1958–59 Detroit Pistons season

The 1958–59 NBA season was the Detroit Pistons' 11th season in the NBA and second season in the city of Detroit. The team played at Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

1958–59 Detroit Pistons season
Head coach	Red Rocha
Arena	Detroit Olympia
Results
Record	28–44 (.389)
Place	Division: 3rd (Western)
Playoff finish	West Division Semifinals (eliminated 1–2)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

The team finished with a 28-44 (.389) record, third in the Western Division, but advanced to the playoffs, dropping the Western Conference semi-final 2–1 to the Minneapolis Lakers. The team was led guard Gene Shue (17.6 ppg, NBA All-Star) and center Walter Dukes (13.0 ppg, 13.3 rpg). The Pistons traded away NBA All-Star George Yardley to the Syracuse Nationals during the season in a trade that netted Ed Conlin.

Regular season

Season standings

Western Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Neutral	Div
x-St. Louis Hawks	49	23	.681	–	28–3	14–15	7–5	27–9
x-Minneapolis Lakers	33	39	.458	16	15–7	9–17	9–15	18–18
x-Detroit Pistons	28	44	.389	21	13–17	8–20	7–7	17–19
Cincinnati Royals	19	53	.264	30	9–19	2–25	8–9	10–26

x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

1958-59 NBA Records
Team	BOS	CIN	DET	MIN	NYK	PHI	STL	SYR
Boston	—	8–1	8–1	9–0	7–5	9–3	4–5	7–5
Cincinnati	1–8	—	3–9	6–6	3–6	2–7	1–11	3–6
Detroit	1–8	9–3	—	4–8	3–6	5–4	4–8	2–7
Minneapolis	0–9	6–6	8–4	—	4–5	6–3	4–8	5–4
New York	5–7	6–3	6–3	5–4	—	5–7	4–5	9–3
Philadelphia	3–9	7–2	4–5	3–6	7–5	—	4–5	4–8
St. Louis	5–4	11–1	8–4	8–4	5–4	5–4	—	7–2
Syracuse	5–7	6–3	7–2	4–5	3–9	8–4	2–7	—

Game log

1958–59 Game log
#	Date	Opponent	Score	High points	Record
1	October 19	@ Syracuse	94–103	Gene Shue (18)	0–1
2	October 23	@ St. Louis	103–104	George Yardley (28)	0–2
3	October 25	St. Louis	112–117	Phil Jordon (33)	1–2
4	October 26	@ Minneapolis	100–108	George Yardley (36)	1–3
5	October 31	Cincinnati	113–120	Phil Jordon (31)	2–3
6	November 1	@ Boston	98–112	George Yardley (17)	2–4
7	November 2	@ Philadelphia	107–91	George Yardley (33)	3–4
8	November 7	New York	115–101	Chuck Noble (23)	3–5
9	November 9	Boston	133–136	Gene Shue (45)	4–5
10	November 13	N Minneapolis	110–119	Shue, Yardley (32)	5–5
11	November 14	Syracuse	111–109	George Yardley (25)	5–6
12	November 15	@ St. Louis	91–102	Phil Jordon (20)	5–7
13	November 18	N Boston	102–115	Phil Jordon (18)	5–8
14	November 22	Cincinnati	86–103	George Yardley (24)	6–8
15	November 23	@ Minneapolis	124–109	George Yardley (34)	7–8
16	November 25	Minneapolis	98–90	George Yardley (31)	7–9
17	November 26	@ Cincinnati	112–95	Phil Jordon (24)	8–9
18	November 28	Syracuse	93–101	Chuck Noble (20)	9–9
19	November 29	@ Boston	96–110	Farley, McMillon, Shue (14)	9–10
20	December 2	Philadelphia	91–95	George Yardley (37)	10–10
21	December 5	New York	110–108	George Yardley (24)	10–11
22	December 6	@ New York	99–92	Chuck Noble (20)	11–11
23	December 10	N St. Louis	82–89	Dukes, Jordon (12)	12–11
24	December 11	N St. Louis	101–107	George Yardley (37)	13–11
25	December 12	Philadelphia	95–97	Phil Jordon (32)	14–11
26	December 14	Syracuse	101–95	Dick McGuire (22)	14–12
27	December 17	Boston	102–95	George Yardley (33)	14–13
28	December 18	@ Minneapolis	104–113	George Yardley (27)	14–14
29	December 20	St. Louis	111–104	Gene Shue (20)	14–15
30	December 25	N Minneapolis	97–98 (OT)	Gene Shue (17)	15–15
31	December 26	Cincinnati	91–131	George Yardley (28)	16–15
32	December 30	@ New York	90–93	George Yardley (21)	16–16
33	January 2	N Cincinnati	104–111	George Yardley (30)	16–17
34	January 3	New York	106–102	George Yardley (16)	16–18
35	January 4	@ Syracuse	94–118	Phil Jordon (24)	16–19
36	January 6	@ Philadelphia	107–105	George Yardley (27)	17–19
37	January 9	Boston	103–90	George Yardley (21)	17–20
38	January 10	@ Cincinnati	101–69	Gene Shue (24)	18–20
39	January 11	@ St. Louis	100–111	McGuire, Shue (14)	18–21
40	January 13	N Cincinnati	112–92	Phil Jordon (24)	19–21
41	January 14	St. Louis	114–108	Walter Dukes (25)	19–22
42	January 17	Philadelphia	106–104	Walter Dukes (23)	19–23
43	January 18	@ Cincinnati	88–107	Walter Dukes (26)	19–24
44	January 21	@ Philadelphia	105–112	George Yardley (33)	19–25
45	January 24	@ New York	118–122 (OT)	Walter Dukes (24)	19–26
46	January 25	@ Boston	118–119 (OT)	Gene Shue (29)	19–27
47	January 26	N Philadelphia	102–98	Phil Jordon (23)	19–28
48	January 27	Syracuse	121–107	Phil Jordon (23)	19–29
49	January 30	N Minneapolis	88–86	Gene Shue (20)	19–30
50	January 31	Cincinnati	88–103	Gene Shue (27)	20–30
51	February 1	@ St. Louis	96–130	Chuck Noble (18)	20–31
52	February 4	Philadelphia	117–119 (2OT)	Walter Dukes (26)	21–31
53	February 6	N Syracuse	122–103	Joe Holup (21)	21–32
54	February 8	Minneapolis	115–103	Earl Lloyd (22)	21–33
55	February 9	N Cincinnati	122–97	Phil Jordon (20)	22–33
56	February 11	@ Syracuse	118–114 (OT)	Phil Jordon (30)	23–33
57	February 13	New York	90–96	Phil Jordon (19)	24–33
58	February 15	@ Boston	94–120	Gene Shue (15)	24–34
59	February 17	Minneapolis	97–90	Earl Lloyd (20)	24–35
60	February 18	@ Minneapolis	95–105	Gene Shue (22)	24–36
61	February 20	Boston	111–106 (OT)	Gene Shue (24)	24–37
62	February 21	N New York	101–114	Gene Shue (26)	25–37
63	February 22	@ Syracuse	108–139	Gene Shue (21)	25–38
64	February 25	St. Louis	104–100	Phil Jordon (20)	25–39
65	February 26	N Cincinnati	101–106	Gene Shue (16)	25–40
66	March 1	Cincinnati	101–117	Gene Shue (31)	26–40
67	March 3	N Philadelphia	116–107	Gene Shue (20)	26–41
68	March 4	St. Louis	97–127	Shellie McMillon (23)	27–41
69	March 6	Minneapolis	99–98	Conlin, Dukes (17)	27–42
70	March 7	@ St. Louis	128–137	Gene Shue (27)	27–43
71	March 8	@ New York	120–127	Phil Jordon (19)	27–44
72	March 11	@ Minneapolis	123–118	Phil Jordon (21)	28–44

Playoffs

1959 playoff game log
Division Semifinals: 1–2 (home: 1–0; road: 0–2) Game Date Team Score High points Location Series 1 March 14 @ Minneapolis L 89–92 Phil Jordon (22) Minneapolis Auditorium 0–1 2 March 15 Minneapolis W 117–103 Gene Shue (32) Detroit Olympia 1–1 3 March 18 @ Minneapolis L 102–129 Gene Shue (31) Minneapolis Auditorium 1–2
1959 schedule