1955 NBA Playoffs
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The 1955 NBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1954-1955 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Conference champion Syracuse Nationals defeating the Western Conference champion Fort Wayne Pistons, four games to three in the NBA Finals.
This was the only championship for the Nationals under that moniker; the franchise won its next title in 1967 as the Philadelphia 76ers.
For the Pistons, this was their first trip to the NBA Finals in franchise history; they would make a return trip the following year, but would not win their first championship until 1989 as the Detroit Pistons.
After experimenting with a round robin playoff format the previous year, the NBA moved to a system in which the top team in each conference earned a first-round bye, giving them the right to start out in the conference finals. This system would remain in place until 1967, when the league changed to an eight-team, no-first-round-bye format.
By virtue of a first-round defeat of the New York Knicks, the Boston Celtics won their first playoff series in franchise history. Within two years they would win their first of 16 NBA Championships.
| Division Semifinals | Division Finals | NBA Finals | |||||||||||
| 1 | Fort Wayne | 3 | |||||||||||
| Western Division | |||||||||||||
| 2 | Minneapolis | 1 | |||||||||||
| 3 | Rochester | 1 | |||||||||||
| 2 | Minneapolis | 2 | |||||||||||
| W1 | Fort Wayne | 3 | |||||||||||
| E1 | Syracuse | 4 | |||||||||||
| 1 | Syracuse | 3 | |||||||||||
| Eastern Division | |||||||||||||
| 3 | Boston | 1 | |||||||||||
| 3 | Boston | 2 | |||||||||||
| 2 | New York | 1 | |||||||||||
