# 1960–61 Detroit Pistons season

The 1960–61 NBA season was the Detroit Pistons' 13th season in the NBA and fourth season in the city of Detroit. The team played home games at Olympia Stadium.
The Pistons finished 34-45 (.430), 3rd in the Western Division. The team advanced to the playoffs, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers 3–2 as Laker Elgin Baylor dominated the series with a 39.4 ppg average in the series. Detroit was led on the season by forward Bailey Howell (23.6 ppg, 14.4 rpg, NBA All-Star), center Walter Dukes (11.7 ppg, 14.1 rpg, NBA All-Star) and guard Gene Shue (22.6 ppg, 6.8 apg, NBA All-Star).
The 1960-61 Detroit Pistons were an offensive minded team, finishing their season at 2nd overall in Offensive Rating in the 1960-61 NBA season, which included eight NBA teams. However, Detroit had one of the poorer defenses in the NBA, ranking 6th overall in Defensive Rating.
Detroit ranked 6th overall in field goal attempts and 4th overall in field goal percentage and Effective Field Goal Percentage. The high-powered 1960-61 Pistons offense relied heavily on the free throw, ranking 1st in free throw attempt rate and free throws per field goal percentage.
The 1960-61 Pistons had a slightly more successful season than their previous year, winning 4 more games than the 1959-1960 season. However, Detroit still ended the year with the same amount of losses as the 1959-60 season. This is because the NBA expanded their schedule from 75 to 79 games in the 1960-61 season, so the Pistons played four more games than the 1959-1960 season.
Although the Pistons had a 34-45 (.430) losing record, they still made it to the 1961 NBA playoffs where they played the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers hosted the first two games of the series, beating the Pistons 120–102 on March 14, 1961, and 127–118 on March 15th. The Pistons were able to tie the series after beating the Lakers twice in Detroit with scores of 124–113 on March 17 and 123–114 on March 18. The March 17th victory was bolstered by a defensive assignment switch which placed Walter Dukes on Laker's star, Elgin Baylor. Baylor, who had averaged 44.5 points in the first two games in Los Angeles, was held to 26 points with only 10 of those points coming in the second half. The Pistons lost to the Lakers in the final game of the series 137–120, and were eliminated from the playoffs.

## Regular season
### Season standings

| Western Divisionvte | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Neutral | Div |
| x-St. Louis Hawks | 51 | 28 | .646 | – | 29–5 | 15–20 | 7–3 | 25–14 |
| x-Los Angeles Lakers | 36 | 43 | .456 | 15 | 16–12 | 8–20 | 12–11 | 19–20 |
| x-Detroit Pistons | 34 | 45 | .430 | 17 | 20–11 | 3–19 | 11–15 | 18–21 |
| Cincinnati Royals | 33 | 46 | .418 | 18 | 18–13 | 8–19 | 7–14 | 16–23 |
    x – clinched playoff spot

### Regular season by month

October 1960: The Detroit Pistons had a record of 2-1 through 3 games in October.
* Points Per Game Leader: Gene Shue (25.3)
* Assists Per Game Leader: Gene Shue (1)
* Rebounds Per Game Leader: Bailey Howell (6)
November 1960: The Detroit Pistons had a record of 5-11 through 16 games in November.
* Points Per Game Leader: Bailey Howell (22.9)
* Assists Per Game Leader: Gene Shue (3.1)
* Rebounds Per Game Leader: Bailey Howell (10.4)
December 1960: The Detroit Pistons had a record of 7-7 through 14 games in December.
* Points Per Game Leader: Bailey Howell (27.1)
* Assists Per Game Leader: Gene Shue (2)
* Rebounds Per Game Leader: Bailey Howell (13)
January 1961: The Detroit Pistons had a record of 11-10 through 21 games in January.
* Points Per Game Leader: Gene Shue (23.3)
* Assists Per Game Leader: Gene Shue (3.4)
* Rebounds Per Game Leader: Walter Dukes (9.4)
February 1961: The Detroit Pistons had a record of 5-12 through 17 games in February.
* Points Per Game Leader: Gene Shue (22.4)
* Assists Per Game Leader: Gene Shue (1.9)
* Rebounds Per Game Leader: Bailey Howell (4.8)
March 1961: The Detroit Pistons had a record of 4-4 through 8 games in March.
* Points Per Game Leader: Bailey Howell (24.5)
* Assists Per Game Leader: Chuck Noble (1.1)
* Rebounds Per Game Leader: Bailey Howell (6.1)

### Record vs. opponents

1960-61 NBA Records :
| Team | BOS | CIN | DET | LAL | NYK | PHI | STL | SYR |
| Boston | — | 7–3 | 8–2 | 8–2 | 10–3 | 8–5 | 6–4 | 10–3 |
| Cincinnati | 3–7 | — | 2–11 | 8–5 | 8–2 | 2–8 | 6–7 | 4–6 |
| Detroit | 2–8 | 11–2 | — | 4–9 | 5–5 | 5–5 | 3–10 | 4–6 |
| Los Angeles | 2–8 | 5–8 | 9–4 | — | 7–3 | 2–8 | 5–8 | 6–4 |
| New York | 3–10 | 2–8 | 5–5 | 3–7 | — | 2–11 | 1–9 | 5–8 |
| Philadelphia | 5–8 | 8–2 | 5–5 | 8–2 | 11–2 | — | 3–7 | 6–7 |
| St. Louis | 4–6 | 7–6 | 10–3 | 8–5 | 9–1 | 7–3 | — | 6–4 |
| Syracuse | 3–10 | 6–4 | 6–4 | 4–6 | 8–5 | 7–6 | 4–6 | — |

### Game log
## Playoffs

1961 playoff game log :
Division Semifinals: 2–3 (home: 2–0; road: 0–3)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
March 14
@ Los Angeles
L 102–120
Gene Shue (20)
Walter Dukes (11)
Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena
0–1
2
March 15
@ Los Angeles
L 118–127
McMillon, Shue (24)
Walter Dukes (12)
Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena 4,253
0–2
3
March 17
Los Angeles
W 124–113
Bob Ferry (30)
Detroit Olympia 3,422
1–2
4
March 18
Los Angeles
W 123–114
Gene Shue (29)
Detroit Olympia
2–2
5
March 19
@ Los Angeles
L 120–137
Bob Ferry (25)
Bob Ferry (16)
Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena 3,705
2–3 :
1961 schedule :

## Awards and records

* Gene Shue, All-NBA Second Team