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

Bob Cousy & Bill Russell Jan 1956

On January 9,1956 Bob Cousy became the 1st Celtic and first NBA player to be put on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The NBA was still a young league at this point and very low on the sports scale compared to where it would be later. Bob Cousy was the league's biggest box-office attraction and to get him on the cover of Sports Illustrated was very big for the league as some fans had a low opinion of basketball and basketball players. Bob Cousy was at this time recognized as the best player in the NBA, and Original Celtic and Knick coach Joe Lapchick claimed Bob Cousy was the greatest all-around player of all time. Cousy's Celtics were tied for 1st place in the Eastern Division at the time with a record of 16-9.

Also receiving a feature article in this issue was Bill Russell who had just made his 1st appearance at Madison Square Garden with the University of San Francisco. Madison Square Garden was considered the mecca of basketball at the time and though Bill Russell was considered the best player in college basketball until Bill Russell showed it to the people at MSG he hadn't really proved nothing. Russell didn't disappoint the Garden faithful as he dominated future teammates Tommy Heinsohn and Willie Naulls. Bill Russell made believers out of the New York crowds.