SWC75
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January
One New Year’s Day, the Celtics invaded the War Memorial for the only Saturday night game of the year. The Celtics had a “phenomenal” first half, actually shooting 50% from the field but the Nats kept up with them, being behind only 58-59 at halftime. But they were down 79-85 entering the final quarter before putting on a rush to win, 108-102. Six men were in double figures, led by Dolph Schayes with 25. Earl Lloyd had 18 and 12 rebounds and Paul Seymour 10 points and 11 assists. It was the third straight game the Nats and Celts had both exceeded 100 points against each other. It was also a typically rough game between them with a season high 63 fouls called. One fan came to the game with a supply of paper “hatchets” which he kept tossing at the Celtic’s “hatchet man”, Bob Brannum.
After the game Red Auerbach complained to Jack Slattery of the Herald-Journal that his team was getting unfairly treated by the local press by “making us out to be a bunch of ruffians and thugs”. He said the fans pick up on this and then try to intimidate the refs into calling fouls on innocent types like Brannum. Auerbach also complained that Syracuse got too many home games: they were scheduled to play the Hawks in the same building the next night! Slattery wondered why Danny Biasone bothered to hire Al Cervi to coach a team that had so many advantages.
The next night Milwaukee’s Hawks were in town with their high scoring rookie tandem of Bob Pettit and Frank Selvy. All the Nat’s “advantages” did them no good, as they got handled by the last place team in the Western Division, 79-91. “The weak Nat’s play…sent many of the fans out of the War Memorial long before the finish.” Neither Pettit nor Selvy was as big a problem as Bob Harrison, who scored 30 points on 12 for 21 shooting. The record was now 18-14 and Auerbach could be pleased that three of the next four games were on the road.
At this point, Leo Ferris, the Nat’s general manger, resigned, saying he was unable to spend time “selling” the team to a new generation of the fans because he had to spend all his time responding to nitpicking by the board of directors. Speculation increased that the team was in financial trouble and might be leaving town in the near future as attendance had been averaging less than the 4,000 the club said it needed to keep going in Syracuse. Still Ferris insisted the team was “10 times better” than in the old days when they were “packing them in at the Fairgrounds Coliseum.”
Meanwhile the club got some good news. Dolph Schayes and Paul Seymour would be joining their coach, Al Cervi, at the NBA All-Star game in Madison Square Garden on January 18th. Meanwhile, Bob Cousy, the Celtic’s captain was calling the captains of all the other teams, suggesting they have a meeting in New York of their own that weekend. It was a meeting that would result in the formation of the NBA Player’s association.
“Light a fire for us once in a while”
On January 5th, the Nats beat the Royals in Rochester, 94-88, to regain first place from the Celtics at 19-14. It continued the pattern of Cervi’s team coming back to play well the next game after a poor performance. Billy Kenville injured his thumb nine minutes into the game and the Nats played only 6 guys the rest of the way to the home team’s 10, (fortunately they weren’t all on the court at once). They were enough as all six wound up in double figures. The Royals were recorded as having outrebounded the Nationals, 47-74 but the paper questioned the “statistical veracity” of this. The paper did say that Rochester “began throwing the ball away more often than they tossed it at the hoop.”
The Nats then came home to take on the Lakers. Dolph Schayes scored a career high, (to that point) 40 points on 13/21 from the field and 14/17 from the foul line but the Lakers crushed the home team, 106-117, setting a record for visitor’s scoring at the War Memorial. Only 1,908 fans were there to see it, the smallest crowd of the year. 17 of Schayes points came in the fourth quarter when the team was hopelessly behind. It was 36-54 at halftime.
The Nationals then took a Midwestern swing, facing the Lakers again in Minneapolis on 1/8 and knocking them off, 100-97. Schayes had only 21 in this one but 8 of them came in the last four minutes as Syracuse came back from an 81-88 deficit. Johnny Kerr also had 21 in this one. The Nats then moved on to Milwaukee where the Hawks beat them again the next night, 72-77. Syracuse erased a 10 point third quarter deficit to take a 72-71 lead but Frank Selvy drove in for the last two of his 26 points with 45 seconds left to give the home team a lead it never relinquished. A third game on the trip was in Grand Forks, North Dakota, again against the Lakers, who led throughout in an 82-93 win. The Nats couldn’t handle Lovelette and Mikkelsen, who combined for 43 points. Paul Seymour was suffering from a cold and perforated ear drum but still managed to lead the team with 16 points. The Nats now lost first place to the Celtics who had stopped red hot Ft. Wayne, which easily had the league’s best record at 25-10, (far better than the Nat’s 20-17), 119-110.
Now Fort Wayne was coming to Syracuse and the Nats were getting short-handed. Not only were Gabor and Osterkorn gone but now Connie Simmons had hurt his back, (he had a “dislocated spinal disc”), on the western swing and the Nat’s roster was down to 8 players. Al Cervi suggested that perhaps Gabor was missed most. “Many of Syracuse’s loyal fans, including President Danny Biasone, insisted that the Nat’s problem is the lack of a spirited floor leader.” Cervi said the team could use a guy like Gabor to “light a fire for us once in a while.”
A star among stars
The Nationals showed plenty of fire in beating the Pistons, 100-83, their eighth straight win over the “Zollners”. A 9-0 first period run gave the Nats the lead for good. They were up by 17 at the half and as much as 19 in the second half. Dolph Schayes just missed a triple double with 15 points, 15 rebounds and 8 assists. The Nats then closed out the first half of the season with a 90-85 win over the Royals at the War Memorial. Red Rocha led the team with 19 points including “three big baskets in the final minutes”. The Nats led 44-29 at the half but thanks to Red, held on to win. It left them with a 22-17 record at the All-Star break, good enough for second place in the East, a half game behind Boston.
Al Cervi’s Eastern team won the NBA All-Star game, 100-91, in Madison Square Garden on 1/18/55, with his own star, Dolph Schayes, playing a big role with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Charley Eckman, coach of the west team, said “It seemed that every time we missed, Schayes was there to get the ball”. Vern Mikkelsen said “I’ve never seen Dolph play harder. He was responsible for our loss.” Nonetheless Boston’s Bill Sharman, who also scored 15 points but had only four rebounds to go with 2 assists, was named MVP on the strength of his 10 point fourth quarter. The East trailed 70-71 going into that quarter and their 30-20 finish determined the outcome.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/allstar/NBA_1955.html
The regular schedule resumed on 1/20 with a date with the Celtics, leading by a half game in the East, at the War Memorial. The home team took back first place with a 92-87 win. Schayes continued his intense play from the All-Star game with 23 points and 23 rebounds. So did Bill Sharman, who scored 26. But Bob Cousy was out with an injury and that was too much to overcome. But it was the boards where the Nats dominated as Rocha and Kerr added another 23 rebounds. What the Celts really needed was a good big man.
The Nat’s four game winning streak was ended by the Knicks, 89-98 at the War Memorial, thanks to a poor fourth quarter. The game had been tied at 69 at the end of the third. Dolph Schayes fouled out after scoring 20 points but so did Knicks big man Harry Gallatin who had 26. Then the Nats lost to Ft. Wayne for the first time in two years, 66-69 in the first game of a double-header in Buffalo. Schayes scored 19 but didn’t get much help from his teammates. Frank Brian put the Pistons ahead with a free throw with 15 seconds left and the Nats threw the ball away on their last possession.
A Successful Experiment
Syracuse got back on the winning track in the first game of a double-header at Boston, beating the Warriors, 107-99. They were down by as many as 12 in the first half and by 45-54 at halftime but a 33 point third quarter turned things around, including a 21-4 run in the first six minutes. Cervi’s halftime speech must have been something. Paul Seymour had 22 points and a team record 18 assists.
To increase attendance and improve the quality of the crowd, the Nats made what became a successful experiment with Sunday afternoon matinees with kids getting in for half price. Before 3,052 fans, 772 of which were kids, they beat their favorite old whipping boys, the Pistons, 94-79 on 1/27. The crowd would have been larger except a blizzard was raging outside. Dick Farley helped break it open in the second period with 11 points but Schayes again led the Nats in scoring with 22 points to go with 14 rebounds. Earl Lloyd also helped out with 15 boards. The Nats hit an amazing, (for the time) 57% in the second half.
The Nats were now a full game ahead of the Celtics but lost that lead when they lost for the third straight time in the Boston Garden, 90-101. The home team led early on by as many as 19 points. Bill Sharman had another big game with 24 points, including his 50th straight free throw, a league record. Schayes and Farley again led the Nats with 18 and 17 points, respectively. The Nationals then came home to lose to the Warriors at the War Memorial, 83-93, on 1/30. Philly blew this one open early, scoring 15 straight to take an 8-27 lead. They led 36-54 at the half and had a 20 point lead in the third quarter. Syracuse had a hard time responding as their star, Dolph Schayes, came up lame with a “charley horse” and scored only 10 points. Still, the home team rallied and got to within 3 at one point before fading down the stretch.
January ended with the Nats tied for first with the hated Celtics at 25-21. The class of the league still seemed to be the Pistons, who led the west with 31 wins and 16 losses, 5 ½ games ahead of the Lakers, who had the same record as the Nats. What was amazing was that the Nats were 4-1 vs. the “Zollners”, who were 30-12 vs. the rest of the league.
One New Year’s Day, the Celtics invaded the War Memorial for the only Saturday night game of the year. The Celtics had a “phenomenal” first half, actually shooting 50% from the field but the Nats kept up with them, being behind only 58-59 at halftime. But they were down 79-85 entering the final quarter before putting on a rush to win, 108-102. Six men were in double figures, led by Dolph Schayes with 25. Earl Lloyd had 18 and 12 rebounds and Paul Seymour 10 points and 11 assists. It was the third straight game the Nats and Celts had both exceeded 100 points against each other. It was also a typically rough game between them with a season high 63 fouls called. One fan came to the game with a supply of paper “hatchets” which he kept tossing at the Celtic’s “hatchet man”, Bob Brannum.
After the game Red Auerbach complained to Jack Slattery of the Herald-Journal that his team was getting unfairly treated by the local press by “making us out to be a bunch of ruffians and thugs”. He said the fans pick up on this and then try to intimidate the refs into calling fouls on innocent types like Brannum. Auerbach also complained that Syracuse got too many home games: they were scheduled to play the Hawks in the same building the next night! Slattery wondered why Danny Biasone bothered to hire Al Cervi to coach a team that had so many advantages.
The next night Milwaukee’s Hawks were in town with their high scoring rookie tandem of Bob Pettit and Frank Selvy. All the Nat’s “advantages” did them no good, as they got handled by the last place team in the Western Division, 79-91. “The weak Nat’s play…sent many of the fans out of the War Memorial long before the finish.” Neither Pettit nor Selvy was as big a problem as Bob Harrison, who scored 30 points on 12 for 21 shooting. The record was now 18-14 and Auerbach could be pleased that three of the next four games were on the road.
At this point, Leo Ferris, the Nat’s general manger, resigned, saying he was unable to spend time “selling” the team to a new generation of the fans because he had to spend all his time responding to nitpicking by the board of directors. Speculation increased that the team was in financial trouble and might be leaving town in the near future as attendance had been averaging less than the 4,000 the club said it needed to keep going in Syracuse. Still Ferris insisted the team was “10 times better” than in the old days when they were “packing them in at the Fairgrounds Coliseum.”
Meanwhile the club got some good news. Dolph Schayes and Paul Seymour would be joining their coach, Al Cervi, at the NBA All-Star game in Madison Square Garden on January 18th. Meanwhile, Bob Cousy, the Celtic’s captain was calling the captains of all the other teams, suggesting they have a meeting in New York of their own that weekend. It was a meeting that would result in the formation of the NBA Player’s association.
“Light a fire for us once in a while”
On January 5th, the Nats beat the Royals in Rochester, 94-88, to regain first place from the Celtics at 19-14. It continued the pattern of Cervi’s team coming back to play well the next game after a poor performance. Billy Kenville injured his thumb nine minutes into the game and the Nats played only 6 guys the rest of the way to the home team’s 10, (fortunately they weren’t all on the court at once). They were enough as all six wound up in double figures. The Royals were recorded as having outrebounded the Nationals, 47-74 but the paper questioned the “statistical veracity” of this. The paper did say that Rochester “began throwing the ball away more often than they tossed it at the hoop.”
The Nats then came home to take on the Lakers. Dolph Schayes scored a career high, (to that point) 40 points on 13/21 from the field and 14/17 from the foul line but the Lakers crushed the home team, 106-117, setting a record for visitor’s scoring at the War Memorial. Only 1,908 fans were there to see it, the smallest crowd of the year. 17 of Schayes points came in the fourth quarter when the team was hopelessly behind. It was 36-54 at halftime.
The Nationals then took a Midwestern swing, facing the Lakers again in Minneapolis on 1/8 and knocking them off, 100-97. Schayes had only 21 in this one but 8 of them came in the last four minutes as Syracuse came back from an 81-88 deficit. Johnny Kerr also had 21 in this one. The Nats then moved on to Milwaukee where the Hawks beat them again the next night, 72-77. Syracuse erased a 10 point third quarter deficit to take a 72-71 lead but Frank Selvy drove in for the last two of his 26 points with 45 seconds left to give the home team a lead it never relinquished. A third game on the trip was in Grand Forks, North Dakota, again against the Lakers, who led throughout in an 82-93 win. The Nats couldn’t handle Lovelette and Mikkelsen, who combined for 43 points. Paul Seymour was suffering from a cold and perforated ear drum but still managed to lead the team with 16 points. The Nats now lost first place to the Celtics who had stopped red hot Ft. Wayne, which easily had the league’s best record at 25-10, (far better than the Nat’s 20-17), 119-110.
Now Fort Wayne was coming to Syracuse and the Nats were getting short-handed. Not only were Gabor and Osterkorn gone but now Connie Simmons had hurt his back, (he had a “dislocated spinal disc”), on the western swing and the Nat’s roster was down to 8 players. Al Cervi suggested that perhaps Gabor was missed most. “Many of Syracuse’s loyal fans, including President Danny Biasone, insisted that the Nat’s problem is the lack of a spirited floor leader.” Cervi said the team could use a guy like Gabor to “light a fire for us once in a while.”
A star among stars
The Nationals showed plenty of fire in beating the Pistons, 100-83, their eighth straight win over the “Zollners”. A 9-0 first period run gave the Nats the lead for good. They were up by 17 at the half and as much as 19 in the second half. Dolph Schayes just missed a triple double with 15 points, 15 rebounds and 8 assists. The Nats then closed out the first half of the season with a 90-85 win over the Royals at the War Memorial. Red Rocha led the team with 19 points including “three big baskets in the final minutes”. The Nats led 44-29 at the half but thanks to Red, held on to win. It left them with a 22-17 record at the All-Star break, good enough for second place in the East, a half game behind Boston.
Al Cervi’s Eastern team won the NBA All-Star game, 100-91, in Madison Square Garden on 1/18/55, with his own star, Dolph Schayes, playing a big role with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Charley Eckman, coach of the west team, said “It seemed that every time we missed, Schayes was there to get the ball”. Vern Mikkelsen said “I’ve never seen Dolph play harder. He was responsible for our loss.” Nonetheless Boston’s Bill Sharman, who also scored 15 points but had only four rebounds to go with 2 assists, was named MVP on the strength of his 10 point fourth quarter. The East trailed 70-71 going into that quarter and their 30-20 finish determined the outcome.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/allstar/NBA_1955.html
The regular schedule resumed on 1/20 with a date with the Celtics, leading by a half game in the East, at the War Memorial. The home team took back first place with a 92-87 win. Schayes continued his intense play from the All-Star game with 23 points and 23 rebounds. So did Bill Sharman, who scored 26. But Bob Cousy was out with an injury and that was too much to overcome. But it was the boards where the Nats dominated as Rocha and Kerr added another 23 rebounds. What the Celts really needed was a good big man.
The Nat’s four game winning streak was ended by the Knicks, 89-98 at the War Memorial, thanks to a poor fourth quarter. The game had been tied at 69 at the end of the third. Dolph Schayes fouled out after scoring 20 points but so did Knicks big man Harry Gallatin who had 26. Then the Nats lost to Ft. Wayne for the first time in two years, 66-69 in the first game of a double-header in Buffalo. Schayes scored 19 but didn’t get much help from his teammates. Frank Brian put the Pistons ahead with a free throw with 15 seconds left and the Nats threw the ball away on their last possession.
A Successful Experiment
Syracuse got back on the winning track in the first game of a double-header at Boston, beating the Warriors, 107-99. They were down by as many as 12 in the first half and by 45-54 at halftime but a 33 point third quarter turned things around, including a 21-4 run in the first six minutes. Cervi’s halftime speech must have been something. Paul Seymour had 22 points and a team record 18 assists.
To increase attendance and improve the quality of the crowd, the Nats made what became a successful experiment with Sunday afternoon matinees with kids getting in for half price. Before 3,052 fans, 772 of which were kids, they beat their favorite old whipping boys, the Pistons, 94-79 on 1/27. The crowd would have been larger except a blizzard was raging outside. Dick Farley helped break it open in the second period with 11 points but Schayes again led the Nats in scoring with 22 points to go with 14 rebounds. Earl Lloyd also helped out with 15 boards. The Nats hit an amazing, (for the time) 57% in the second half.
The Nats were now a full game ahead of the Celtics but lost that lead when they lost for the third straight time in the Boston Garden, 90-101. The home team led early on by as many as 19 points. Bill Sharman had another big game with 24 points, including his 50th straight free throw, a league record. Schayes and Farley again led the Nats with 18 and 17 points, respectively. The Nationals then came home to lose to the Warriors at the War Memorial, 83-93, on 1/30. Philly blew this one open early, scoring 15 straight to take an 8-27 lead. They led 36-54 at the half and had a 20 point lead in the third quarter. Syracuse had a hard time responding as their star, Dolph Schayes, came up lame with a “charley horse” and scored only 10 points. Still, the home team rallied and got to within 3 at one point before fading down the stretch.
January ended with the Nats tied for first with the hated Celtics at 25-21. The class of the league still seemed to be the Pistons, who led the west with 31 wins and 16 losses, 5 ½ games ahead of the Lakers, who had the same record as the Nats. What was amazing was that the Nats were 4-1 vs. the “Zollners”, who were 30-12 vs. the rest of the league.
