1954-55 NBA Season Standings

The Syracuse Nationals won their only NBA championship, edging the Fort Wayne Pistons 4 games to 3 in a thrilling seven-game Finals that included a Game 7 comeback led by George King's clutch free throws. This was the first season played with the 24-second shot clock, introduced by Danny Biasone (owner of the Nationals) to eliminate stalling tactics; scoring and pace rose sharply league-wide as a result. The Baltimore Bullets folded on November 27, 1954 after just 14 games (a 3-11 record), and their games were excluded from the final standings, leaving the league with eight full-season teams split evenly between the Eastern and Western Divisions. Dolph Schayes and Paul Seymour anchored Syracuse, while George Mikan's Minneapolis Lakers were in decline as the Fort Wayne Pistons, led by George Yardley and Mel Hutchins, took the West. The league was still organized strictly as Eastern and Western Divisions (not conferences), and the Milwaukee Hawks played their final season in Wisconsin before relocating to St. Louis.