# 1955–56 Philadelphia Warriors season

The 1955–56 Philadelphia Warriors season George Senesky took over for Eddie Gottlieb as coach, the Warriors had a strong start by winning 12 of their first 16 games. Paul Arizin and Neil Johnston were among the league's scoring leaders as the Warriors won the Eastern Division with a 45–27 record. The addition of rookie Tom Gola made the difference. In his first season Gola averaged 9.1 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game. In the Eastern Division Finals the Warriors beat the Syracuse Nationals in 5 games. In the NBA Finals, the Warriors won their 2nd Championship by beating the Fort Wayne Pistons 4 games to 1. HoopsHype would later rank this championship squad as tied with the 1956–57 Boston Celtics from a season later team as the team with the second-easiest path to the NBA Finals ever in 2024 due to them being one of three total championship teams who had playoff opponents that averaged around an average overall record or less during their championship run.

## Regular season
### Season standings

| Eastern Divisionvte | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Neutral | Div |
| x-Philadelphia Warriors | 45 | 27 | .625 | - | 21-7 | 11-17 | 13-3 | 22-14 |
| x-Boston Celtics | 39 | 33 | .542 | 6 | 20-7 | 12-15 | 7-11 | 18-18 |
| x-Syracuse Nationals | 35 | 37 | .486 | 10 | 23-8 | 9–19 | 3-10 | 15-21 |
| New York Knicks | 35 | 37 | .486 | 10 | 13-15 | 16-13 | 6-9 | 17-19 |

### Record vs. opponents

1955-56 NBA Records :
| Team | BOS | FWP | MIN | NYK | PHI | ROC | STL | SYR |
| Boston | — | 4–5 | 7–2 | 5–7 | 6-33 | 5–4 | 5–4 | 8–4 |
| Fort Wayne | 5–4 | — | 5–7 | 5–4 | 4–5 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 4–5 |
| Minneapolis | 2–7 | 7–5 | — | 5–4 | 3–6 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 4–5 |
| New York | 7–5 | 4–5 | 4–5 | — | 6–6 | 6–3 | 4–5 | 4–8 |
| Philadelphia | 7–5 | 5–4 | 6–3 | 6–6 | — | 6–3 | 6–3 | 9–3 |
| Rochester | 4–5 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 3–6 | 3–6 | — | 6–6 | 5–4 |
| St. Louis | 4–5 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 5–4 | 3–6 | 6–6 | — | 3–6 |
| Syracuse | 4–8 | 5–4 | 5–4 | 8–4 | 3–9 | 4–5 | 6–3 | — |

### Roster

Philadelphia Warriors 1955–56 NBA champions
* Arizin
* Beck
* Davis
* Dempsey
* George
* Gola
* Graboski
* Hennessy
* Johnston
* Moore
* Schafer
* Coach Senesky

## Playoffs

1956 playoff game log :
Division Finals: 3–2 (home: 3–0; road: 0–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocationSeries
1
March 23
Syracuse
W 109–87
Paul Arizin (29)
Neil Johnston (24)
Gola, Beck (5)
Philadelphia Civic Center
1–0
2
March 25
@ Syracuse
L 112–118
Neil Johnston (43)
Neil Johnston (16)
Neil Johnston (7)
Onondaga War Memorial
1–1
3
March 27
Syracuse
W 119–96
Joe Graboski (20)
Neil Johnston (18)
Tom Gola (10)
Philadelphia Civic Center
2–1
4
March 28
@ Syracuse
L 104–108
Neil Johnston (35)
Neil Johnston (12)
Neil Johnston (7)
Onondaga War Memorial
2–2
5
March 29
Syracuse
W 109–104
Paul Arizin (35)
Neil Johnston (18)
Neil Johnston (8)
Philadelphia Civic Center
3–2 :
NBA Finals: 4–1 (home: 3–0; road: 1–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
March 31
Fort Wayne
W 98–94
Paul Arizin (28)
Neil Johnston (14)
Tom Gola (10)
Philadelphia Civic Center 4,128
1–0
2
April 1
@ Fort Wayne
L 83–84
Paul Arizin (27)
Arizin, Johnston (9)
Ernie Beck (6)
War Memorial Coliseum 6,976
1–1
3
April 3
Fort Wayne
W 100–96
Paul Arizin (27)
Neil Johnston (14)
Tom Gola (8)
Philadelphia Civic Center 11,698
2–1
4
April 5
@ Fort Wayne
W 107–105
Paul Arizin (30)
Tom Gola (9)
Joe Graboski (7)
War Memorial Coliseum 7,852
3–1
5
April 7
Fort Wayne
W 99–88
Joe Graboski (29)
Joe Graboski (16)
Jack George (10)
Philadelphia Civic Center 11,194
4–1 :
1956 schedule :

## Awards and honors

* Paul Arizin, NBA All-Star Game
* Neil Johnston, NBA All-Star Game
* Neil Johnston, All-NBA First Team
* Paul Arizin, All-NBA First Team
* Jack George, All-NBA Second Team