You Are Here > Basketball-Reference.com > Leagues > 1953-54 NBA

1953-54 NBA Season Summary

Previous Season ▪ Next Season

1953-54 NBA:

League Standings

Glossary ▪ Playoff teams are marked with an asterisk (*)
Team W L W-L% GB PS/G PA/G SRS
Eastern Division              
New York Knickerbockers 44 28 .611 79.0 79.1 -0.17
Boston Celtics* 42 30 .583 2.0 87.7 85.4 1.97
Syracuse Nationals* 42 30 .583 2.0 83.5 78.6 4.26
Philadelphia Warriors 29 43 .403 15.0 78.2 80.4 -1.90
Baltimore Bullets 16 56 .222 28.0 78.3 85.1 -5.98
Western Division              
Minneapolis Lakers* 46 26 .639 81.7 78.6 2.70
Rochester Royals* 44 28 .611 2.0 79.8 77.3 2.23
Fort Wayne Pistons 40 32 .556 6.0 77.7 76.1 1.44
Milwaukee Hawks 21 51 .292 25.0 70.0 75.3 -4.55

League Playoffs

Finals (4-3): Minneapolis Lakers over Syracuse Nationals
 
Eastern Division Finals (2-0): Syracuse Nationals over Boston Celtics
Western Division Finals (2-1): Minneapolis Lakers over Rochester Royals

Team Statistics

Glossary ▪ CSV ▪ PRE ▪ Playoff teams are marked with an asterisk (*)
Rk Team G MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS PTS/G
1 Boston Celtics* 72 2232 5580 .400 1851 2550 .726 3867 1773 1969 6315 87.7
2 Syracuse Nationals* 72 2054 5579 .368 1905 2650 .719 3652 1541 1852 6013 83.5
3 Minneapolis Lakers* 72 2184 5803 .376 1512 2067 .731 3752 1323 1918 5880 81.7
4 Rochester Royals* 72 2010 5451 .369 1722 2518 .684 3494 1454 1904 5742 79.8
5 New York Knickerbockers 72 1934 5177 .374 1820 2525 .721 3830 1469 1832 5688 79.0
6 Baltimore Bullets 72 2036 5539 .368 1566 2312 .677 3816 1385 1777 5638 78.3
7 Philadelphia Warriors 72 2023 5431 .372 1586 2272 .698 3589 1468 1741 5632 78.2
8 Fort Wayne Pistons 72 1952 5187 .376 1689 2315 .730 3785 1474 1669 5593 77.7
9 Milwaukee Hawks 72 1757 5087 .345 1524 2202 .692 3202 1298 1771 5038 70.0
League Average 72 2020 5426 .372 1686 2379 .709 3665 1465 1826 5727 79.5

Opponent Statistics

Glossary ▪ CSV ▪ PRE ▪ Playoff teams are marked with an asterisk (*)
Rk Team G MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS PTS/G
1 Milwaukee Hawks 72 5419 75.3
2 Fort Wayne Pistons 72 5476 76.1
3 Rochester Royals* 72 5567 77.3
4 Minneapolis Lakers* 72 5660 78.6
5 Syracuse Nationals* 72 5660 78.6
6 New York Knickerbockers 72 5697 79.1
7 Philadelphia Warriors 72 5786 80.4
8 Baltimore Bullets 72 6125 85.1
9 Boston Celtics* 72 6147 85.4
League Average 72 5726 79.5

Miscellaneous Statistics

Glossary ▪ CSV ▪ PRE ▪ Playoff teams are marked with an asterisk (*)
Offense Four Factors Defense Four Factors
Rk Team W Pyth L Pyth SRS ORtg DRtg Pace eFG% TOV% ORB% FT/FGA eFG% TOV% DRB% FT/FGA Arena Attendance
1 Minneapolis Lakers* 45.4 26.6 2.70 .376 .261 Minneapolis Auditorium
2 New York Knickerbockers 35.6 36.4 -0.17 .374 .352 Madison Square Garden (III) 221,079
3 Rochester Royals* 43.7 28.3 2.23 .369 .316 Edgerton Park Arena
4 Boston Celtics* 42.7 29.3 1.97 .400 .332 Boston Garden 156,912
5 Syracuse Nationals* 50.4 21.6 4.26 .368 .341 Onondaga War Memorial
6 Fort Wayne Pistons 41.3 30.7 1.44 .376 .326 War Memorial Coliseum
7 Philadelphia Warriors 29.3 42.7 -1.90 .372 .292 Philadelphia Civic Center 113,088
8 Milwaukee Hawks 19.1 52.9 -4.55 .345 .300 Milwaukee Arena
9 Baltimore Bullets 17.2 54.8 -5.98 .368 .283 Baltimore Coliseum
League Average 36.0 36.0 0.00 .372 .311 163,693

League Awards

Rookie of the Year: Ray Felix

League Leaders

Minutes Played

1. Neil Johnston*-PHW 3296
2. Mel Hutchins-FTW 2934
3. Bob Cousy*-BOS 2857
4. Ed Macauley*-BOS 2792
5. Joe Graboski-PHW 2759

Field Goals

1. Neil Johnston*-PHW 591
2. Bob Cousy*-BOS 486
3. Ed Macauley*-BOS 462
4. George Mikan*-MNL 441
5. Bill Sharman*-BOS 412

Field Goal Attempts

1. Neil Johnston*-PHW 1317
2. Bob Cousy*-BOS 1262
3. George Mikan*-MNL 1160
4. Joe Graboski-PHW 1000
5. Ray Felix-BLB 983

Field Goal Pct

1. Ed Macauley*-BOS .486
2. Bill Sharman*-BOS .450
3. Neil Johnston*-PHW .449
4. Clyde Lovellette*-MNL .423
5. Ray Felix-BLB .417

Free Throws

1. Neil Johnston*-PHW 577
2. Dolph Schayes*-SYR 488
3. Ray Felix-BLB 449
4. Harry Gallatin*-NYK 433
5. George Mikan*-MNL 424

Free Throw Attempts

1. Neil Johnston*-PHW 772
2. Ray Felix-BLB 704
3. Dolph Schayes*-SYR 590
4. Ed Macauley*-BOS 554
5. Harry Gallatin*-NYK 552

Free Throw Pct

1. Bill Sharman*-BOS .844
2. Dolph Schayes*-SYR .827
3. Carl Braun-NYK .825
4. Paul Seymour-SYR .812
5. Zeke Zawoluk-PHW .809

Total Rebounds

1. Harry Gallatin*-NYK 1098
2. George Mikan*-MNL 1028
3. Larry Foust-FTW 967
4. Ray Felix-BLB 958
5. Dolph Schayes*-SYR 870

Assists

1. Bob Cousy*-BOS 518
2. Andy Phillip*-FTW 449
3. Paul Seymour-SYR 364
4. Dick McGuire*-NYK 354
5. Bob Davies*-ROC 323

Personal Fouls

1. Earl Lloyd-SYR 303
2. Arnie Risen*-ROC 284
3. Bob Brannum-BOS 280
4. Alex Hannum*-ROC 279
5. Paul Hoffman-BLB 271

Points

1. Neil Johnston*-PHW 1759
2. Bob Cousy*-BOS 1383
3. Ed Macauley*-BOS 1344
4. George Mikan*-MNL 1306
5. Ray Felix-BLB 1269

Minutes Per Game

1. Neil Johnston*-PHW 45.8
2. Mel Hutchins-FTW 40.8
3. Bob Cousy*-BOS 39.7
4. Ed Macauley*-BOS 39.3
5. Joe Graboski-PHW 38.9

Points Per Game

1. Neil Johnston*-PHW 24.4
2. Bob Cousy*-BOS 19.2
3. Ed Macauley*-BOS 18.9
4. George Mikan*-MNL 18.1
5. Ray Felix-BLB 17.6

Rebounds Per Game

1. Harry Gallatin*-NYK 15.2
2. George Mikan*-MNL 14.3
3. Larry Foust-FTW 13.4
4. Ray Felix-BLB 13.3
5. Dolph Schayes*-SYR 12.1

Assists Per Game

1. Bob Cousy*-BOS 7.2
2. Andy Phillip*-FTW 6.3
3. Dick McGuire*-NYK 5.2
4. Paul Seymour-SYR 5.1
5. Bob Davies*-ROC 4.5

Player Efficiency Rating

1. George Mikan*-MNL 28.5
2. Neil Johnston*-PHW 25.4
3. Dolph Schayes*-SYR 24.1
4. Harry Gallatin*-NYK 24.0
5. Ed Macauley*-BOS 23.2

True Shooting Pct

1. Ed Macauley*-BOS .563
2. Harry Gallatin*-NYK .538
3. Bill Sharman*-BOS .531
4. Neil Johnston*-PHW .531
5. Dolph Schayes*-SYR .498

Effective Field Goal Pct

1. Ed Macauley*-BOS .486
2. Bill Sharman*-BOS .450
3. Neil Johnston*-PHW .449
4. Clyde Lovellette*-MNL .423
5. Ray Felix-BLB .417

Offensive Win Shares

1. Neil Johnston*-PHW 15.4
2. Ed Macauley*-BOS 13.1
3. Bill Sharman*-BOS 9.4
4. Harry Gallatin*-NYK 9.0
5. Dolph Schayes*-SYR 8.4

Defensive Win Shares

1. George Mikan*-MNL 6.6
2. Dolph Schayes*-SYR 6.3
3. Arnie Risen*-ROC 4.8
4. Jim Pollard*-MNL 4.5
5. Jack Coleman-ROC 4.4

Win Shares

1. Neil Johnston*-PHW 18.3
2. Dolph Schayes*-SYR 14.8
3. Ed Macauley*-BOS 14.6
4. George Mikan*-MNL 12.7
5. Harry Gallatin*-NYK 11.8
     

All-NBA Teams

1st Team
Bob Cousy*
Harry Gallatin*
Neil Johnston*
George Mikan*
Dolph Schayes*
2nd Team
Carl Braun
Ed Macauley*
Jim Pollard*
Paul Seymour
Bobby Wanzer*

All-Star Game Rosters

East
Carl Braun
Bob Cousy*
Ray Felix
Harry Gallatin*
Neil Johnston*
Ed Macauley*
Dick McGuire*
Dolph Schayes*
Paul Seymour
Bill Sharman*
West
Bob Davies*
Larry Foust
Mel Hutchins
Slater Martin*
George Mikan*
Andy Phillip*
Jim Pollard*
Arnie Risen*
Don Sunderlage
Bobby Wanzer*