1955 NBA Finals

The 1955 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the 1954–55 NBA season. The best-of-seven series was won by the Syracuse Nationals, who defeated the Fort Wayne Pistons in the final game when Syracuse's George King made a free throw with 12 seconds left to put the Nationals up 92–91. King then stole the ball from Fort Wayne's Andy Phillip with three seconds remaining to clinch the victory for Syracuse.^[1] The arena was booked prior to the team making the finals and was thus not available, and the Fort Wayne home games were played in Indianapolis.^[2]

1955 NBA Finals

Team Coach Wins Syracuse Nationals Al Cervi 4 Fort Wayne Pistons Charles Eckman 3
Dates	March 31–April 10
Hall of Famers	Nationals: Dolph Schayes (1973) Earl Lloyd (2003) Pistons: George Yardley (1996) Andy Phillip (1961) Bob Houbregs (1987) Coaches: Al Cervi (1985, player) Officials: Mendy Rudolph (2007)
Eastern finals	Nationals defeated Celtics, 3–1
Western finals	Pistons defeated Lakers, 3–1
← 1954 NBA Finals 1956 →

It has been alleged that some Fort Wayne players conspired with gamblers to throw the series to Syracuse.^[3] The suspicious nature of the seventh game in particular has raised concerns about the legitimacy of the series. Fort Wayne led Syracuse 41–24 early in the second quarter, then allowed the Nationals to rally to win the game.^[4] Andy Phillip, who turned the ball over with three seconds left in the game, was believed by at least one of his teammates, George Yardley, to have thrown the game. "There were always unwholesome implications about that ball game", Yardley told the author Charley Rosen.^[5] However, Phillip may not have acted alone. Other Pistons players were strongly believed to have thrown games during the 1954 and 1955 NBA seasons.^[6] In fact, Yardley himself turned the ball over to Syracuse with a palming violation with 18 seconds remaining in Game 7.^[7] The foul that gave Syracuse its winning free throw, meanwhile, was committed by Frankie Brian.^[7] The NBA did not return to the 2–3–2 format until 1985. As of the 2022–23 season, this is the only NBA Finals to date in which the home team has won all seven games.

Series summary

Game	Date	Home team	Result	Road team
Game 1	March 31	Syracuse Nationals	87–82 (1–0)	Fort Wayne Pistons
Game 2	April 2	Syracuse Nationals	87–84 (2–0)	Fort Wayne Pistons
Game 3	April 3	Fort Wayne Pistons*	96–89 (1–2)	Syracuse Nationals
Game 4	April 5	Fort Wayne Pistons*	109–102 (2–2)	Syracuse Nationals
Game 5	April 7	Fort Wayne Pistons*	74–71 (3–2)	Syracuse Nationals
Game 6	April 9	Syracuse Nationals	109–104 (3–3)	Fort Wayne Pistons
Game 7	April 10	Syracuse Nationals	92–91 (4–3)	Fort Wayne Pistons

Nationals win series 4–3

• – Games played in Indianapolis

Team rosters

Syracuse Nationals

1954-55 Eastern Division Champions Syracuse Nationals roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From SG 12 Dick Farley 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1932-04-13 Indiana SG 7 Billy Gabor 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1922-05-13 Syracuse SG 15 Bill Kenville 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 187 lb (85 kg) 1930-12-01 St. Bonaventure C 10 Red Kerr 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1932-07-17 Illinois PG 3 George King 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1928-08-16 Charleston (WV) SF 11 Earl Lloyd 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1928-04-03 West Virginia State SF 8 Wally Osterkorn 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1928-07-06 Illinois C 16 Red Rocha 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1923-09-18 Oregon State PF 4 Dolph Schayes 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1928-05-19 NYU SG 5 Paul Seymour 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1928-01-30 Toledo C 6 Connie Simmons 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 222 lb (101 kg) 1925-03-15 Flushing HS (NY) PF 14 Jim Tucker 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1932-12-11 Duquesne

Head coach Al Cervi Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster

Fort Wayne Pistons

1954–55 Fort Wayne Pistons Western Division Champions roster

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Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From SG 7 Frankie Brian 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) May 1, 1923 LSU C 16 Larry Foust 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) June 24, 1928 La Salle C 8 Bob Houbregs 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) March 12, 1932 Washington PF 9 Mel Hutchins 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) November 22, 1928 BYU PF 17 Monk Meineke 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 208 lb (94 kg) October 30, 1930 Dayton PG 14 Andy Phillip 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 195 lb (88 kg) March 7, 1922 Illinois SF 15 Dick Rosenthal 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 205 lb (93 kg) January 20, 1930 Notre Dame SG 5 Paul Walther 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 160 lb (73 kg) March 23, 1927 Tennessee SF 12 George Yardley 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) November 3, 1928 Stanford SG 10 Max Zaslofsky 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 170 lb (77 kg) December 7, 1925 St. John's

Head coach Charles Eckman Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster

Box scores

Main article: 1955 NBA Finals

March 31

Boxscore

Fort Wayne Pistons 82, Syracuse Nationals 86
Scoring by quarter: 19–26, 25–22, 20–18, 18–20
Pts: Larry Foust 26		Pts: Red Rocha 19
Syracuse leads series, 1–0

Onondaga War Memorial, Syracuse, New York Attendance: 7,500

April 2

Boxscore

Fort Wayne Pistons 84, Syracuse Nationals 87
Scoring by quarter: 13–30, 25–29, 27–14, 19–24
Pts: George Yardley 21		Pts: Dolph Schayes 24
Syracuse leads series, 2–0

Onondaga War Memorial, Syracuse, New York Attendance: 5,845

April 3

Boxscore

Syracuse Nationals 89, Fort Wayne Pistons 96
Scoring by quarter: 22–23, 21–20, 14–26, 32–27
Pts: Rocha, Schayes 21 each		Pts: Mel Hutchins 23
Syracuse leads series, 2–1

Butler Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana Attendance: 3,200

April 5

Boxscore

Syracuse Nationals 102, Fort Wayne Pistons 109
Scoring by quarter: 24–27, 24–26, 22–29, 32–27
Pts: Dolph Schayes 28		Pts: Frankie Brian 18
Series tied, 2–2

Butler Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana Attendance: 2,611

April 7

Boxscore

Syracuse Nationals 71, Fort Wayne Pistons 74
Scoring by quarter: 18–22, 13–16, 14–20, 26–16
Pts: Bill Kenville 15		Pts: George Yardley 16
Fort Wayne leads series, 3–2

Butler Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana Attendance: 4,110

April 9

Boxscore

Fort Wayne Pistons 104, Syracuse Nationals 109
Scoring by quarter: 27–19, 28–34, 19–25, 30–31
Pts: George Yardley 31		Pts: Dolph Schayes 28
Series tied, 3–3

Onondaga War Memorial, Syracuse, New York Attendance: 4,997

April 10

Boxscore

Fort Wayne Pistons 91, Syracuse Nationals 92
Scoring by quarter: 31–21, 22–26, 21–27, 17–18
Pts: Larry Foust 24 Asts: Andy Phillip 10		Pts: King, Kenville 15 each Asts: Paul Seymour 8
Syracuse wins series, 4–3

Onondaga War Memorial, Syracuse, New York Attendance: 6,697

• George King hit a free throw with 12 seconds left, then stole the ball from Andy Phillip with 3 seconds left to seal it.