1951–52 Syracuse Nationals season

The 1951–52 NBA season was the Nationals' 3rd season in the NBA.^[1]

1951–52 Syracuse Nationals season
Division champions
Head coach	Al Cervi
Arena	Onondaga War Memorial
Results
Record	40–26 (.606)
Place	Division: 1st (Eastern)
Playoff finish	East Division Finals (eliminated 1–3)
Stats at Basketball Reference
< 1950–51 1952–53 >

Draft picks

Main article: 1951 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
7	64	Roy Reardon	Forward	USA	St. Francis (NY)

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Eastern Division v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Neutral	Div
x-Syracuse Nationals	40	26	.606	–	26–7	12–18	2–1	21–15
x-Boston Celtics	39	27	.591	1	22–7	10–19	7–1	22–14
x-New York Knicks	37	29	.561	3	21–4	12–22	4–3	23–13
x-Philadelphia Warriors	33	33	.500	7	24–7	6–25	3–1	14–22
Baltimore Bullets	20	46	.303	20	17–15	2–22	1–9	10–26

x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

1951-52 NBA Records
Team	BAL	BOS	FWP	IND	MIL	MIN	NYK	PHI	ROC	SYR
Baltimore	—	1–8	2–4	2–4	4–2	0–6	2–7	4–5	2–4	3–6
Boston	8–1	—	3–3	3–3	5–1	3–3	4–5	6–3	3–3	4–5
Fort Wayne	4–2	3–3	—	5–4	4–5	5–4	3–3	2–4	3–6	0–6
Indianapolis	4–2	3–3	4–5	—	7–2	4–5	3–3	2–4	3–6	4–2
Milwaukee	2–4	1–5	5–4	2–7	—	1–8	2–4	1–5	1–8	2–4
Minneapolis	6–0	3–3	4–5	5–4	8–1	—	4–2	2–4	7–2	1–5
New York	7–2	5–4	3–3	3–3	4–2	2–4	—	6–3	2–4	5–4
Philadelphia	5–4	3–6	4–2	4–2	5–1	4–2	3–6	—	2–4	3–6
Rochester	4–2	3–3	6–3	6–3	8–1	2–7	4–2	4–2	—	4–2
Syracuse	6–3	5–4	6–0	2–4	4–2	5–1	4–5	6–3	2–4	—

Game log

1951–52 Game log
#	Date	Opponent	Score	High points	Record
1	November 1	Fort Wayne	75–90	Dolph Schayes (18)	1–0
2	November 4	Minneapolis	67–98	Dolph Schayes (23)	2–0
3	November 10	@ Baltimore	82–91	Billy Gabor (18)	2–1
4	November 11	Indianapolis	79–93	Red Rocha (21)	3–1
5	November 15	Boston	95–97	Osterkorn, Schayes (15)	4–1
6	November 16	@ Philadelphia	97–90	Dolph Schayes (35)	5–1
7	November 17	@ New York	79–72	Dolph Schayes (20)	6–1
8	November 18	Baltimore	68–71	Al Cervi (26)	7–1
9	November 22	@ Fort Wayne	96–72	Red Rocha (23)	8–1
10	November 23	@ Indianapolis	68–82	Dolph Schayes (14)	8–2
11	November 25	New York	73–100	Al Cervi (19)	9–2
12	November 29	Fort Wayne	78–82	Red Rocha (21)	10–2
13	November 30	@ Philadelphia	75–82	King, Seymour (15)	10–3
14	December 2	Rochester	81–79	Dolph Schayes (29)	10–4
15	December 4	@ Indianapolis	77–83	Al Cervi (16)	10–5
16	December 5	@ Minneapolis	83–81 (OT)	Dolph Schayes (24)	11–5
17	December 6	N Milwaukee	70–73	Paul Seymour (15)	11–6
18	December 8	@ Rochester	95–75	Dolph Schayes (24)	12–6
19	December 9	Philadelphia	74–93	Wally Osterkorn (17)	13–6
20	December 11	N Fort Wayne	80–62	Red Rocha (17)	14–6
21	December 13	Milwaukee	82–89	Billy Gabor (23)	15–6
22	December 16	Indianapolis	96–92	Dolph Schayes (21)	15–7
23	December 19	@ Boston	97–103	Wally Osterkorn (19)	15–8
24	December 22	@ New York	73–92	Dolph Schayes (15)	15–9
25	December 23	New York	75–72	Noble Jorgensen (18)	15–10
26	December 25	N Milwaukee	70–65	Red Rocha (16)	16–10
27	December 27	Milwaukee	69–68	Ratkovicz, Rocha (13)	16–11
28	December 30	Baltimore	91–108	Red Rocha (20)	17–11
29	January 1	@ Minneapolis	80–82	Red Rocha (18)	17–12
30	January 3	Boston	81–107	George King (17)	18–12
31	January 6	Philadelphia	93–98	Dolph Schayes (26)	19–12
32	January 10	New York	96–110	Billy Gabor (27)	20–12
33	January 12	@ Baltimore	92–88	Dolph Schayes (22)	21–12
34	January 13	Indianapolis	85–103	Billy Gabor (23)	22–12
35	January 17	Minneapolis	105–110 (3OT)	Dolph Schayes (41)	23–12
36	January 20	Baltimore	80–99	Billy Gabor (21)	24–12
37	January 22	@ Milwaukee	93–82	Ratkovicz, Rocha, Seymour (17)	25–12
38	January 23	@ Minneapolis	99–97 (OT)	George King (22)	26–12
39	January 25	@ Philadelphia	94–95 (OT)	Dolph Schayes (27)	26–13
40	January 26	@ Baltimore	78–73	Red Rocha (21)	27–13
41	January 27	Boston	86–91	Dolph Schayes (29)	28–13
42	January 31	Milwaukee	79–88	Jorgensen, Rocha (16)	29–13
43	February 3	Baltimore	73–95	Dolph Schayes (27)	30–13
44	February 6	@ Boston	88–99	Dolph Schayes (20)	30–14
45	February 8	@ Philadelphia	96–87	George King (19)	31–14
46	February 9	@ Baltimore	76–84	Red Rocha (21)	31–15
47	February 10	Philadelphia	84–91	Paul Seymour (21)	32–15
48	February 12	@ New York	69–78	Gerald Calabrese (14)	32–16
49	February 14	Rochester	78–76	Red Rocha (21)	32–17
50	February 16	@ Rochester	84–92	Red Rocha (18)	32–18
51	February 17	New York	61–66	George King (17)	33–18
52	February 21	Minneapolis	80–88	George King (21)	34–18
53	February 23	@ Baltimore	80–81	Red Rocha (21)	34–19
54	February 24	Boston	77–75	George King (17)	34–20
55	February 27	@ Boston	81–88	Wally Osterkorn (19)	34–21
56	February 28	Fort Wayne	83–88	George King (18)	35–21
57	March 1	@ Rochester	83–98	Noble Jorgensen (21)	35–22
58	March 2	Rochester	72–76	George Ratkovicz (15)	36–22
59	March 6	@ Fort Wayne	83–81 (2OT)	Red Rocha (20)	37–22
60	March 7	@ Indianapolis	76–81	George King (15)	37–23
61	March 8	@ Philadelphia	83–92	Al Cervi (21)	37–24
62	March 9	Philadelphia	82–99	Paul Seymour (15)	38–24
63	March 12	@ Boston	89–71	George King (25)	39–24
64	March 13	Boston	82–81	Wally Osterkorn (16)	40–24
65	March 15	@ New York	90–97	Noble Jorgensen (16)	40–25
66	March 16	New York	90–84	Rocha, Schayes (19)	40–26

Playoffs

1952 playoff game log
Division Semifinals: 2–1 (home: 2–0; road: 0–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Series 1 March 20 Philadelphia W 102–83 Dolph Schayes (31) Dolph Schayes (18) Seymour, Osterkorn (4) Onondaga War Memorial 1–0 2 March 22 @ Philadelphia L 95–100 Osterkorn, Seymour (16) Schayes, Ratkovicz (12) Wally Osterkorn (7) Philadelphia Arena 1–1 3 March 23 Philadelphia W 84–73 Red Rocha (20) Wally Osterkorn (12) Paul Seymour (4) Onondaga War Memorial 2–1
Division Finals: 1–3 (home: 1–1; road: 0–2) Game Date Team Score High points Location Series 1 April 2 New York L 85–87 Dolph Schayes (25) Onondaga War Memorial 0–1 2 April 3 New York W 102–92 Paul Seymour (21) Onondaga War Memorial 1–1 3 April 5 @ New York L 92–99 Red Rocha (22) Madison Square Garden III 1–2 4 April 6 @ New York L 93–100 Dolph Schayes (22) Madison Square Garden III 1–3
1952 schedule

Player statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game

Season

Playoffs

Awards and records

Dolph Schayes, All-NBA First Team

Transactions