1955–56 Philadelphia Warriors season

Professional basketball team season (won NBA championship) March 2026 August 2023 Philadelphia Warriors 1956 yes yes 45 27 Eastern 1 George Senesky Philadelphia Civic Center WPTZ/WCAU/WFIL WIBG(Bill Campbell) NBA champions PHW The 1955–56 Philadelphia Warriors season George Senesky took over for Eddie Gottlieb as coach, the Warriors had a strong start by winning 12 of their first 16 games.Philadelphia Warriors (1946–1962) Paul Arizin and Neil Johnston were among the league's scoring leaders as the Warriors won the Eastern Division with a 45–27 record. The addition of rookie Tom Gola made the difference. In his first season Gola averaged 9.1 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game. In the Eastern Division Finals the Warriors beat the Syracuse Nationals in 5 games. In the NBA Finals, the Warriors won their 2nd Championship by beating the Fort Wayne Pistons 4 games to 1. The Warriors' 1956 championship marked the first NBA Finals championship won by a team that was established in the National Basketball Association itself (or in this case, the Basketball Association of America precursor) since the Warriors' 1947 BAA Finals championship during the league's inaugural season after the BAA/NBA's prior champions up until this point were won by the American Basketball League's original rendition of the Baltimore Bullets (who have since gone defunct) and the National Basketball League's Minneapolis Lakers, Rochester Royals, and Syracuse Nationals.Nelson Murry R. The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949 2009 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 978-0-7864-4006-1, p. 1 HoopsHype would later rank this championship squad as tied with the 1956–57 Boston Celtics from a season later team as the team with the second-easiest path to the NBA Finals ever in 2024 due to them being one of three total championship teams who had playoff opponents that averaged around an average overall record or less during their championship run.Urbina Frank Ranking the easiest paths to an NBA title ever HoopsHype 2024-06-17 https://hoopshype.com/lists/ranking-the-easiest-paths-to-an-nba-title-ever-championship/ 2025-03-19 Roster 1955–56 Philadelphia Warriors #002F6C #FFC72C #D50032 #FFC72C 11 Paul Arizin F 6 4 190 Villanova 7 Ernie Beck G 6 4 190 Penn 12 Walt Davis F/C 6 8 205 Texas A&M 5 George Dempsey basketball G 6 2 190 King's College 17 Jack George basketball G 6 2 190 La Salle 15 Tom Gola G/F 6 6 205 La Salle 9 Joe Graboski F/C 6 7 195 Tuley HS (IL) 4 Larry Hennessy G 6 3 185 Villanova 6 Neil Johnston C 6 8 210 Ohio State 14 Jackie Moore basketball F 6 5 180 La Salle 25 Bob Schafer G 6 3 195 Villanova George Senesky Regular season Season standings PHW Game log 1955–56 Game log # Date Opponent Score High points Record 1 November 5 @ Boston W 98–87 Joe Graboski (18) 1–0 2 November 9 Minneapolis L 106–117 Neil Johnston (29) 1–1 3 November 10 vs. Rochester W 89–84 Paul Arizin (33) 2–1 4 November 12 vs. Minneapolis W 100–89 Paul Arizin (34) 3–1 5 November 17 Boston W 106–92 Joe Graboski (21) 4–1 6 November 19 Syracuse W 102–94 Neil Johnston (37) 5–1 7 November 23 vs. Syracuse W 104–101 Arizin, George (23) 6–1 8 November 24 New York W 118–97 Neil Johnston (32) 7–1 9 November 26 Fort Wayne W 87–82 Paul Arizin (22) 8–1 10 November 27 @ Minneapolis L 94–99 Paul Arizin (24) 8–2 11 November 29 @ St. Louis L 95–108 Jack George (15) 8–3 12 December 1 St. Louis W 115–98 Neil Johnston (31) 9–3 13 December 3 @ New York W 109–102 Paul Arizin (32) 10–3 14 December 4 @ Rochester L 84–107 Neil Johnston (21) 10–4 15 December 6 vs. Minneapolis W 116–103 Neil Johnston (32) 11–4 16 December 9 Syracuse W 101–92 Jack George (30) 12–4 17 December 11 @ Fort Wayne 91–96 Paul Arizin (21) 12–5 18 December 13 vs. Boston 109–108 Neil Johnston (29) 13–5 19 December 15 Fort Wayne 73–80 Neil Johnston (22) 14–5 20 December 18 @ Syracuse 79–99 Neil Johnston (17) 14–6 21 December 21 @ Rochester 96–92 Neil Johnston (21) 15–6 22 December 26 New York 108–97 Paul Arizin (22) 15–7 23 December 27 @ New York 79–80 Paul Arizin (29) 15–8 24 December 29 Syracuse 83–112 Paul Arizin (20) 16–8 25 January 1 @ Boston 113–121 Paul Arizin (37) 16–9 26 January 2 vs. Rochester 100–130 Paul Arizin (23) 17–9 27 January 3 Fort Wayne 82–102 Tom Gola (20) 18–9 28 January 4 @ Syracuse 88–87 Neil Johnston (26) 19–9 29 January 5 vs. Fort Wayne 81–92 Joe Graboski (31) 19–10 30 January 7 New York 97–104 Neil Johnston (24) 20–10 31 January 8 @ New York 95–83 Neil Johnston (28) 21–10 32 January 10 St. Louis 107–109 (OT) Neil Johnston (35) 22–10 33 January 11 @ Rochester 97–94 Paul Arizin (32) 23–10 34 January 12 Rochester 94–123 Neil Johnston (23) 24–10 35 January 14 Boston 104–103 Paul Arizin (27) 24–11 36 January 15 @ St. Louis 108–96 Paul Arizin (35) 25–11 37 January 18 vs. Minneapolis 94–105 Neil Johnston (28) 25–12 38 January 21 Fort Wayne 92–91 Joe Graboski (28) 25–13 39 January 22 @ Boston 129–115 Paul Arizin (39) 26–13 40 January 23 vs. Boston 120–104 Neil Johnston (29) 27–13 41 January 25 Syracuse 100–112 Paul Arizin (26) 28–13 42 January 26 @ Syracuse 89–100 Paul Arizin (23) 28–14 43 January 28 @ Minneapolis 108–85 Paul Arizin (33) 29–14 44 January 29 @ Fort Wayne 85–99 Paul Arizin (20) 29–15 45 January 31 @ New York 95–105 Paul Arizin (38) 29–16 46 February 1 New York 105–104 (2OT) Joe Graboski (29) 29–17 47 February 2 vs. New York 88–87 Paul Arizin (31) 30–17 48 February 3 Rochester 105–96 Paul Arizin (31) 30–18 49 February 5 @ St. Louis 93–105 Paul Arizin (22) 30–19 50 February 7 vs. Syracuse 95–128 Neil Johnston (41) 31–19 51 February 9 St. Louis 97–108 Paul Arizin (34) 32–19 52 February 11 @ Minneapolis 117–102 Paul Arizin (34) 33–19 53 February 12 @ St. Louis 87–79 Neil Johnston (22) 34–19 54 February 13 vs. Fort Wayne 105–94 Paul Arizin (26) 35–19 55 February 15 vs. Fort Wayne 101–78 Paul Arizin (25) 36–19 56 February 17 Minneapolis 111–134 Arizin, Johnston (29) 37–19 57 February 18 vs. Boston 115–101 Neil Johnston (38) 38–19 58 February 19 @ Boston 118–120 Paul Arizin (39) 38–20 59 February 22 New York 117–108 Neil Johnston (29) 38–21 60 February 24 Boston W 129–135 Joe Graboski (35) 39–21 61 February 26 @ Syracuse W 87–85 Paul Arizin (26) 40–21 62 February 29 Rochester W 86–81 Neil Johnston (21) 41–21 63 March 1 Minneapolis L 100–102 Joe Graboski (28) 41–22 64 March 3 Syracuse W 102–96 Paul Arizin (31) 42–22 65 March 4 @ Boston 114–128 Paul Arizin (39) 42–23 66 March 6 vs. St. Louis 102–97 Paul Arizin (31) 42–24 67 March 7 vs. New York 108–87 Neil Johnston (34) 43–24 68 March 8 Boston 120–142 Arizin, Johnston (29) 44–24 69 March 10 @ Rochester L 96–111 Paul Arizin (21) 44–25 70 March 11 @ Syracuse L 88–99 Paul Arizin (20) 44–26 71 March 13 St. Louis W 116–113 Jack George (33) 45–26 72 March 14 @ New York L 108–115 Neil Johnston (27) 45–27 Playoffs Philadelphia Warriors 1956 yes Philadelphia Warriors Division Finals yes yes no 3 0 0 2 yes |- | 1 | March 23 | Syracuse | W 109–87 | Paul Arizin (29) | Neil Johnston (24) | Gola, Beck (5) | Philadelphia Civic Center | 1–0 |- | 2 | March 25 | @ Syracuse | L 112–118 | Neil Johnston (43) | Neil Johnston (16) | Neil Johnston (7) | Onondaga War Memorial | 1–1 |- | 3 | March 27 | Syracuse | W 119–96 | Joe Graboski (20) | Neil Johnston (18) | Tom Gola (10) | Philadelphia Civic Center | 2–1 |- | 4 | March 28 | @ Syracuse | L 104–108 | Neil Johnston (35) | Neil Johnston (12) | Neil Johnston (7) | Onondaga War Memorial | 2–2 |- | 5 | March 29 | Syracuse | W 109–104 | Paul Arizin (35) | Neil Johnston (18) | Neil Johnston (8) | Philadelphia Civic Center | 3–2 |- Philadelphia Warriors NBA Finals yes no 3 0 1 1 |- | 1 | March 31 | Fort Wayne | W 98–94 | Paul Arizin (28) | Neil Johnston (14) | Tom Gola (10) | Philadelphia Civic Center4,128 | 1–0 |- | 2 | April 1 | @ Fort Wayne | L 83–84 | Paul Arizin (27) | Arizin, Johnston (9) | Ernie Beck (6) | War Memorial Coliseum6,976 | 1–1 |- | 3 | April 3 | Fort Wayne | W 100–96 | Paul Arizin (27) | Neil Johnston (14) | Tom Gola (8) | Philadelphia Civic Center11,698 | 2–1 |- | 4 | April 5 | @ Fort Wayne | W 107–105 | Paul Arizin (30) | Tom Gola (9) | Joe Graboski (7) | War Memorial Coliseum7,852 | 3–1 |- | 5 | April 7 | Fort Wayne | W 99–88 | Joe Graboski (29) | Joe Graboski (16) | Jack George (10) | Philadelphia Civic Center11,194 | 4–1 |- PHW yes 1956 Awards and honors Paul Arizin, NBA All-Star Game Neil Johnston, NBA All-Star Game Neil Johnston, All-NBA First Team Paul Arizin, All-NBA First Team Jack George, All-NBA Second Team References Warriors on Basketball Reference Philadelphia Category:Golden State Warriors seasons Category:NBA championship seasons