1950–51 Fort Wayne Pistons season

NBA team season March 2026 December 2023 Badly broken table formatting under "Roster." August 2023 Fort Wayne Pistons Detroit Pistons 1951 32 36 Western 3 Murray Mendenhall Fred Zollner North Side High School Gym West Division Semifinals(eliminated 1–2) FTW The 1950–51 Fort Wayne Pistons season was the Pistons' third season in the NBA and tenth season as a franchise.1950–51 Fort Wayne Pistons This season would be notable for an infamous match played on November 22, 1950, against the Minneapolis Lakers, with the Pistons holding onto the ball for a vast majority of the match in order to not allow opposing star center George Mikan to dominate them in the paint, which worked too well to the point where it resulted in the lowest-scoring match in NBA history with a 19–18 victory favoring the Pistons (and subsequently breaking a record previously held by the Detroit Falcons for the lowest scoring effort in a BAA/NBA matchFewest Points Scored in an NBA Game Lowest-Scoring NBA Records https://nbahoopsonline.com/History/Records/pointsfew.html 2026-10-05 nbahoopsonline.com), which resulted in spectators of the match feeling like they wouldn't be interested in the sport of basketball at all if that match was a reflection of what it truly was and subsequently led to the creation of the shot clock a few seasons later in order to help make sure the NBA never had another game like that ever again in its history.Leo Ferris: The man who saved the NBA https://nbahoopsonline.com/Articles/History/LeoFerris.html 2026-10-05 nbahoopsonline.com The Pistons finished with a 32-36 (.471) record, good for third in the West Division. The team advanced to the playoffs, losing in the division semifinals 2–1 to the Rochester Royals. The team was led by forward Fred Schaus (15.1 ppg, 7.3 rpg, NBA All-Star) and the double-double of center Larry Foust (13.5 ppg, 10.0 rpg, NBA All-Star). The team drafted future star George Yardley in the 1950 NBA draft, but Yardley would sit out three years, opting to play AAU basketball, then serving in the United States Navy, getting married, and joining Fort Wayne for the 1953-54 Fort Wayne Pistons season.https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/FTW/1951.html 1950-51 Fort Wayne Pistons Roster and Statshttps://pistonpowered.com/2011/10/14/chevette-to-corvette-no-43-the-1950-51-fort-wayne-pistons/ Chevette to Corvette No. 43: The 1950-51 Fort Wayne Pistons 14 October 2011 Draft picks 1950 NBA draft Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 1 7 George Yardley G/F Stanford 2 19 Jim Riffey F Tulane 3 31 Art Burris F Tennessee Roster {| class="toccolours" style="font-size: 95%; width: 100%;"|} |- ! colspan="2" style="background-color: #0000FF; color: #FFFFFF; text-align: center;" | Fort Wayne Pistons 1950–51 roster |- style="background-color: #FF0000; color: #FFFFFF; text-align: center;" ! Players !! Coaches |- | valign="top" | {| class="sortable" style="background:transparent; margin:0px; width:100%;"|} ! Pos. !! # !! Name !! Ht. !! Wt. !! From |- 3 Curly Armstrong G/F 5 11 170 Indiana 12 Art Burris SF 6 5 220 Tennessee 10 Bob Carpenter basketball F/C 6 5 200 Texas A&M University–Commerce 16 Larry Foust C 6 9 215 La Salle 14 John Hargis basketball G/F 6 2 180 Texas 9 Bob Harris basketball F/C 6 7 195 Oklahoma State 5 Boag Johnson PG 5 11 170 Huntington 15 Jack Kerris PF 6 6 215 Loyola Chicago 6 Duane Klueh G 6 3 175 Indiana State 10 Dick Mehen PF 6 5 195 Tennessee 9 Ken Murray basketball player SG 6 2 190 St. Bonaventure 4 John Oldham basketball G 6 3 175 Western Kentucky 17 Don Otten C 6 10 240 Bowling Green 9, 17 Jim Riffey F 6 4 200 Tulane 8 Fred Schaus F 6 5 205 West Virginia Murray Mendenhall Regular season Season standings FTW x – clinched playoff spot Game log 1950–51 game log # Date Opponent Score High points Record 1 November 1 Boston 107–84 Larry Foust (21) 1–0 2 November 2 @ Syracuse 77–92 Boag Johnson (21) 1–1 3 November 4 @ Rochester 71–95 John Hargis (16) 1–2 4 November 5 Indianapolis 68–63 Larry Foust (20) 2–2 5 November 8 Tri-Cities 87–79 Boag Johnson (18) 3–2 6 November 9 @ Philadelphia 72–87 Fred Schaus (20) 3–3 7 November 11 @ Baltimore 77–85 Boag Johnson (13) 3–4 8 November 12 Washington 87–73 Fred Schaus (18) 4–4 9 November 15 Rochester 89–85 John Oldham (23) 5–4 10 November 18 @ Washington 75–118 Boag Johnson (14) 5–5 11 November 19 Baltimore 84–80 Jack Kerris (17) 6–5 12 November 22 @ Minneapolis 19–18 John Oldham (5) 7–5 13 November 23 Minneapolis 73–63 Larry Foust (19) 8–5 14 November 25 @ Tri-Cities 71–85 Fred Schaus (20) 8–6 15 November 26 Indianapolis 79–70 Larry Foust (22) 9–6 16 November 28 @ Indianapolis 66–90 John Oldham (12) 9–7 17 December 3 Rochester 80–79 Larry Foust (22) 10–7 18 December 6 Philadelphia 92–73 Fred Schaus (17) 11–7 19 December 7 @ Tri-Cities 77–76 Fred Schaus (22) 12–7 20 December 10 Washington 97–81 Boag Johnson (20) 13–7 21 December 12 @ Boston 81–87 Fred Schaus (20) 13–8 22 December 14 @ Philadelphia 82–94 Fred Schaus (17) 13–9 23 December 16 @ New York 77–86 Fred Schaus (19) 13–10 24 December 17 Tri-Cities 99–103 Fred Schaus (26) 13–11 25 December 19 @ Indianapolis 93–92 Fred Schaus (26) 14–11 26 December 21 Syracuse 97–72 Jack Kerris (26) 15–11 27 December 23 @ Rochester 65–77 Larry Foust (15) 15–12 28 December 25 @ Syracuse 69–81 Boag Johnson (14) 15–13 29 December 27 Rochester 68–74 Boag Johnson (13) 15–14 30 December 31 @ Tri-Cities 100–110 Fred Schaus (33) 15–15 31 January 1 Minneapolis 83–70 Larry Foust (17) 16–15 32 January 3 @ Minneapolis 64–86 Fred Schaus (21) 16–16 33 January 4 Indianapolis 83–94 Fred Schaus (23) 16–17 34 January 6 @ Washington 91–76 Boag Johnson (20) 17–17 35 January 7 New York 76–79 Fred Schaus (21) 17–18 36 January 8 vs New York 70–75 (OT) Fred Schaus (19) 17–19 37 January 11 Syracuse 84–76 Fred Schaus (16) 18–19 38 January 12 @ Indianapolis 89–81 Larry Foust (24) 19–19 39 January 13 @ Rochester 78–99 Fred Schaus (20) 19–20 40 January 14 Tri-Cities 94–85 Johnson, Schaus (19) 20–20 41 January 20 vs Minneapolis 70–89 Jack Kerris (19) 20–21 42 January 21 Boston 106–112 (OT) Fred Schaus (25) 20–22 43 January 25 @ Boston 97–99 Fred Schaus (18) 20–23 44 January 27 @ Baltimore 91–97 Kerris, Schaus (22) 20–24 45 January 28 Rochester 93–88 Fred Schaus (16) 21–24 46 January 31 Philadelphia 91–84 Jack Kerris (18) 22–24 47 February 1 @ Tri-Cities 102–109 Larry Foust (24) 22–25 48 February 4 Baltimore 95–108 John Oldham (20) 22–26 49 February 7 Minneapolis 96–86 Kerris, Oldham (20) 23–26 50 February 10 @ New York 62–73 Fred Schaus (16) 23–27 51 February 11 New York 120–96 Fred Schaus (22) 24–27 52 February 13 @ Indianapolis 78–80 Larry Foust (16) 24–28 53 February 14 Syracuse 77–75 Fred Schaus (19) 25–28 54 February 17 @ Baltimore 91–112 Oldham, Schaus (18) 25–29 55 February 18 Philadelphia 75–70 Jack Kerris (18) 26–29 56 February 24 @ Minneapolis 78–95 Jack Kerris (18) 26–30 57 February 25 Baltimore 102–92 Larry Foust (27) 27–30 58 February 28 Minneapolis 77–73 Larry Foust (22) 28–30 59 March 1 @ Syracuse 86–108 Foust, Oldham (15) 28–31 60 March 3 @ Rochester 79–89 Fred Schaus (17) 28–32 61 March 4 New York 105–98 Jack Kerris (26) 29–32 62 March 6 @ Tri-Cities 86–88 John Oldham (19) 29–33 63 March 7 Boston 95–99 Jack Kerris (20) 29–34 64 March 11 Tri-Cities 102–87 Larry Foust (19) 30–34 65 March 14 Indianapolis 115–109 Jack Kerris (24) 31–34 66 March 15 @ Philadelphia 78–88 Larry Foust (14) 31–35 67 March 16 @ Boston 88–90 Fred Schaus (22) 31–36 68 March 18 Tri-Cities 95–82 Don Otten (18) 32–36 Playoffs Fort Wayne Pistons 1951 yes #0000FF #FFFFFF Fort Wayne Pistons Division Semifinals yes no yes #FF0000 #FFFFFF 1 0 0 2 yes yes yes |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 1 | March 20 | @ Rochester | L 81–110 | Dick Mehen (19) | Edgerton Park Arena | 0–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 2 | March 22 | Rochester | W 83–78 | Fred Schaus (21) | North Side High School Gym | 1–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 3 | March 24 | @ Rochester | L 78–97 | Fred Schaus (12) | Edgerton Park Arena | 1–2 |- FTW 1951 yes See also 1950–51 NBA season References Category:Detroit Pistons seasons Fort Fort Wayne Pistons Fort Wayne Pistons