Summary
The Milwaukee Hawks moved to St. Louis, where Bob Pettit was more than welcome. The rookie of the year the previous season, Pettit led the league in scoring and rebounding to win the NBA's first Most Valuable Player award.
Despite Pettit, the Hawks finished below .500, still good enough to tie them with the Minneapolis Lakers for secon place in the Western Division. Only three teams in the league had winning records.
The Philadelphia Warriors were clearly the class of the NBA with a 45-25 record. They finished six games ahead of the Boston Celtics and they were eight games better than the Fort Wayne Pistons, who won the West.
The playoffs went true to form, with the Warriors knocking off the Pistons in five games to win the championship. Paul Arizin and Neil Johnston had finished second and third to Pettit in scoring, and Fort Wayne just couldn't match that kind of firepower. Arizin was especially during the playoffs, averaging 28.9 points a game in 10 games.
Bob Cousy of the Celtics broke his own record by handing out 642 assists, 85 more than his nearest competitor.
The Rookie of the Year was Maurice Stokes of the Rochester Royals, who came out of little St. Francis of Loretto College in Pennsylvania. Stokes' career was to be cut tragically short by encephalitis during his third season in the league.
