SWC75
Bored Historian
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The Pistons
The Post Standard reported that “Rookie Dick Farley, Red Rocha and Earl ‘The Squirrel’ Lloyd combined their talents last night, (3/31/55), to send the Syracuse Nationals out in front of the National Basketball Association’s best of seven championship playoffs with an 86-82 victory over the Fort Wayne Pistons in a spectacular finish before 7,575 thrillsated fans.” Thrillsated?
The Nats blew out to a 31-10 lead and it all seemed so easy. But the Pistons fought back. The Nats went cold and fell behind 72-75 with 8 ½ minutes left. Dick Farley then came off the bench to tie the game on a tip-in and foul shot. Rocha gave the team the lead for good taking a pass from Farley. Still, the team needed Lloyd to bank a jump shot with 30 seconds to go and Seymour to hit a couple of free throws with 3 seconds left to clinch it. Rocha played good defense on Yardley, who had 13 points and led his own team in scoring with 19. Larry Foust had 27 for the Pistons but it wasn’t enough as only one other Piston, (Mel Hutchins), reached double figures. Schayes had a quiet game with only 10 points.
Holding Serve
The second game was Saturday, April 2nd. It was just as important to win game two in a series where the home team had such an advantage. The first game, despite the closeness, seemed to lack the intensity of the Celtic series. Charley Eckman, the Detroit coach, announced that the Nats “won a game they had no business winning. Still, it showed we could beat ‘em!” No doubt that wound up on the bulletin board in the Nat’s dressing room. But the second game was similar to the first. The Nats fell behind 1-7 this time but Johnny Kerr led a come-back, scoring 10 first quarter points to push him team to a 20-13 lead and on to a 49-38 halftime lead. The team came out flat again in the third quarter, getting outscored 14-27 to fall behind by two. It set the stage for the final fireworks.
Syracuse surged to a 76-69 lead with a 13-4 run to open the final period. The Pistons came back to make it 78-75. The Nats pushed it to 82-75. The Pistons came charging back to make it 85-84 with 34 seconds left. They held the ball for virtually the entire 24 second clock. Red Rocha, who had scored only 9 in this one, launched a desperation 30 footer jumper. He nailed it. The Pistons couldn’t score in the last 10 seconds and Syracuse had “held serve” with two home victories to give them a 2-0 lead. With the next three games being played in Indianapolis, where ticket sales were poor, rather than Ft. Wayne, the possibility of wrapping it up before they even had to come back to Syracuse presented itself.
No Home In Indiana
At that point, the team fell apart. It didn’t surprise Charley Eckman, who said “We lost two unlucky games. Maybe it will be our day in Indianapolis. The worm will turn.” It sure did, although the basketball fans of Indianapolis didn’t seem to care. “At Butler Field House last night, the city didn’t seem to know the playoffs were taking place”. There were 3200 fans in a 13,000 seat arena. They saw the “hometown” Pistons win, 89-96. For Johnny Kerr, this game was total frustration. He was held to three baskets, missing four lay-ups. He was 2 for 8 from the line. A late rally, led by Billy Kenville with 9 points and some key rebounds, sliced a 63-78 deficit to 84-87. The Pistons then got a couple of baskets but Red Rocha scored 5 straight to make it close- but not close enough- at the end. Red and Dolph Schayes had 21 points each. Cervi was so unimpressed with his team’s performance he scheduled an extra practice before game four.
The incident that everybody remembers from that game occurred in the third period. The Nats were making their comeback from the big deficit and got a favorable call from Mendy Rudolph. Paul Seymour was moving down court with the ball when he heard what he called “an explosion” behind him. A diminutive Pistons fan sitting behind the Nat’s bench had hurled a chair onto the court in protest of Rudolph’s call. He then charged the court, “yelling threats”. Promised police security had not materialized and the fan was not ejected. George King said something to the guy and the game continued with the continuing a stream of insults at the Nats’ bench. After the game, angry fans prevented the Nats from entering their locker room until Al Cervi grabbed one of them by the tie and ripped it off. People backed off, apparently fearing for their ties.
The chair-tosser proved not to be a youthful Bobby Knight but rather an off duty police officer who charged King with making threats and obtained a warrant against him. The authorities decided to drop the charge if King would apologize. He reluctantly did. There is no record of the policeman apologizing for throwing the chair.
Deflated Egos
The Pistons made mincemeat of the National’s vaunted defense in game four, winning 102-109. Charley Eckman crowed to Bud Vander Meer, “Our bench is killing you. We are moving better than we did all year and it looks like we really have you fellows on the run.” The Nats again fell way behind, by 18 points this time and rallied, getting it within five before running out of time. The big failure was of the Syracuse backcourt. Seymour and King were 4 for 25 from the field. The Pistons outshot the Nationals, 31%-45%.
The Nats, “discounted Sunday’s loss here as a natural letdown but admitted they were ‘up’ for Tuesday’s tilt which also resulted in defeat. The second loss completely deflated the Syracusan’s ego.”
Al Cervi made some moves to get his team going. He benched the 6-0 King who was being pushed around by the bigger Andy Phillip and Frank Brian, replacing him with the 6-4 Dick Farley. He switched Red Rocha to cover Mel Hutchins who had scored 17 in game four. Dolph Schayes was assigned to George Yardley, the Pistons’ leading scorer. His assignment wasn’t so much to defend Yardley as to outscore him, which he had in game four, 28-12.
Interest in the series was such that Commissioner Maurice Podoloff showed up for a game for the first time. He was one of 2,611 people watching the game. Podoloff complained the Pistons had done nothing to sell the series and took over the promotion of the games himself. It helped a little as 4,116 fans showed up for game five.
“In a riotous finish the Nats were constantly heckled by boisterous rooters who invaded the Syracuse bench. After the fray Thursday, one fan grabbed Coach Al Cervi and when the pilot retaliated. A near riot ensued.” Again the Nationals fell way behind, 45-60 with ten minutes left. Once again the visitors made a late run of 26-12, sparked by Billy Kenville who seemed to be a big part of nearly every Syracuse rally. It was 71-72 with 1:16 left. Farley got hacked by Phillip on a follow shot with 27 seconds left but there was no call. Instead, Frank Brian got fouled at the buzzer and made two free throws to make the final score 71-74. “Phillip was so elated he walked off the floor repeating to his joyful mates ‘I fouled him and got away with it!’ Farley has a long scratch on his right arm to prove it.” Kenville scored three baskets and had five free throws in the final quarter but again it wasn’t enough. The Nationals limped back home down 2 games to three and very glad to put Indianapolis in the rear-view mirror.
Near Riots
Saturday, April 9, 1955 was a wild scene at the War Memorial as the Nats evened the series, 109-104 before 4,997 fans and “millions” on NBC. The Nats broke their “longest slump of the season”. They were again behind most of the game. The Pistons, struggling off their lack of previous success in Syracuse, took a 27-19 first quarter lead. The Nats tied it at 43 but the Pistons led at the half, 55-53 and built up a ten point lead at 72-82 late in the third quarter. Billy Kenville scored from the line. Earl Lloyd scored a three point play and then Dolph Schayes, who led the Nats with 28 points, got a couple of freebies to make it 78-82 before George Yardley closed out the quarter with a basket for a 78-84 Pistons lead. They were 12 minutes from a title.
The Nationals came back to tie it at 86 on Lloyd’s jump shot. It was again tied at 94. The Piston’s last lead came at 96-97 on a series of three free throws, (there were 64 fouls called in this game). Lloyd hit another long jumper and free throws by Farley and Schayes game the Nats a 101-97 lead with 3:35 left. But Yardley tied it again at 103 on a three point play by George Yardley. A Johnny Kerr hook shot broke that tie with 35 seconds left and Dick Farley then stole Frank Brian’s inbounds pass from Andy Phillip. The Nats held the ball for the full 24 seconds when Schayes’ set shot hit the rim but Farley was there to tip it in for the clincher. Yardley led the Pistons with 31 points and Brian, a Nat killer, had 24. Kerr had 20 points, second to Schayes.
As memorable as that game was, the fans were also witness to two “near riots”. The biggest one was the result of a battle for a loose ball between Wally Osterkorn, fighting to extend his career, and Bob Houbregs of Detroit. Osterkorn fell on Houbregs and Paul Seymour “accidentally” stepped on him trying to secure the rock. The Pistons bench then went after Seymour, resulting in a full-scale brawl that had to be broken up by what the paper called a “delegation of motor policemen”. (It didn’t say if they were on their motorcycles or not.) Seymour took advantage of the confusion to give referee Sid Borgia a shove to the court. Borgia had had quite enough of things when fans physically accosted the refs when they tried to leave the floor at the end of the half. Borgia was hit in the head with a program by an irate fan who then ran for the cheap seats when Borgia went after him. The police had to escort the refs to their dressing room.
“Hey, Lord, give us a break”
That was a wild scene but the wildest of all was to come the next night. 6,697 fans showed up of whom an estimated 40 were from Ft. Wayne, (another reason why they are now the Detroit Pistons). Al Cervi, not a very religious man, attended mass that day and unashamedly prayed for victory. “Hey Lord…give us a break, let us win one.” He later said he would have walked to California and back to give Syracuse fans a title. “They deserved it. Syracuse was a small town and the biggies were always looking down at you, laughing at you.” George King lay awake in his bed, wondering what to do about his troubles shooting free throws.
Again the Pistons came out playing like a team that expected to win the title, regardless of where the game was played or against whom. They blew out to a 41-24 lead with 3:46 left in the second period. The home team then woke up with a 23-8 run to make it 47-49 with 38 seconds left. But the Pistons scored the last two buckets for a 47-53 halftime lead.
The Nationals tied it up at 57-57 on a Schayes drive and a Seymour jumper. After a Frank Brian basket, King again tied it with a jump shot. On the same play Red Rocha, having set a pick, was fouled by Brian, trying to fight his way to King. Rocha’s free throw gave the Nats the lead at 60-59. Brian now lost his temper and, upon taking the ball for the inbounds pass, drop-kicked it into the stands, drawing a technical. Seymour cashed in from the line. Kenville hit Lloyd for a lay-up and the Nationals had a five point lead. The Pistons surged back to tie it at 74 at the end of the quarter. The last 12 minutes of the season would decide the title.
Lloyd scored off the fast break and Rocha hit his first field goal to give the Nats the lead back at 78-74. A three point play by big Larry Foust, the Piston’s center, got the Pistons back within one at 79-80. Rocha and Lloyd scored again but again the Pistons came back to tie it at 86 on Foust’s turn-around jumper. He hit another to put Ft. Wayne back in the lead but Earl Lloyd tied it again at 89 on two foul shots. King tied up Hutchins and Dolph Schayes got his hands on the jump ball, (they actually had them in those days), but was hit and lost control of it. Schayes then fouled Phillip trying to get the ball back and Andy’s free throw put the Pistons on top, 89-90 with 2:16 left. Two Syracuse free throws and one by Yardley set the stage for the heroics that finally decided the issue.
Little Man, Big Hero
Years later, after witnessing a series of NCAA championship games that came down to the last possession with either team having a chance to win, I wondered how often that had happened in the NBA Finals. It would require a seven game series with the final game decided by a point, (or in the era of the arc, 2 points or less). If found one such game. This one.
The game was still tied at 91 with a minute left and 6,697 fans going crazy. Earl Lloyd’s shot went around and out with 42 seconds left. George Yardley was called for palming the ball- an NBA star called for palming (!)- at 18 seconds. Frank Brian then fouled George King, who had been in a long slump at the line. He hit one shot of two to put the Nats up 92-91, with 12 seconds left. Andy Phillip decided to dribble the ball the length of the floor to avoid the turnover and put the shot for all the marbles up by himself, as a veteran point guard tends to do. Cervi put Paul Seymour on him, rather than the smaller King who had tended to be pushed around by the bigger Piston guards. Per David Ramsey, “King had been the victim of Phillip’s elbows and knees…’Andy kicked the hell out of me all the time, tripping me, kneeing me’”.
“I bumped the crap out of Andy”, Seymour said. Ramsey said “He bumped him and shoved him but did it in an expert way.” Seymour smiled when recalling the play “They didn’t call the foul.” Ex-ref Charley Eckman, the Piston’s coach, said, “It was there, (the ref), choked up and lost his guts”. Seymour forced Phillip into the corner. Phillip reversed his dribble and turned away from Seymour. King, covering Brian at the foul line, instinctively decided to abandon his man and go after the ball. He got there just as Phillip was completing his turn and just grabbed the ball out of Phillips’ hands. The fastest man on the court, King, immediately began dribbling down court. By the time he had reached the frontcourt, the Syracuse Nationals were the NBA champions.
The Post Standard reported that “Rookie Dick Farley, Red Rocha and Earl ‘The Squirrel’ Lloyd combined their talents last night, (3/31/55), to send the Syracuse Nationals out in front of the National Basketball Association’s best of seven championship playoffs with an 86-82 victory over the Fort Wayne Pistons in a spectacular finish before 7,575 thrillsated fans.” Thrillsated?
The Nats blew out to a 31-10 lead and it all seemed so easy. But the Pistons fought back. The Nats went cold and fell behind 72-75 with 8 ½ minutes left. Dick Farley then came off the bench to tie the game on a tip-in and foul shot. Rocha gave the team the lead for good taking a pass from Farley. Still, the team needed Lloyd to bank a jump shot with 30 seconds to go and Seymour to hit a couple of free throws with 3 seconds left to clinch it. Rocha played good defense on Yardley, who had 13 points and led his own team in scoring with 19. Larry Foust had 27 for the Pistons but it wasn’t enough as only one other Piston, (Mel Hutchins), reached double figures. Schayes had a quiet game with only 10 points.
Holding Serve
The second game was Saturday, April 2nd. It was just as important to win game two in a series where the home team had such an advantage. The first game, despite the closeness, seemed to lack the intensity of the Celtic series. Charley Eckman, the Detroit coach, announced that the Nats “won a game they had no business winning. Still, it showed we could beat ‘em!” No doubt that wound up on the bulletin board in the Nat’s dressing room. But the second game was similar to the first. The Nats fell behind 1-7 this time but Johnny Kerr led a come-back, scoring 10 first quarter points to push him team to a 20-13 lead and on to a 49-38 halftime lead. The team came out flat again in the third quarter, getting outscored 14-27 to fall behind by two. It set the stage for the final fireworks.
Syracuse surged to a 76-69 lead with a 13-4 run to open the final period. The Pistons came back to make it 78-75. The Nats pushed it to 82-75. The Pistons came charging back to make it 85-84 with 34 seconds left. They held the ball for virtually the entire 24 second clock. Red Rocha, who had scored only 9 in this one, launched a desperation 30 footer jumper. He nailed it. The Pistons couldn’t score in the last 10 seconds and Syracuse had “held serve” with two home victories to give them a 2-0 lead. With the next three games being played in Indianapolis, where ticket sales were poor, rather than Ft. Wayne, the possibility of wrapping it up before they even had to come back to Syracuse presented itself.
No Home In Indiana
At that point, the team fell apart. It didn’t surprise Charley Eckman, who said “We lost two unlucky games. Maybe it will be our day in Indianapolis. The worm will turn.” It sure did, although the basketball fans of Indianapolis didn’t seem to care. “At Butler Field House last night, the city didn’t seem to know the playoffs were taking place”. There were 3200 fans in a 13,000 seat arena. They saw the “hometown” Pistons win, 89-96. For Johnny Kerr, this game was total frustration. He was held to three baskets, missing four lay-ups. He was 2 for 8 from the line. A late rally, led by Billy Kenville with 9 points and some key rebounds, sliced a 63-78 deficit to 84-87. The Pistons then got a couple of baskets but Red Rocha scored 5 straight to make it close- but not close enough- at the end. Red and Dolph Schayes had 21 points each. Cervi was so unimpressed with his team’s performance he scheduled an extra practice before game four.
The incident that everybody remembers from that game occurred in the third period. The Nats were making their comeback from the big deficit and got a favorable call from Mendy Rudolph. Paul Seymour was moving down court with the ball when he heard what he called “an explosion” behind him. A diminutive Pistons fan sitting behind the Nat’s bench had hurled a chair onto the court in protest of Rudolph’s call. He then charged the court, “yelling threats”. Promised police security had not materialized and the fan was not ejected. George King said something to the guy and the game continued with the continuing a stream of insults at the Nats’ bench. After the game, angry fans prevented the Nats from entering their locker room until Al Cervi grabbed one of them by the tie and ripped it off. People backed off, apparently fearing for their ties.
The chair-tosser proved not to be a youthful Bobby Knight but rather an off duty police officer who charged King with making threats and obtained a warrant against him. The authorities decided to drop the charge if King would apologize. He reluctantly did. There is no record of the policeman apologizing for throwing the chair.
Deflated Egos
The Pistons made mincemeat of the National’s vaunted defense in game four, winning 102-109. Charley Eckman crowed to Bud Vander Meer, “Our bench is killing you. We are moving better than we did all year and it looks like we really have you fellows on the run.” The Nats again fell way behind, by 18 points this time and rallied, getting it within five before running out of time. The big failure was of the Syracuse backcourt. Seymour and King were 4 for 25 from the field. The Pistons outshot the Nationals, 31%-45%.
The Nats, “discounted Sunday’s loss here as a natural letdown but admitted they were ‘up’ for Tuesday’s tilt which also resulted in defeat. The second loss completely deflated the Syracusan’s ego.”
Al Cervi made some moves to get his team going. He benched the 6-0 King who was being pushed around by the bigger Andy Phillip and Frank Brian, replacing him with the 6-4 Dick Farley. He switched Red Rocha to cover Mel Hutchins who had scored 17 in game four. Dolph Schayes was assigned to George Yardley, the Pistons’ leading scorer. His assignment wasn’t so much to defend Yardley as to outscore him, which he had in game four, 28-12.
Interest in the series was such that Commissioner Maurice Podoloff showed up for a game for the first time. He was one of 2,611 people watching the game. Podoloff complained the Pistons had done nothing to sell the series and took over the promotion of the games himself. It helped a little as 4,116 fans showed up for game five.
“In a riotous finish the Nats were constantly heckled by boisterous rooters who invaded the Syracuse bench. After the fray Thursday, one fan grabbed Coach Al Cervi and when the pilot retaliated. A near riot ensued.” Again the Nationals fell way behind, 45-60 with ten minutes left. Once again the visitors made a late run of 26-12, sparked by Billy Kenville who seemed to be a big part of nearly every Syracuse rally. It was 71-72 with 1:16 left. Farley got hacked by Phillip on a follow shot with 27 seconds left but there was no call. Instead, Frank Brian got fouled at the buzzer and made two free throws to make the final score 71-74. “Phillip was so elated he walked off the floor repeating to his joyful mates ‘I fouled him and got away with it!’ Farley has a long scratch on his right arm to prove it.” Kenville scored three baskets and had five free throws in the final quarter but again it wasn’t enough. The Nationals limped back home down 2 games to three and very glad to put Indianapolis in the rear-view mirror.
Near Riots
Saturday, April 9, 1955 was a wild scene at the War Memorial as the Nats evened the series, 109-104 before 4,997 fans and “millions” on NBC. The Nats broke their “longest slump of the season”. They were again behind most of the game. The Pistons, struggling off their lack of previous success in Syracuse, took a 27-19 first quarter lead. The Nats tied it at 43 but the Pistons led at the half, 55-53 and built up a ten point lead at 72-82 late in the third quarter. Billy Kenville scored from the line. Earl Lloyd scored a three point play and then Dolph Schayes, who led the Nats with 28 points, got a couple of freebies to make it 78-82 before George Yardley closed out the quarter with a basket for a 78-84 Pistons lead. They were 12 minutes from a title.
The Nationals came back to tie it at 86 on Lloyd’s jump shot. It was again tied at 94. The Piston’s last lead came at 96-97 on a series of three free throws, (there were 64 fouls called in this game). Lloyd hit another long jumper and free throws by Farley and Schayes game the Nats a 101-97 lead with 3:35 left. But Yardley tied it again at 103 on a three point play by George Yardley. A Johnny Kerr hook shot broke that tie with 35 seconds left and Dick Farley then stole Frank Brian’s inbounds pass from Andy Phillip. The Nats held the ball for the full 24 seconds when Schayes’ set shot hit the rim but Farley was there to tip it in for the clincher. Yardley led the Pistons with 31 points and Brian, a Nat killer, had 24. Kerr had 20 points, second to Schayes.
As memorable as that game was, the fans were also witness to two “near riots”. The biggest one was the result of a battle for a loose ball between Wally Osterkorn, fighting to extend his career, and Bob Houbregs of Detroit. Osterkorn fell on Houbregs and Paul Seymour “accidentally” stepped on him trying to secure the rock. The Pistons bench then went after Seymour, resulting in a full-scale brawl that had to be broken up by what the paper called a “delegation of motor policemen”. (It didn’t say if they were on their motorcycles or not.) Seymour took advantage of the confusion to give referee Sid Borgia a shove to the court. Borgia had had quite enough of things when fans physically accosted the refs when they tried to leave the floor at the end of the half. Borgia was hit in the head with a program by an irate fan who then ran for the cheap seats when Borgia went after him. The police had to escort the refs to their dressing room.
“Hey, Lord, give us a break”
That was a wild scene but the wildest of all was to come the next night. 6,697 fans showed up of whom an estimated 40 were from Ft. Wayne, (another reason why they are now the Detroit Pistons). Al Cervi, not a very religious man, attended mass that day and unashamedly prayed for victory. “Hey Lord…give us a break, let us win one.” He later said he would have walked to California and back to give Syracuse fans a title. “They deserved it. Syracuse was a small town and the biggies were always looking down at you, laughing at you.” George King lay awake in his bed, wondering what to do about his troubles shooting free throws.
Again the Pistons came out playing like a team that expected to win the title, regardless of where the game was played or against whom. They blew out to a 41-24 lead with 3:46 left in the second period. The home team then woke up with a 23-8 run to make it 47-49 with 38 seconds left. But the Pistons scored the last two buckets for a 47-53 halftime lead.
The Nationals tied it up at 57-57 on a Schayes drive and a Seymour jumper. After a Frank Brian basket, King again tied it with a jump shot. On the same play Red Rocha, having set a pick, was fouled by Brian, trying to fight his way to King. Rocha’s free throw gave the Nats the lead at 60-59. Brian now lost his temper and, upon taking the ball for the inbounds pass, drop-kicked it into the stands, drawing a technical. Seymour cashed in from the line. Kenville hit Lloyd for a lay-up and the Nationals had a five point lead. The Pistons surged back to tie it at 74 at the end of the quarter. The last 12 minutes of the season would decide the title.
Lloyd scored off the fast break and Rocha hit his first field goal to give the Nats the lead back at 78-74. A three point play by big Larry Foust, the Piston’s center, got the Pistons back within one at 79-80. Rocha and Lloyd scored again but again the Pistons came back to tie it at 86 on Foust’s turn-around jumper. He hit another to put Ft. Wayne back in the lead but Earl Lloyd tied it again at 89 on two foul shots. King tied up Hutchins and Dolph Schayes got his hands on the jump ball, (they actually had them in those days), but was hit and lost control of it. Schayes then fouled Phillip trying to get the ball back and Andy’s free throw put the Pistons on top, 89-90 with 2:16 left. Two Syracuse free throws and one by Yardley set the stage for the heroics that finally decided the issue.
Little Man, Big Hero
Years later, after witnessing a series of NCAA championship games that came down to the last possession with either team having a chance to win, I wondered how often that had happened in the NBA Finals. It would require a seven game series with the final game decided by a point, (or in the era of the arc, 2 points or less). If found one such game. This one.
The game was still tied at 91 with a minute left and 6,697 fans going crazy. Earl Lloyd’s shot went around and out with 42 seconds left. George Yardley was called for palming the ball- an NBA star called for palming (!)- at 18 seconds. Frank Brian then fouled George King, who had been in a long slump at the line. He hit one shot of two to put the Nats up 92-91, with 12 seconds left. Andy Phillip decided to dribble the ball the length of the floor to avoid the turnover and put the shot for all the marbles up by himself, as a veteran point guard tends to do. Cervi put Paul Seymour on him, rather than the smaller King who had tended to be pushed around by the bigger Piston guards. Per David Ramsey, “King had been the victim of Phillip’s elbows and knees…’Andy kicked the hell out of me all the time, tripping me, kneeing me’”.
“I bumped the crap out of Andy”, Seymour said. Ramsey said “He bumped him and shoved him but did it in an expert way.” Seymour smiled when recalling the play “They didn’t call the foul.” Ex-ref Charley Eckman, the Piston’s coach, said, “It was there, (the ref), choked up and lost his guts”. Seymour forced Phillip into the corner. Phillip reversed his dribble and turned away from Seymour. King, covering Brian at the foul line, instinctively decided to abandon his man and go after the ball. He got there just as Phillip was completing his turn and just grabbed the ball out of Phillips’ hands. The fastest man on the court, King, immediately began dribbling down court. By the time he had reached the frontcourt, the Syracuse Nationals were the NBA champions.
