1954–55 Fort Wayne Pistons season

1954–55 Fort Wayne Pistons season
Division champions
Head coach	Charles Eckman
Arena	War Memorial Coliseum
Results
Record	43–29 (.597)
Place	Division: 1st (Western)
Playoff finish	NBA Finals (eliminated 3–4)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

The 1954–55 Fort Wayne Pistons season was the seventh season for the Pistons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and 14th season as a franchise. In the Western Division Finals the Pistons eliminated the Minneapolis Lakers 3-1 in a best-of-five series to reach the NBA Finals. They would go on to lose the Finals in seven games to the Syracuse Nationals.

Regular season

Season standings

Western Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Neutral	Div
x-Fort Wayne Pistons	43	29	.597	–	21–6	9–14	13–9	28–8
x-Minneapolis Lakers	40	32	.556	3	18–6	10–14	12–12	18–18
x-Rochester Royals	29	43	.403	14	17–11	4–19	8–13	14–22
Milwaukee Hawks	26	46	.361	17	6–11	9–16	11–19	14–22

x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

1954-55 NBA Records
Team	BOS	FWP	MIL	MIN	NYK	PHI	ROC	SYR
Boston	—	4–5	6–3	3–6	6–6	7–5	4–5	6–6
Fort Wayne	5–4	—	11–1	9–3	2–7	6–3	8–4	2–7
Milwaukee	3–6	1–11	—	5–7	3–6	4–5	6–6	4–5
Minneapolis	6–3	3–9	7–5	—	4–5	6–3	8–4	6–3
New York	6–6	7–2	6–3	5–4	—	5–7	5–4	4–8
Philadelphia	5–7	3–6	5–4	3–6	7–5	—	5–4	5–7
Rochester	5–4	4–8	6–6	4–8	4–5	4–5	—	2–7
Syracuse	6–6	7–2	5–4	3–6	8–4	7–5	7–2	—

Game log

1954–55 Game log
#	Date	Opponent	Score	High points	Record
1	October 30	@ Milwaukee	91–72	Hutchins, Yardley, Zaslofsky (14)	1–0
2	October 31	Boston	86–90	Mel Hutchins (22)	2–0
3	November 6	New York	83–90	Don Meineke (16)	3–0
4	November 7	Rochester	84–109	George Yardley (22)	4–0
5	November 11	Syracuse	88–86	Larry Foust (23)	4–1
6	November 13	@ Rochester	103–98	Mel Hutchins (22)	5–1
7	November 14	Milwaukee	91–93	Andy Phillip (23)	6–1
8	November 18	@ Syracuse	82–91	Larry Foust (30)	6–2
9	November 20	@ Philadelphia	82–99	Don Meineke (15)	6–3
10	November 21	Rochester	78–89	Larry Foust (23)	7–3
11	November 24	N Philadelphia	91–87	Mel Hutchins (20)	7–4
12	November 27	Minneapolis	81–97	Mel Hutchins (22)	8–4
13	November 28	Milwaukee	81–96	George Yardley (17)	9–4
14	November 30	N Minneapolis	90–92	George Yardley (29)	10–4
15	December 1	@ Rochester	101–96 (OT)	Larry Foust (37)	11–4
16	December 2	Boston	98–116	George Yardley (32)	12–4
17	December 4	@ New York	90–88	Larry Foust (24)	13–4
18	December 5	Rochester	97–96	Larry Foust (21)	13–5
19	December 7	N Milwaukee	85–101	George Yardley (29)	14–5
20	December 8	N Milwaukee	68–92	Max Zaslofsky (17)	15–5
21	December 12	Boston	99–100	Larry Foust (28)	16–5
22	December 15	N Philadelphia	99–90	George Yardley (24)	16–6
23	December 18	@ Rochester	87–86	Andy Phillip (24)	17–6
24	December 19	Milwaukee	82–87	Dick Rosenthal (22)	18–6
25	December 23	N Philadelphia	92–82	George Yardley (22)	19–6
26	December 25	@ Rochester	73–80	George Yardley (17)	19–7
27	December 26	Philadelphia	96–109	Frank Brian (31)	20–7
28	December 30	N Minneapolis	76–93	George Yardley (26)	21–7
29	December 31	Minneapolis	103–91	George Yardley (22)	21–8
30	January 2	Philadelphia	66–89	George Yardley (24)	22–8
31	January 4	N Minneapolis	92–93	George Yardley (28)	23–8
32	January 5	N Milwaukee	97–92	Max Zaslofsky (16)	23–9
33	January 6	N Rochester	83–90	Mel Hutchins (19)	24–9
34	January 9	Minneapolis	86–89	George Yardley (29)	25–9
35	January 11	Boston	119–110	Larry Foust (33)	25–10
36	January 13	@ Syracuse	83–100	Bob Houbregs (14)	25–11
37	January 14	N New York	97–83	George Yardley (20)	25–12
38	January 15	@ New York	87–106	Frank Brian (17)	25–13
39	January 16	Milwaukee	78–89	George Yardley (19)	26–13
40	January 19	N Boston	105–84	George Yardley (29)	27–13
41	January 22	@ Milwaukee	85–83	Larry Foust (18)	28–13
42	January 23	Rochester	84–105	Dick Rosenthal (18)	29–13
43	January 25	N Syracuse	66–69	Frank Brian (14)	30–13
44	January 26	@ Boston	90–99	Andy Phillip (15)	30–14
45	January 27	@ Syracuse	79–94	Mel Hutchins (16)	30–15
46	January 29	@ Minneapolis	91–100	Larry Foust (23)	30–16
47	January 30	Minneapolis	92–99	Larry Foust (34)	31–16
48	January 31	N New York	91–84	Frank Brian (27)	31–17
49	February 2	@ Rochester	74–84	Frank Brian (22)	31–18
50	February 3	Syracuse	85–104	Larry Foust (22)	32–18
51	February 5	@ Philadelphia	96–88	Larry Foust (25)	33–18
52	February 6	Rochester	75–92	George Yardley (19)	34–18
53	February 10	Philadelphia	97–105	Max Zaslofsky (19)	35–18
54	February 11	N Rochester	91–83	Foust, Yardley (16)	35–19
55	February 12	@ New York	82–88	Larry Foust (26)	35–20
56	February 13	Milwaukee	78–90	Larry Foust (19)	36–20
57	February 14	N New York	92–88	Larry Foust (19)	36–21
58	February 17	N New York	93–86	Andy Phillip (14)	36–22
59	February 19	@ Minneapolis	92–98	George Yardley (28)	36–23
60	February 20	Milwaukee	87–96	Larry Foust (22)	37–23
61	February 23	N Minneapolis	97–120	Larry Foust (26)	38–23
62	February 24	N Milwaukee	85–95	Mel Hutchins (20)	39–23
63	February 26	@ Minneapolis	90–89	Larry Foust (24)	40–23
64	February 27	New York	95–83	Larry Foust (22)	40–24
65	February 28	N Minneapolis	88–90	Andy Phillip (19)	41–24
66	March 1	N Boston	118–98	Max Zaslofsky (18)	42–24
67	March 2	N Syracuse	103–90	George Yardley (16)	42–25
68	March 3	Syracuse	83–81	Larry Foust (22)	42–26
69	March 6	@ Boston	104–108	George Yardley (32)	42–27
70	March 7	@ Boston	91–110	Don Meineke (23)	42–28
71	March 10	N Philadelphia	91–93 (OT)	George Yardley (27)	43–28
72	March 12	@ Syracuse	92–112	George Yardley (24)	43–29

Playoffs

1955 playoff game log
Division Finals: 3–1 (home: 2–0; road: 1–1) Game Date Team Score High points Location Series 1 March 20 Minneapolis W 96–79 Larry Foust (15) North Side Gymnasium 1–0 2 March 22 Minneapolis W 98–97 (OT) Mel Hutchins (20) Butler Fieldhouse 2–0 3 March 23 @ Minneapolis L 91–99 (OT) George Yardley (25) Minneapolis Auditorium 2–1 4 March 27 @ Minneapolis W 105–96 Rosenthal, Hutchins (21) Minneapolis Auditorium 3–1
NBA Finals: 3–4 (home: 3–0; road: 0–4) Game Date Team Score High points High assists Location Attendance Series 1 March 31 @ Syracuse L 82–86 Larry Foust (26) — Onondaga War Memorial 7,500 0–1 2 April 2 @ Syracuse L 84–87 George Yardley (21) — Onondaga War Memorial 5,845 0–2 3 April 3 Syracuse W 96–89 Mel Hutchins (23) — Butler Fieldhouse 3,200 1–2 4 April 5 Syracuse W 109–102 Frankie Brian (18) — Butler Fieldhouse 2,611 2–2 5 April 7 Syracuse W 74–71 George Yardley (16) — Butler Fieldhouse 4,110 3–2 6 April 9 @ Syracuse L 104–109 George Yardley (31) — Onondaga War Memorial 4,997 3–3 7 April 10 @ Syracuse L 91–92 Larry Foust (24) Andy Phillip (10) Onondaga War Memorial 6,697 3–4
1955 schedule

Awards and records

• Larry Foust, All-NBA First Team