1953–54 Boston Celtics season

1953–54 Boston Celtics season
Head coach	Red Auerbach
Arena	Boston Garden
Results
Record	42–30 (.583)
Place	Division: 2nd (Eastern)
Playoff finish	East Division finals (lost to Nationals 0–2)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Radio	WCOP

The 1953–54 NBA season was the Celtics' eighth season in the NBA.

Offseason

NBA draft

Main article: 1953 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	School/Club Team

Regular season

Eastern Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Neutral	Div
x-New York Knicks	44	28	.611	–	18–8	15–13	11–7	24–16
x-Boston Celtics	42	30	.583	2	17–6	10–19	15–5	25–15
x-Syracuse Nationals	42	30	.583	2	26–6	11–17	5–7	21–19
Philadelphia Warriors	29	43	.403	15	10–9	6–16	13–18	19–21
Baltimore Bullets	16	56	.222	28	12–18	0–22	4–16	11–29

x = clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

1953-54 NBA Records
Team	BAL	BOS	FWP	MIL	MIN	NYK	PHI	ROC	SYR
Baltimore	—	1–9	0–8	2–6	2–6	3–7	4–6	1–7	3–7
Boston	9–1	—	4–4	6–2	3–5	5–5	6–4	4–4	5–5
Fort Wayne	8–0	4–4	—	9–2	5–5	3–5	6–2	3–8	2–6
Milwaukee	6–2	2–6	2–9	—	3–8	3–5	3–5	1–9	1–7
Minneapolis	6–2	5–3	5–5	8–3	—	5–3	6–2	6–5	5–3
New York	7–3	5–5	5–3	5–3	3–5	—	7–3	7–1	5–5
Philadelphia	6–4	4–6	2–6	5–3	2–6	3–7	—	1–7	6–4
Rochester	7–1	4–4	8–3	9–1	5–6	1–7	7–1	—	3–5
Syracuse	7–3	5–5	6–2	7–1	3–5	5–5	4–6	5–3	—

Game log

1953–54 game log
#	Date	Opponent	Score	High points	Record
1	November 1	Minneapolis	84–79	Macauley, Sharman (18)	0–1
2	November 5	@ Fort Wayne	79–83	Bill Sharman (23)	0–2
3	November 7	@ Philadelphia	79–77	Ed Macauley (26)	1–2
4	November 11	Philadelphia	78–72	Ed Macauley (23)	1–3
5	November 14	Syracuse	66–77	Bill Sharman (22)	2–3
6	November 15	N Minneapolis	89–74	Ed Macauley (23)	2–4
7	November 17	N Rochester	92–73	Ed Macauley (16)	2–5
8	November 21	Fort Wayne	77–91	Bob Cousy (14)	3–5
9	November 24	N New York	103–92	Bob Cousy (24)	3–6
10	November 25	New York	84–96	Ed Macauley (28)	4–6
11	November 26	@ Syracuse	86–93	Bill Sharman (24)	4–7
12	November 28	N Syracuse	80–91	Ed Macauley (21)	5–7
13	November 29	@ Minneapolis	82–95	Barksdale, Sharman (16)	5–8
14	December 1	N Philadelphia	86–89 (OT)	Ed Macauley (24)	6–8
15	December 3	@ Fort Wayne	70–76	Ed Macauley (22)	6–9
16	December 5	Milwaukee	79–97	Bob Cousy (22)	7–9
17	December 6	@ Baltimore	102–95 (OT)	Ed Macauley (35)	8–9
18	December 8	@ Rochester	79–97	Bill Sharman (22)	8–10
19	December 9	@ Philadelphia	103–104 (OT)	Bill Sharman (23)	8–11
20	December 10	@ New York	113–108 (2OT)	Bob Cousy (35)	9–11
21	December 12	Baltimore	75–106	Bob Cousy (23)	10–11
22	December 13	@ Syracuse	74–108	Bill Sharman (19)	10–12
23	December 15	N Fort Wayne	75–82	Bill Sharman (27)	11–12
24	December 16	Fort Wayne	74–91	Ed Macauley (25)	12–12
25	December 19	Syracuse	90–83	Macauley, Sharman (18)	12–13
26	December 20	N Philadelphia	89–101	Ed Macauley (21)	13–13
27	December 21	N Milwaukee	74–90	Bob Cousy (26)	14–13
28	December 23	N Milwaukee	74–80	Bob Cousy (26)	15–13
29	December 25	@ Fort Wayne	79–108	Bob Cousy (16)	15–14
30	December 26	@ Milwaukee	67–74	Bob Cousy (23)	15–15
31	December 27	Rochester	72–98	Cousy, Macauley (17)	16–15
32	December 30	N Syracuse	96–89	Bob Cousy (20)	16–16
33	December 31	@ New York	95–74	Ed Macauley (25)	17–16
34	January 1	Syracuse	92–95	Bob Cousy (29)	18–16
35	January 2	@ Baltimore	92–77	Bob Cousy (22)	19–16
36	January 3	N Baltimore	72–90	Bob Cousy (19)	20–16
37	January 4	N Baltimore	77–73	Bob Cousy (25)	21–16
38	January 10	@ Minneapolis	85–99	Ed Macauley (21)	21–17
39	January 13	Minneapolis	84–88	Ed Macauley (27)	22–17
40	January 14	N Milwaukee	74–86	Ed Macauley (26)	23–17
41	January 17	New York	87–84 (2OT)	Bob Cousy (24)	23–18
42	January 19	@ Philadelphia	73–89	Ed Macauley (22)	23–19
43	January 24	Rochester	93–85	Cousy, Macauley (20)	23–20
44	January 26	N Baltimore	94–69	Bill Sharman (19)	24–20
45	January 28	@ Fort Wayne	68–80	Macauley, Sharman (16)	24–21
46	January 29	@ Milwaukee	70–82	Ed Macauley (24)	24–22
47	January 31	@ Minneapolis	67–82	Cousy, Macauley (15)	24–23
48	February 3	Rochester	81–88	Ed Macauley (25)	25–23
49	February 4	@ Philadelphia	78–80	Macauley, Nichols (15)	25–24
50	February 6	@ Rochester	104–81	Bob Cousy (24)	26–24
51	February 7	New York	87–78	Ed Macauley (20)	26–25
52	February 8	N Baltimore	87–75	Bob Cousy (25)	27–25
53	February 10	Syracuse	79–94	Ed Macauley (27)	28–25
54	February 11	N New York	81–84 (OT)	Bob Cousy (33)	29–25
55	February 13	@ Baltimore	93–96	Bob Cousy (26)	29–26
56	February 14	New York	89–103	Bob Cousy (32)	30–26
57	February 16	@ New York	85–87	Ed Macauley (16)	30–27
58	February 18	@ Minneapolis	105–92	Bill Sharman (24)	31–27
59	February 19	@ Milwaukee	78–73	Ed Macauley (20)	32–27
60	February 21	N Philadelphia	85–95	Ed Macauley (27)	33–27
61	February 22	N Baltimore	111–110 (3OT)	Bob Cousy (42)	34–27
62	February 23	N Rochester	93–77	Bill Sharman (26)	34–28
63	February 25	@ Syracuse	101–96	Bill Sharman (26)	35–28
64	February 27	@ Rochester	75–74	Ed Macauley (20)	36–28
65	February 28	N Milwaukee	74–93	Ed Macauley (19)	37–28
66	March 2	@ New York	71–86	Bob Cousy (24)	37–29
67	March 5	Minneapolis	106–128	Ed Macauley (32)	38–29
68	March 7	Fort Wayne	80–86	Bob Cousy (24)	39–29
69	March 11	@ Syracuse	95–97 (OT)	Bob Cousy (24)	39–30
70	March 12	N Philadelphia	95–97 (2OT)	Bob Cousy (35)	40–30
71	March 13	Baltimore	85–97	Bill Sharman (30)	41–30
72	March 14	Philadelphia	92–97	Bob Cousy (30)	42–30

Playoffs

1954 playoff game log
Division Round Robin Semifinals: 2–2 (home: 1–1; road: 1–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Record 1 March 16 @ New York W 93–71 Cousy, Sharman (22) — Bob Cousy (10) Madison Square Garden III 1–0 2 March 17 Syracuse L 95–96 (OT) Bob Cousy (32) three players tied (10) Jack Nichols (10) Boston Garden 1–1 3 March 20 New York W 79–78 Bill Sharman (26) — Cousy, Nichols (6) Boston Garden 2–1 4 March 22 @ Syracuse L 85–98 Bob Cousy (25) Jack Nichols (12) Bob Cousy (8) Onondaga War Memorial 2–2
Division finals: 0–2 (home: 0–1; road: 0–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Series 1 March 25 @ Syracuse L 94–109 Jack Nichols (28) Jack Nichols (9) Bill Sharman (5) Onondaga War Memorial 0–1 2 March 27 Syracuse L 76–83 Bill Sharman (20) — Bob Cousy (6) Boston Garden 0–2
1954 schedule

Awards and records

• Bob Cousy, All-NBA First Team
• Ed Macauley, All-NBA Second Team
• The 1953-54 Celtics team set the record for the fewest points to assists ratio (3.56) by a team in a season in NBA history, a record that still stands today. This means that the Celtics had a higher percentage of their points being scored off assists (28.08%) than any other team in NBA history.
• Bob Cousy led the league with 7.2 assists per game.