1954 Overview

From Hoopedia

1953-54 NBA Season

The Minneapolis Lakers liked to walk the ball up the floor, then wait for big George Mikan to set up in the post and go to work. At that lumbering pace, he controlled the game. That was the crux of both the Lakers’ success and the NBA’s problem. The pace was too slow. In yet another effort to tinker with the rules and hold back the excessive fouling used to counter Mikan’s style, the league decided to limit each player to two fouls per quarter.

The change brought the average number of fouls down to 51 a game, but did little to abate the flurry of fouls in late-game situations, when teams with a lead used their dribble kings to run out the clock, forcing the other team to foul. Another sign that the league was failing to capture fans’ hearts came when the Indianapolis franchise folded despite playing in a hoops-crazy state, leaving only four teams in the Western Division.

The big performers were Philly center Neil Johnston, who won the scoring title with a 24.4 average, and Cousy, of the Boston Celtics, who finished behind him with 19.2 points per game and a league-high 7.2 assists.

Mikan, meanwhile, was approaching 30 and was playing fewer minutes, although he still posted a healthy double-double (18.1 points per game and 14.3 rebounds per game). His presence was again the difference in the playoffs, which had been shifted to a round robin in which the top three teams in each division played each other. Syracuse survived the East and challenged the Lakers through seven games for the title. In the end, though, it was Mikan and Co. again, completing the NBA’s first three-peat by winning Game 7, 87-80.