1952–53 Fort Wayne Pistons season

The 1952–53 NBA season was the Pistons' fifth season in the NBA and 12th season as a franchise.[1]

1952–53 Fort Wayne Pistons season
Head coachPaul Birch
ArenaWar Memorial Coliseum
Results
Record36–33 (.522)
PlaceDivision: 3rd (Western)
Playoff finishWest Division Finals
(eliminated 2–3)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

The Pistons finished the season above .500 at 36-33 (.522), 3rd in the Western Division. The team advanced to the playoffs, defeating the Rochester Royals 2-1 in the opening series, including a 67-65 home nail-biter to take the series, but lost in the division finals 3-2 to the Minneapolis Lakers as each team won at home in the 5-game series. The Pistons were led on the season by center-forward Larry Foust (14.3 ppg, 11.5 rpg, NBA All-Star), guard Andy Phillip (10.0 ppg, 5.0 apg, NBA All-Star) and Don Meineke (10.7 ppg, 6.9 rpg), who would win the inaugural NBA Rookie of the Year Award.[2] First round draft choice Dick Groat (11.9 ppg) would play for the Pistons while finishing his degree at Duke University, left the team in February 1953 to serve in the United States Army and returned to sports in 1955 to pursue a baseball career. Groat became one of 13 players to play in both the NBA and Major League Baseball.[3][4]

Draft picks
Main article: 1952 NBA draft
Round Pick Player Position Nationality College
13Dick GroatG United StatesDuke
212Monk MeinekeF United StatesDayton

Regular season

Season standings
Western Division
 W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
x-Minneapolis Lakers4822.686-24-216-158-517-13
x-Rochester Royals4426.629424-813-177-127-13
x-Fort Wayne Pistons3633.52211.525-98-193-518-22
x-Indianapolis Olympians2843.39420.519-144-235-615-26
Milwaukee Hawks2744.38021.514-83-2410-1215-26
x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents
1952-53 NBA Records
Team BAL BOS FWP IND MIL MIN NYK PHI ROC SYR
Baltimore —2–80–62–43–31–50–106–40–62–8
Boston 8–2—4–24–25–11–56–49–14–25–6
Fort Wayne 6–02–4—7–37–31–94–25–03–71–5
Indianapolis 4–22–43–7—5–64–61–55–13–71–5
Milwaukee 3–31–53–76–5—3–71–54–23–73–3
Minneapolis 5–15–19–16–47–3—4–26–04–62–4
New York 10–04–62–45–15–12–4—10–03–36–4
Philadelphia 4–61–90–51–52–40–60–10—2–42–8
Rochester 6–02–47–37–37–36–43–34–2—2–4
Syracuse 8–26–55–15–13–34–24–68–24–2—

Game log
1952–53 Game log
#DateOpponentScoreHigh pointsRecord
1November 1@ Rochester82–94Frank Brian (15)0–1
2November 2Minneapolis81–69Larry Foust (19)0–2
3November 6Rochester84–64Frank Brian (20)0–3
4November 9Indianapolis71–74Frank Brian (18)1–3
5November 11@ Indianapolis63–78Larry Foust (16)1–4
6November 15@ Milwaukee68–71Frank Brian (22)1–5
7November 16New York83–112Dick Groat (25)2–5
8November 20Minneapolis89–81Fred Schaus (24)2–6
9November 22@ Minneapolis89–96Larry Foust (21)2–7
10November 23Philadelphia80–92Fred Schaus (22)3–7
11November 26@ Milwaukee80–72Don Meineke (19)4–7
12November 27Milwaukee87–95 (OT)Dwight Eddleman (24)5–7
13November 29N Boston71–78Frank Brian (17)5–8
14November 30Baltimore95–100 (2OT)Dwight Eddleman (27)6–8
15December 4Syracuse78–70Dwight Eddleman (21)6–9
16December 5@ Indianapolis74–84Larry Foust (27)6–10
17December 6@ Baltimore103–91Fred Schaus (21)7–10
18December 7New York91–102Don Meineke (27)8–10
19December 11Milwaukee70–71 (OT)Larry Foust (22)9–10
20December 14Indianapolis71–86Larry Foust (27)10–10
21December 16N Philadelphia64–95Foust, Groat (18)11–10
22December 18@ Philadelphia86–79Larry Foust (22)12–10
23December 20@ Rochester89–92Larry Foust (23)12–11
24December 21Philadelphia71–74Don Meineke (16)13–11
25December 23@ Indianapolis59–72Fred Schaus (14)13–12
26December 25Milwaukee69–71 (2OT)Larry Foust (14)14–12
27December 27N New York91–92Dick Groat (17)15–12
28December 28Boston89–66Frank Brian (19)15–13
29December 31Indianapolis85–91Larry Foust (25)16–13
30January 1@ Syracuse78–92Larry Foust (22)16–14
31January 3@ Rochester101–106Brian, Eddleman, Foust, Groat (13)16–15
32January 4Philadelphia68–79Andy Phillip (25)17–15
33January 6@ Milwaukee71–73Brian, Foust (17)17–16
34January 10N Minneapolis84–79Fred Schaus (20)17–17
35January 11Indianapolis68–72Larry Foust (17)18–17
36January 15Boston85–91Dwight Eddleman (28)19–17
37January 16N Indianapolis68–75Larry Foust (15)20–17
38January 18Rochester87–90Dick Groat (22)21–17
39January 21@ Boston84–94Frank Brian (21)21–18
40January 22@ Syracuse75–87Larry Foust (15)21–19
41January 24@ New York76–82Larry Foust (22)21–20
42January 25Milwaukee62–65Don Meineke (15)22–20
43January 27N Minneapolis96–76Andy Phillip (17)22–21
44January 29Boston98–111Larry Foust (21)23–21
45January 30N Rochester70–68 (OT)Phillip, Schaus (15)23–22
46January 31@ Minneapolis80–87Dick Groat (19)23–23
47February 1Minneapolis92–76Frank Brian (16)23–24
48February 5Indianapolis63–68Andy Phillip (19)24–24
49February 8Baltimore78–89Andy Phillip (19)25–24
50February 11Syracuse78–96Frank Brian (20)26–24
51February 14@ Baltimore102–88Fred Schaus (20)27–24
52February 15Rochester84–72Chuck Share (17)27–25
53February 17@ Rochester88–78Andy Phillip (19)28–25
54February 19Baltimore79–83 (OT)Fred Scolari (17)29–25
55February 21@ Minneapolis75–85Andy Phillip (15)29–26
56February 22Minneapolis78–90Andy Phillip (20)30–26
57February 24@ Rochester91–80Don Meineke (19)31–26
58February 26@ Syracuse77–89Don Meineke (20)31–27
59February 28@ New York74–85Larry Foust (20)31–28
60March 1Milwaukee74–76Fred Scolari (24)32–28
61March 3N Minneapolis86–68Larry Foust (18)32–29
62March 4Syracuse75–73 (2OT)Larry Foust (20)32–30
63March 6@ Indianapolis73–64Andy Phillip (23)33–30
64March 7@ Baltimore83–81 (OT)Brian, Foust, Schaus (15)34–30
65March 8Rochester71–69Foust, Phillip, Scolari (13)34–31
66March 9Milwaukee74–94Fred Schaus (17)35–31
67March 11@ Boston92–98Fred Scolari (26)35–32
68March 15New York69–81Fred Schaus (18)36–32
69March 17@ Milwaukee61–87Larry Foust (12)36–33

Playoffs
1953 playoff game log
Division Semifinals: 2–1 (home: 0–1; road: 2–0)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsLocationSeries
1 March 20 @ Rochester W 84–77 Fred Schaus (20) Edgerton Park Arena 1–0
2 March 22 Rochester L 71–83 Larry Foust (24) War Memorial Coliseum 1–1
3 March 24 @ Rochester W 67–65 Larry Foust (18) Edgerton Park Arena 2–1
Division Finals: 2–3 (home: 2–0; road: 0–3)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsLocationSeries
1 March 26 @ Minneapolis L 73–83 Larry Foust (16) Minneapolis Auditorium 0–1
2 March 28 @ Minneapolis L 75–82 Larry Foust (21) Minneapolis Auditorium 0–2
3 March 30 Minneapolis W 98–95 Fred Scolari (27) War Memorial Coliseum 1–2
4 April 1 Minneapolis W 85–82 Larry Foust (20) War Memorial Coliseum 2–2
5 April 2 @ Minneapolis L 58–74 Larry Foust (16) Minneapolis Auditorium 2–3
1953 schedule

Awards and records

References
  1. 1952–53 Fort Wayne Pistons
  2. "1952-53 Fort Wayne Pistons Roster and Stats".
  3. "Baseball (MLB) and Basketball (NBA) Players | Baseball Almanac".
  4. "Chevette to Corvette No. 26: The 1952-53 Detroit Pistons". November 8, 2011.

See also
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