. team Sp S-N % GB home Selection Neuter Div.
1. Syracuse Nationals 72 43-29 .597 - 25-70 10-16 08-60 21-15
2. New York Knicks 72 38-34 .528 050 17-90 08-18 13-70 15-21
3. Boston Celtics 72 36-36 .500 07th0 20-50 05-22 11-90 19-17
4th Philadelphia Warriors 72 33-39 .458 10 16-50 04-19 13-15 17-19
* Baltimore Bullets 14th 03-11

Western Division

Pl. team Sp S-N % GB home Selection Neuter Div.
1. 0Fort Wayne Pistons0 72 43-29 .597 - 20-60 09-14 14-90 28-80
2. Minneapolis Lakers 72 40-32 .556 030 18-60 10-14 12-12 18-19
3. Rochester Royals 72 29-43 .403 14th 17-11 04-19 08-13 14-22
4th Milwaukee Hawks 72 26-46 .361 17th 06-11 09-16 11-19 12-24
  • The Baltimore Bullets broke up on November 27, 1954 during the current season with a record of 3-11 wins. In contrast to the games of the Washington Capitols in the 1950/51 season , the 14 games of the Baltimore Bullets do not appear in any official statistics, not even in any of the opposing teams and players.

Honors

Leading players in individual ratings

category player team value
Points Neil Johnston Philadelphia Warriors 1631
Throwing Rate † Larry Foust Fort Wayne Pistons 48.7%
Free throw rate ‡ Bill Sharman Boston Celtics 89.7%
Assists Bob Cousy Boston Celtics 557
Rebounds Neil Johnston Philadelphia Warriors 1085
† 210 baskets required. Foust took 818 shots and hit 398 times.
‡ 180 free throws required. Sharman hit 347 out of 387.
  • At 319, Vern Mikkelsen of the Minneapolis Lakers committed the most fouls and should also top the foul statistics for the next two years. Charley Share of the Milwaukee Hawks was the most frequently fouled out with a total of 19 times .
  • Paul Arizin of the Philadelphia Warriors was the longest on the floor with 2953 minutes in 72 games.
  • Johnston's 1,631 points averaged 22.7 points per game. After Foust and Jack Coleman, he had the third-best throw rate out of the field with 44%.
  • Until the 1968/69 season , the statistics in the categories " points ", " assists " and " rebounds " were based on the overall performance and not the rate per game.
  • Bill Sharman, who had the best free throw rate seven times between 1952 and 1961 - five times in a row up to 1958 - has substantially improved his free throw rate compared to the previous year. Third-placed Dolph Schayes (489), as well as Bob Cousy (460) and Harry Gallatin (393) achieved more free throws, all with an average of over 80%.

Playoffs tree

  Division semi-finals     Division Finals     NBA finals
                           
  Western Division     W1  Fort Wayne Pistons 3  
  W2  Minneapolis Lakers 2     W2  Minneapolis Lakers 1    
  W3  Rochester Royals 1         W1  Fort Wayne Pistons 3
      E1  Syracuse Nationals 4th
  Eastern Division     E1  Syracuse Nationals 3    
  E2  New York Knickerbockers 1     E3  Boston Celtics 1  
  E3  Boston Celtics 2  

Playoff results

The playoffs began on March 20th and were played in the first round according to the "best of three" mode, the division finals according to the "best of five" mode and the NBA finals according to the "best of seven" mode. The division winners had a bye in the first round.

Eastern Division semi-finals

Boston Celtics 2, New York Knickerbockers 1
Tuesday, March 15: Boston 122 - 101 New York
Wednesday, March 16: New York 102 - 95 Boston
Saturday, March 19: New York 109 - 116 Boston

Western Division semi-finals

The Lakers' two home games took place in Saint Paul , the twin city of Minneapolis .

Minneapolis Lakers 2, Rochester Royals 1
Wednesday March 16: Minneapolis 82-78 Rochester
Friday March 18: Rochester 94-92 Minneapolis
Saturday March 19: Minneapolis 119-110 Rochester

Eastern Division Finals

Syracuse Nationals 3, Boston Celtics 1
Tuesday, March 22nd: Syracuse 110-100 Boston
Thursday, March 24th: Syracuse 116-110 Boston
Saturday, March 26th: Boston 100-97 Syracuse (n.V.)
Sunday, March 27th : Syracuse 116-110 Boston Saturday, March 26th: Boston 100-97 March: Boston 94-110 Syracuse

Western Division Finals

The Pistons' home games were held in Elkhart and Indianapolis , Indiana .

Fort Wayne Pistons 3, Minneapolis Lakers 1
Sunday March 20: Fort Wayne 96-79 Minneapolis
Tuesday March 22: Fort Wayne 98-97 Minneapolis (n.V.)
Wednesday March 23: Minneapolis 99-91 Fort Wayne (n. V.)
Sunday, March 27: Minneapolis 96 - 105 consecutive Wayne

NBA finals

Syracuse Nationals vs. Fort Wayne Pistons

The home games of the Fort Wayne Pistons took place in the capital of the state in Indianapolis.

Final results:
Thursday March 31: Syracuse 86-82 Fort Wayne
Saturday April 2: Syracuse 87-84 Fort Wayne
Sunday April 3: Fort Wayne 96-89 Syracuse
Tuesday April 5: Fort Wayne 109-102 Syracuse
Thursday April 7th: Fort Wayne 74-71 Syracuse
Saturday April 9th: Syracuse 109-104 Fort Wayne
Sunday April 10th: Syracuse 92-91 Fort Wayne

The Syracuse Nationals become NBA champions for the first time with 4-3 wins .

The championship team of the Syracuse Nationals

Syracuse Nationals
Paul Seymour , Dick Farley , Billy Kenville , Earl Lloyd , George King , Bill Tucker , Wally Osterkorn , Dolph Schayes , Red Kerr , Billy Gabor , Red Rocha

Head Coach Al Cervi

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ NN: Season review: 1954-55. The inception of the 24-second clock begins a new era in the NBA. On: NBA website; New York, NY August 24, 2017. Retrieved October 25, 2018 (in English).
  2. ^ NN: 1955 NBA All-Star Game East 100, West 91. At: Basketball Reference — Website; Philadelphia, PA, 2000-2017. Retrieved August 1, 2017 (in English).
  3. ↑ Official NBA Guide 2016-2017 , edited by Brad Weinstein. On: NBA website; New York, 2016. Retrieved May 30, 2017 (in English)