1953–54 Fort Wayne Pistons season
Head coachPaul Birch
ArenaWar Memorial Coliseum
Results
Record40–32 (.556)
PlaceDivision: 3rd (Western)
Playoff finishWest Division Semifinals
(eliminated 0–4)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
RadioWOWO

The 1953–54 NBA season was the Pistons' sixth season in the NBA and 13th season as a franchise.[1]

The Pistons finished 40-32 (.556), 3rd in the Western Division. The team advanced to the playoffs, losing in a Western Division round-robin 4-0 to the Minneapolis Lakers and the Rochester Royals. The team was led on the season by center Larry Foust (15.1 ppg, 13.4 rpg, NBA All-Star), guard Andy Phillip (10.6 ppg, 6.3 apg, NBA All-Star), and first round draft choice Jack Molinas (11.6 ppg, 7.1 rpg, NBA All-Star).[2][3]

Molinas was named to the All-Star team, having played in 32 games before the league banned him for wagering on Pistons games.[4] Molinas was then suspended at the time of the All-Star game and was replaced by teammate Andy Phillip. He later sued the NBA for $3 million, claiming the league's ban was an unreasonable restraint of trade. Judge Irving Kaufman ruled against him in the case.[5]

The Pistons had drafted future Hall of Famer George Yardley in 1950, but they didn’t sign him until 1953. Even then, it was a struggle, as Yardley reportedly hated training camp, rejected the initial Fort Wayne offer of $6,000, electing to playing beach volleyball in California. Yardley this became the first rookie to hold out, until accepting an offer of $9,500, and then averaging 9.0 ppg in his NBA rookie season.[6]

Regular season

Season standings

Western Division
 W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
x-Minneapolis Lakers4626.639–20–413–1513–719–13
x-Rochester Royals4428.611218–1012–1514–322–10
x-Fort Wayne Pistons4032.556619–811–1710–717–15
Milwaukee Hawks2151.2922511–145–176–206–26
x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

1953–54 NBA records
Team BAL BOS FWP MIL MIN NYK PHI ROC SYR
Baltimore —1–90–82–62–63–74–61–73–7
Boston 9–1—4–46–23–55–56–44–45–5
Fort Wayne 8–04–4—9–25–53–56–23–82–6
Milwaukee 6–22–62–9—3–83–53–51–91–7
Minneapolis 6–25–35–58–3—5–36–26–55–3
New York 7–35–55–35–33–5—7–37–15–5
Philadelphia 6–44–62–65–32–63–7—1–76–4
Rochester 7–14–48–39–15–61–77–1—3–5
Syracuse 7–35–56–27–13–55–54–65–3—

Game log

1953–54 Game log
#DateOpponentScoreHigh pointsRecord
1November 1Milwaukee67–77Larry Foust (24)1–0
2November 5Boston79–83Fred Scolari (18)2–0
3November 7@ Rochester76–91Larry Foust (20)2–1
4November 8New York75–70Larry Foust (14)2–2
5November 10N Minneapolis62–78Don Meineke (19)3–2
6November 12Syracuse74–78Fred Scolari (22)4–2
7November 14@ Philadelphia58–63Mel Hutchins (14)4–3
8November 15Rochester65–68Andy Phillip (14)5–3
9November 17N Minneapolis83–66Larry Foust (16)5–4
10November 19@ Syracuse76–79Jack Molinas (24)5–5
11November 21@ Boston68–90Fred Scolari (14)5–6
12November 22Rochester82–83Larry Foust (17)6–6
13November 25@ Milwaukee58–64Jack Molinas (22)6–7
14November 26Milwaukee64–78Fred Scolari (15)7–7
15November 28@ Baltimore92–81Larry Foust (24)8–7
16November 29Philadelphia69–83Larry Foust (22)9–7
17December 1@ Rochester69–92Brian, Foust (13)9–8
18December 3Boston70–76Larry Foust (26)10–8
19December 5@ New York92–73Mel Hutchins (17)11–8
20December 6Syracuse77–78Larry Foust (31)12–8
21December 9N Milwaukee59–83Andy Phillip (21)13–8
22December 13New York69–68Larry Foust (21)13–9
23December 15N Boston75–82Jack Molinas (20)13–10
24December 16@ Boston74–91Jack Molinas (16)13–11
25December 19@ Milwaukee69–63Andy Phillip (24)14–11
26December 25Boston79–108Fred Scolari (19)15–11
27December 26@ Minneapolis71–77Max Zaslofsky (16)15–12
28December 27Minneapolis79–75Mel Hutchins (14)15–13
29December 30@ Minneapolis97–80Jack Molinas (17)16–13
30December 31N Philadelphia56–83Larry Foust (13)17–13
31January 2@ Rochester76–77 (OT)Larry Foust (17)17–14
32January 3New York74–72Andy Phillip (29)17–15
33January 5Syracuse72–60Larry Foust (16)17–16
34January 6@ Baltimore90–78Andy Phillip (14)18–16
35January 7@ Syracuse67–79Larry Foust (18)18–17
36January 10Milwaukee73–81Andy Phillip (25)19–17
37January 12N Baltimore97–66Larry Foust (22)20–17
38January 14N Baltimore81–74Larry Foust (15)21–17
39January 16@ New York82–88 (OT)Larry Foust (24)21–18
40January 17Minneapolis83–86Larry Foust (22)22–18
41January 19N Rochester73–67Larry Foust (22)22–19
42January 23@ Minneapolis72–75Max Zaslofsky (18)22–20
43January 24Baltimore70–79Max Zaslofsky (17)23–20
44January 27N Milwaukee68–77Larry Foust (18)24–20
45January 28Boston68–80Larry Foust (26)25–20
46January 30@ Rochester70–95Max Zaslofsky (15)25–21
47January 31Rochester69–83Larry Foust (21)26–21
48February 1@ Milwaukee72–71Larry Foust (16)27–21
49February 5N Rochester89–70Phillip, Yardley (16)27–22
50February 6@ Syracuse87–93 (OT)George Yardley (17)27–23
51February 7Minneapolis83–90Mel Hutchins (28)28–23
52February 10N New York73–69Foust, Yardley, Zaslofsky (15)28–24
53February 13@ New York79–73George Yardley (25)29–24
54February 14Philadelphia76–94Frank Brian (19)30–24
55February 16@ Milwaukee69–65George Yardley (20)31–24
56February 18@ Syracuse77–91Mel Hutchins (18)31–25
57February 20@ Baltimore87–85Mel Hutchins (21)32–25
58February 21Milwaukee64–62Frank Brian (16)32–26
59February 22N Milwaukee82–95Don Meineke (19)33–26
60February 25N New York62–82Larry Foust (19)34–26
61February 27@ Philadelphia79–72Larry Foust (18)35–26
62February 28Minneapolis77–94Larry Foust (20)36–26
63March 2N Rochester71–64Larry Foust (19)36–27
64March 4Syracuse86–63Larry Foust (25)36–28
65March 5N Philadelphia70–76Larry Foust (19)37–28
66March 6@ Baltimore76–71Max Zaslofsky (19)38–28
67March 7@ Boston80–86Andy Phillip (28)38–29
68March 8N Philadelphia75–73Larry Foust (19)38–30
69March 10N Philadelphia70–88George Yardley (21)39–30
70March 11Rochester95–80Max Zaslofsky (18)39–31
71March 13@ Minneapolis66–93Larry Foust (14)39–32
72March 14Baltimore86–91Andy Phillip (15)40–32

Playoffs

1954 playoff game log
Division Round Robin Semifinals: 0–4 (home: 0–2; road: 0–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsLocationSeries
1 March 16 @ Rochester L 75–82 George Yardley (20) Edgerton Park Arena 0–1
2 March 18 Minneapolis L 85–90 Frankie Brian (20) War Memorial Coliseum 0–2
3 March 20 @ Minneapolis L 73–78 Max Zaslofsky (15) Minneapolis Auditorium 0–3
4 March 21 Rochester L 71–89 George Yardley (16) War Memorial Coliseum 0–4
1954 schedule

References

  1. ↑ 1953–54 Fort Wayne Pistons
  2. ↑ "1953-54 Fort Wayne Pistons Roster and Stats".
  3. ↑ "Chevette to Corvette No. 28: The 1953-54 Fort Wayne Pistons". November 4, 2011.
  4. ↑ "Molinas Presses $3,000,000 Case; Ex-Court Ace Sues N.B.A. for Banning Him After He Bet on Own Team". New York Times. January 3, 1961.
  5. ↑ "Molinas Loses Antitrust Suit". New York Times. January 12, 1961.
  6. ↑ "Chevette to Corvette No. 28: The 1953-54 Fort Wayne Pistons". November 4, 2011.
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