December 20, 1955 MSG Doubleheader- Celtics beat Lakers and Nationals beat Knicks

In a doubleheader at Madison Square Garden in the feature game the defending champion Syracuse Nationals beat the Knicks 98-91 in a game they controlled from start to finish. In front of 9,280 fans the Nationals raced to a early 19 point lead in the 1st quarter they never relinquished. The Knicks failed to get rebounds, passed wildly and had a subpar game in general. Johnny Kerr was the high scorer for the Nationals with 29 points and Carl Braun had 20 for the Knicks.

In the 1st game the Celtics defeated the Lakers 111-104. It was close game that was tied 12 different times. The Celtics found themselves down 97-90 before Ed Macauley and Jack Nichols led the Celtics roaring back to take a 111-104 victory. Jack Nichols had 22 points for the Celtics in victory. In a notable occurrence earlier in the contest referee Jack Stutz stopped the game because of fans throwing steel paper clips onto the court. Laker Ed Kalafat was hit by the clips but wasn't injured. The win improved the Celtics record to 11-9.

Box Score

Boston (111)
G F PF P
Macauley lf 6 7 3 19
Palazzi 0 0 0 0
Nichols rf 8 6 2 22
Loscutoff 5 1 4 11
Risen c 3 2 4 8
Morrison 0 0 2 0
Cousy lg 9 4 5 22
Sharman rg 6 5 4 17
Barrett 4 4 4 12

Total...41 29 28 111

Minneapolis (104)
Lovellette lf 9 2 1 20
Hitch 4 5 1 13
Schnitker rf 1 3 3 5
Kalapat 6 4 4 16
Mikkelsen c 8 6 4 22
Skoog lg 3 3 4 9
Mencel 3 0 1 6
Martin rg 1 7 5 9
Garmaker 2 0 2 4

Total...37 30 29 104

Boston..................24 25 29 33-111
Minneapolis.........17 32 31 24-104

Free Throws Missed- Cousy 4, Risen 4, Nichols, Morrison, Macauley, Garmaker 2, Hitch, Martin, Kalafat, Lovellette, Mikkelsen, Hitch, Skoog, Schnittker

Officials-Stan Stutz & Norm Drucker

December 14, 1955 Boston Garden doubleheader, Celtics beat Knicks and Lakers beat Pistons

In a doubleheader at the Boston Garden the Lakers beat the Pistons by the score of 98-85 in the 1st game, and in the feature game the Celtics beat the Knicks 102-100. The Lakers had a rare great performance in the season to date as they controlled the game the entire way and led by as many 30 in the 3rd period. Clyde Lovellette led the Lakers in scoring with 22 points and Larry Faust led the Pistons with 22 points. The Lakers victory brought their record for the season to 6-15.

In the feature game of the doubleheader it was a contest that went right down the wire for the rival Knicks and Celtics, in the end the Celtics prevailed 102-100 after Ed Macauley's game winning dunk with 6 seconds left and Nat Clifton missed a shot that would have sent the game into overtime. Bob Cousy hobbled by leg and shoulder injuries played slightly more than half the game had an efficient game only scoring 5 points but dishing off 15 assists. Rookie Jim Loscutoff had a great game with 17 points and 15 rebounds.

Box Score

Boston (102)
G F PF P
Macauley lf 6 11 2 23
Nichols rf 8 3 3 19
Palazzi 1 2 2 4
Hemric 1 0 0 2
Risen c 3 4 4 9
Morrison 1 1 1 3
Barrett lg 2 3 6 7
Cousy lg 1 3 4 5
Sharman 4 5 5 13
Loscutoff 7 3 3 17

Total.. 34 34 30 102

Knicks (100)
G F PF P
Braun lf 11 6 1 28
Gallatin rf 3 4 4 10
Clifton 0 1 3 1
Peterson 4 0 5 8
Felix c 1 2 2 4
Dukes 5 0 6 10
Sears lg 2 2 3 6
Shue rg 7 8 4 22
McGuire 0 2 1 2
Baechtold 2 5 1 9

Total.. 35 35 30 100

Boston......................22 31 27 22-102
Knickerbockers.......24 31 21 24-100

Free throws missed- Macauley 2, Hemric, Risen 3, Cousy, Sharman, Loscutoff, Braun 2, Gallatin, Clifton, Dukes, Sears, Shue 2, McGuire, Baechtold 2

December 13, 1955- Madison Square Garden doubleheader, Warriors beat Celtics and Knicks beat Lakers

In a twin bill of basketball that began at 7:15 per new Madison Square Garden rules regarding NBA doubleheaders, the Knicks beat the Lakers 98-91 in the feature game. The Knicks led the game the entire way and gave the Lakers their 15th loss of the season. Clyde Lovellette of the Lakers led all scorers with 31 points. In the 1st game of the doubleheader the Celtics lost a close game to the Warriors 109-108. Larry Hennessy made the game winning shot with 18 seconds left, and Bob Cousy despite scoring 29 points missed a game winning shot. The Warriors led by 14 point at the half before Boston stormed back in the 2nd half but it was not enough to beat the Warriors. The game's attendance was 9,548.

Phila. (109)
G F PF P
Arizin lf 9 3 2 21
Moore 1 1 0 3
Graboski rf 10 6 4 26
Beck 2 1 3 5
Johnston c 11 7 4 29
Davis 0 0 4 0
Gola lg 2 2 6 6
Dempsey 1 0 6 2
George rg 6 3 5 15
Hennessy 1 0 0 2

Total...43 23 34 109

Boston
G F PF P
Macauley lf 5 7 2 17
Barrett 2 2 4 6
Nichols rf 6 2 5 14
Loscutoff 2 8 3 12
Hemric 0 0 0 0
Risen c 1 5 2 7
Morrison 0 0 3 0
Sharman rg 7 5 0 19
Palazzi 1 2 3 4
Cousy lg 9 11 3 29

Total....33 42 25 108

Philadelphia......34 25 32 18-109
Boston...............22 23 37 26-108

Free throws missed-Graboski 3, Beck, Johnston, Dempsey 2, George 2, Macauley 3, Loscutoff 3, Risen 2, Cousy 4
Officials-Lou Eisenstein and Jim Gaffney

November 29, 1955 NBA Doubleheader At MSG, Celtics beat Nationals and Pistons beat Knicks

In another basketball doubleheader at Madison Square Garden, the Celtics beat the Nationals 105-97 in the 1st game. The game was a close game early on with the score tied 5 times in the 1st session and 8 times in the second session. Midway through the 3rd period the Celtics went on a 10-0 run to bring the lead to 73-66 and the C's never looked back. In the 2nd game the Knicks lost to the Pistons 104-99 in front of 10,135 fans. Larry Foust of the Pistons led Fort Wayne with 28 points as the Pistons avenged 2 earlier losses to the Knicks. Ken Sears and Jim Baechtold added 18 points each for the Knicks.

Box Score
Boston (105)
G F PF P
Macauley lf 11 5 0 27
Hemric 0 1 0 1
Nichols rf 7 2 4 16
Loscutoff 2 1 0 5
Risen c 2 1 5 7
Morrison 1 0 3 2
Cousy lg 5 7 2 1
Palazzi 4 0 2 8
Sharman rg 10 2 2 22
Barrett 0 0 0 0

Total...........43 19 18 105

Syracuse (97)
G F PF P
Schayes lf 6 3 2 15
Farley 1 0 4 2
Rocha rf 4 3 2 11
Lloyd 4 1 3 9
Kerr c 5 3 2 13
Conlin 5 1 0 11
Seymour lg 0 0 1 0
Kenville 2 1 3 5
Tucker 0 0 2 0
King rg 15 1 3 31

Total.....42 13 22 97

Boston.........25 28 27 25-105
Syracuse......22 24 30 21-97

Free Throws Missed- Macauley 2, Loscutoff, Risen, Cousy, Palazzi, Sharman 2, Rocha 3, Lloyd, Kerr, Kenville
Officials- Sid Borgia and Stan Stutz

Red Auerbach Day December 18, 1955

Red Auerbach became a basketball legend because of his legendary resume in Boston, but Red Auerbach was clearly shaped and refined from the streets of New York where he hailed, and New York never forgets one of its own. On December 18,1955, Red Auerbach who was known more at the time for being a fiery coach who screamed at officials, was honored in New York with Red Auerbach day at Madison Square Garden in front 12,613 fans. Before the Knicks played the Celtics, Red received many gifts including a red automobile and he gave a speech. Being that it was his day the Celtics followed it up with a hard fought 95-92 victory over the Knicks in a game where Red Auerbach gained a technical foul for riding the officials too hard, Harry Gallatin also received a technical, and Ray Felix of the Knicks fought with Jim Loscutoff.

Box Score:
Boston (95)
G F PF P
Macauley lf 4 2 2 10
Hemric 0 1 2 1
Nichols rf 6 3 5 15
Loscotuff 8 4 2 20
Risen c 1 1 4 3
Morrison 2 2 6 6
Cousy lg 6 8 4 20
Palazzi 0 0 0 0
Sharman rg 5 1 1 11
Barrett 3 3 2 9

Total 35 25 28 95

New York (92)
G F PF P
Gallatin lf 6 2 5 14
Dukes 0 0 1 0
Sears rf 7 5 4 19
Peterson 0 0 1 0
Felix c 3 14 5 20
Clifton 1 0 1 2
McGuire lg 6 3 4 15
Shue 4 1 1 9
Braun rg 1 4 1 4
Baechtold 2 3 0 7

Total 30 32 23 92

Boston.......... 27 15 29 24-95
New York...... 26 25 17 24-92

Free throws missed- Macauley, Risen, Morrison 2, Cousy 2, Palazzi, Gallatin, Sears 2, Felix 3, McGuire 2, Shue, Braun, Baechtold
Officials- Sid Borgia and Rollie Pitkoff