# 1949–50 Fort Wayne Pistons season

The 1949–50 NBA season was the second season for the Fort Wayne Pistons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and ninth overall as a franchise.
After missing the playoffs for the first time in 1949 the franchise made their first NBA playoff berth, starting a streak of 14 straight post-season berths. After beating the Chicago Stags 86–69 in a tiebreaker game, the Pistons entered the playoffs as the three seed in the east and defeated their old rivals, the Rochester Royals, in a first round sweep, before the Pistons got swept by the eventual champion Minneapolis Lakers. Fort Wayne was led by Indiana basketball legend point guard Curly Armstrong (7.3 ppg, 2.8 apg) and rookie forward Fred Schaus (14.3 ppg).

## Draft picks

| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | School/club team |
| 1 | 3 | Bob Harris | F/C | United States | Oklahoma State |
| 2 | – | John Oldham | G | United States | Western Kentucky |
| 3 | – | Fred Schaus | F | United States | West Virginia |
| 4 | – | Jerry Nagel | G | United States | Loyola Chicago |

## Regular season
### Season standings

| Central Divisionvte | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Neutral | Div |
| x-Minneapolis Lakers | 51 | 17 | .750 | – | 30–1 | 18–16 | 3–0 | 16–8 |
| x-Rochester Royals | 51 | 17 | .750 | – | 33–1 | 17–16 | 1–0 | 15–9 |
| x-Fort Wayne Pistons | 40 | 28 | .588 | 11 | 28–6 | 12–22 | – | 14–10 |
| x-Chicago Stags | 40 | 28 | .588 | 11 | 18–6 | 14–21 | 8–1 | 11–13 |
| St. Louis Bombers | 26 | 42 | .382 | 25 | 17–14 | 7–26 | 2–2 | 4–20 |

### Record vs. opponents

1949–50 NBA records :
| Team | AND | BAL | BOS | CHI | DEN | FWP | IND | MIN | NYK | PHI | ROC | SHE | STL | SYR | TCB | WAS | WAT |
| Anderson | — | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 4–3 | 1–1 | 2–5 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 5–2 | 2–0 | 3–4 | 7–2 | 1–1 | 7–0 |
| Baltimore | 1–1 | — | 2–4 | 1–5 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 1–5 | 1–5 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 2–0 | 3–3 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 2–4 | 1–1 |
| Boston | 2–0 | 4–2 | — | 0–6 | 1–1 | 2–4 | 1–1 | 1–5 | 1–5 | 3–3 | 0–6 | 1–1 | 2–4 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 3–3 | 1–1 |
| Chicago | 1–1 | 5–1 | 6–0 | — | 2–0 | 2–4 | 1–1 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 2–4 | 2–0 | 5–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 2–0 |
| Denver | 3–4 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | — | 0–2 | 0–7 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 3–4 | 0–2 | 1–6 | 0–7 | 0–2 | 2–5 |
| Fort Wayne | 1–1 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 4–2 | 2–0 | — | 1–1 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 2–0 | 5–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 2–4 | 1–1 |
| Indianapolis | 5–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 7–0 | 1–1 | — | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 5–2 | 1–1 | 2–7 | 4–3 | 1–1 | 5–2 |
| Minneapolis | 1–1 | 5–1 | 5–1 | 4–2 | 2–0 | 4–2 | 1–1 | — | 5–1 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 5–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 6–0 | 2–0 |
| New York | 1–1 | 5–1 | 5–1 | 4–2 | 2–0 | 2–4 | 1–1 | 1–5 | — | 1–5 | 1–5 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 5–1 | 2–0 |
| Philadelphia | 1–1 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 2–0 | 2–4 | 0–2 | 2–4 | 1–5 | — | 1–5 | 2–0 | 2–4 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–4 | 2–0 |
| Rochester | 2–0 | 3–3 | 6–0 | 4–2 | 2–0 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 5–1 | 5–1 | — | 1–1 | 5–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 6–0 | 2–0 |
| Sheboygan | 2–5 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 4–3 | 0–2 | 2–5 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | — | 0–2 | 1–6 | 3–4 | 2–0 | 4–3 |
| St. Louis | 0–2 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 1–5 | 2–0 | 1–5 | 1–1 | 1–5 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 1–5 | 2–0 | — | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–6 | 1–1 |
| Syracuse | 4–3 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 6–1 | 2–0 | 7–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 6–1 | 1–1 | — | 6–1 | 1–1 | 6–1 |
| Tri-Cities | 2–7 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 7–0 | 0–2 | 3–4 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 4–3 | 0–2 | 1–6 | — | 1–1 | 4–3 |
| Washington | 1–1 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 2–0 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 0–6 | 1–5 | 4–2 | 0–6 | 0–2 | 6–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | — | 1–1 |
| Waterloo | 0–7 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 5–2 | 1–1 | 2–5 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 3–4 | 1–1 | 1–6 | 3–4 | 1–1 | — |

### Game log
## Playoffs

1950 playoff game log :
Division Tiebreaker (finished as Central's #3 seed)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
1
March 20
Chicago
W 86–69
Fred Schaus (18)
Fred Schaus (6)
North Side High School Gym
1–0 :
Division Semifinals: 2–0 (home: 1–0; road: 1–0)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsLocationSeries
1
March 23
@ Rochester
W 90–84
Wager, Schaefer (18)
Edgerton Park Arena
1–0
2
March 24
Rochester
W 79–78 (OT)
Bob Carpenter (27)
North Side High School Gym
2–0 :
Division Finals: 0–2 (home: 0–1; road: 0–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh assistsLocationSeries
1
March 27
@ Minneapolis
L 79–93
Fred Schaus (20)
Fred Schaus (4)
Minneapolis Auditorium
0–1
2
March 28
Minneapolis
L 82–89
Fred Schaus (33)
North Side High School Gym
0–2 :
1950 schedule :

## Awards and records

* Fred Schaus, All-NBA Second Team