1954–55 NBA season explained

1954–55 NBA season
League:	National Basketball Association
Sport:	Basketball
Duration:	October 30, 1954 – March 14, 1955 March 15–27, 1955 (Playoffs) March 31 – April 10, 1955 (Finals)
No Of Games:	72
No Of Teams:	8 (9)
Tv:	NBC
Draft:	Draft
Draft Link:	1954 NBA Draft
Top Pick Link:	List of first overall NBA draft picks
Top Pick:	Frank Selvy
Picked By:	Baltimore Bullets
Season:	Regular season
Season Champ:	Syracuse Nationals
Top Seed:	Fort Wayne Pistons
Top Scorer:	Neil Johnston (Philadelphia)
Playoffs:	Playoffs
Playoffs Link:	1955 NBA Playoffs
Conf1:	Eastern
Conf1 Link:	Eastern Division (NBA)
Conf1 Champ:	Syracuse Nationals
Conf1 Runner-Up:	Boston Celtics
Conf2:	Western
Conf2 Link:	Western Division (NBA)
Conf2 Champ:	Fort Wayne Pistons
Conf2 Runner-Up:	Minneapolis Lakers
Finals:	Finals
Finals Link:	1955 NBA Finals
Finals Champ:	Syracuse Nationals
Finals Runner-Up:	Fort Wayne Pistons
Seasonslist:	List of NBA seasons
Seasonslistnames:	NBA
Prevseason Link:	1953–54 NBA season
Prevseason Year:	1953–54
Nextseason Link:	1955–56 NBA season
Nextseason Year:	1955–56

The 1954–55 NBA season was the ninth season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Syracuse Nationals winning the NBA Championship, beating the Fort Wayne Pistons 4 games to 3 in the NBA Finals.

Notable occurrences

In response to the relatively slow pace of games, the NBA introduced a 24-second shot clock. The shot clock revitalized the game and scoring skyrocketed league-wide.
The Baltimore Bullets dropped out of the NBA and folded on November 27, 1954 after playing 14 games (record 3 wins 11 loses), the last time (as of 2023) that an NBA franchise has folded; these games and all statistics were deleted from the NBA's records. The NBA would return to Baltimore when the Chicago Zephyrs relocated there as the "new" Bullets for the 1963–64 season, though the franchise would relocate to Washington in 1973, where they remain today as the Washington Wizards.
As a result of Baltimore having folded, the NBA schedule was redrafted so each team now played 12 games against divisional opponents, and 9 games against the four teams in the other division, for a total of 72 games.
The 1955 NBA All-Star Game was played in New York City, with the East beating the West 100–91. Bill Sharman of the Boston Celtics won the game's MVP award.
NBC began televising NBA games. This continued until the 1962–63 season, when ABC took over. NBC would begin televising NBA games again in 1990.
The Milwaukee Hawks played their final season in the Wisconsin city before moving to St. Louis, Missouri the following season. The NBA would return to Milwaukee with the expansion Bucks in 1968.

Offseason
Team	1953–54 coach	1954–55 coach
Fort Wayne Pistons	Paul Birch	Charles Eckman
In-season
Team	Outgoing coach	Incoming coach
N/A

Teams

1954-55 National Basketball Association
Division	Team	City	Arena	Capacity
Eastern	Boston Celtics	Boston, Massachusetts	Boston Garden	13,909
	New York Knicks	New York, New York	Madison Square Garden	18,496
	Philadelphia Warriors	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Municipal Auditorium	12,000
	Syracuse Nationals	Syracuse, New York	Onondaga War Memorial	6,230
Western	Fort Wayne Pistons	Fort Wayne, Indiana	War Memorial Coliseum	10,000
	Milwaukee Hawks	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Milwaukee Arena	10,783
	Minneapolis Lakers	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Minneapolis Auditorium	10,000
	Rochester Royals	Rochester, New York	Edgerton Park Arena	4,200

Map of teams

Final standings

Western Division

x – clinched playoff spot

Playoffs

See main article: 1955 NBA playoffs.

Statistics leaders


Category	Player	Team	Stat
Points			1,631
Rebounds	Neil Johnston	Philadelphia Warriors	1,085
Assists			557
FG%			.487
FT%		Boston Celtics	.897

Note: Prior to the 1969–70 season, league leaders in points, rebounds, and assists were determined by totals rather than averages.

NBA awards

Rookie of the Year

Bob Pettit, Milwaukee Hawks

All-NBA First Team

- Neil Johnston, Philadelphia Warriors
- Dolph Schayes, Syracuse Nationals
- Bob Cousy, Boston Celtics
- Bob Pettit, Milwaukee Hawks
- Larry Foust, Fort Wayne Pistons
All-NBA Second Team:
- Harry Gallatin, New York Knicks
- Slater Martin, Minneapolis Lakers
- Vern Mikkelsen, Minneapolis Lakers
- Paul Seymour, Syracuse Nationals
- Bill Sharman, Boston Celtics

References

1954–55 NBA Season Summary basketball-reference.com. Retrieved December 10, 2010