1961–62 Detroit Pistons season

1961–62 Detroit Pistons season
Head coach	Dick McGuire
Arena	Cobo Arena
Results
Record	37–43 (.463)
Place	Division: 3rd (Western)
Playoff finish	West Division Finals (eliminated 2–4)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	WJBK
Radio	WXYZ

The 1961–62 NBA season was the Detroit Pistons' 14th season in the NBA and fifth season in the city of Detroit. The team moved to newly built Cobo Arena in the 1961–62 season.

The Pistons were led by guard Gene Shue (19.0 ppg, 5.8 apg, NBA All-Star) and forward Bailey Howell (19.9 ppg, 12.6 rpg). The Pistons also featured rookie Ray Scott (13.3 ppg, 11.5 rpg), who would go on to a long career with the Pistons as a player and eventually coaching the team. For the thirteenth straight season, the Pistons made the playoffs, with this being the seventh time they finished third place in the Western Division. Detroit faced the Cincinnati Royals and star Oscar Robertson in the Western Division semifinals; the Pistons won in four games to advance to the Division Finals for the first time in four years, facing the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers beat the Pistons in six games. While the Pistons would make the postseason the following year, this was the last postseason series victory for the Pistons until 1976.

Regular season

Season standings

Western Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Neutral	Div
x-Los Angeles Lakers	54	26	.675	–	26–5	18–13	10–8	33–13
x-Cincinnati Royals	43	37	.538	11	18–13	14–16	11–8	29–17
x-Detroit Pistons	37	43	.463	17	16–14	8–17	13–12	24–22
St. Louis Hawks	29	51	.363	25	19–16	7–27	3–8	16–30
Chicago Packers	18	62	.225	36	15-23	3-39	0–0	10–30

x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

1961-62 NBA Records
Team	BOS	CHI	CIN	DET	LAL	NYK	PHI	STL	SYR
Boston	—	9–1	7–1	5–3	6–3	8–4	8–4	7–2	10–2
Chicago	1–9	—	1–9	3–7	2–8	6–4	0–10	4–6	1–9
Cincinnati	1–7	9–1	—	6–6	5–7	5–4	3–5	9–3	5–4
Detroit	3–5	7–3	6–6	—	4–8	5–4	1–7	7–5	4–5
Los Angeles	3–6	8–2	7–5	8–4	—	6–2	6–3	10–2	6–2
New York	4–8	4–6	4–5	4–5	2–6	—	4–8	4–4	3–9
Philadelphia	4–8	10–0	5–3	7–1	3–6	8–4	—	6–3	6–6
St. Louis	2–7	6–4	3–9	5–7	2–10	4–4	3–6	—	4–4
Syracuse	2–10	9–1	4–5	5–4	2–6	9–3	6–6	4–4	—

Game log

1961–62 Game log
#	Date	Opponent	Score	High points	Record
1	October 21	@ Boston	102–137	Gene Shue (17)	0–1
2	October 25	Los Angeles	120–116	Bailey Howell (33)	0–2
3	October 27	@ Los Angeles	118–128	Lee, Shue (22)	0–3
4	October 28	@ Los Angeles	126–135	Bob Ferry (29)	0–4
5	November 1	New York	95–111	Bob Ferry (21)	1–4
6	November 4	@ Philadelphia	132–135	Gene Shue (28)	1–5
7	November 8	Philadelphia	132–128	Don Ohl (27)	1–6
8	November 9	N Boston	116–110	Don Ohl (29)	2–6
9	November 10	@ New York	124–118	Gene Shue (32)	3–6
10	November 11	@ St. Louis	119–132	Gene Shue (22)	3–7
11	November 15	St. Louis	122–127	Bailey Howell (30)	4–7
12	November 18	Chicago	112–119	Bob Ferry (25)	5–7
13	November 19	N Cincinnati	112–128	Gene Shue (28)	5–8
14	November 21	N Los Angeles	102–108	Gene Shue (22)	6–8
15	November 24	N St. Louis	135–142	Don Ohl (36)	7–8
16	November 25	Los Angeles	103–104	Bob Ferry (22)	8–8
17	November 26	Boston	107–101	Don Ohl (20)	8–9
18	November 28	N Boston	108–116	Ray Scott (20)	8–10
19	December 1	@ St. Louis	116–119	Gene Shue (30)	8–11
20	December 2	St. Louis	109–118	Bailey Howell (33)	9–11
21	December 6	New York	97–133	Johnny Egan (19)	10–11
22	December 8	N Chicago	133–107	Walter Dukes (21)	11–11
23	December 9	Los Angeles	114–107	Bailey Howell (23)	11–12
24	December 12	N Philadelphia	132–109	Don Ohl (28)	11–13
25	December 14	@ Cincinnati	107–103	Bailey Howell (25)	12–13
26	December 16	Cincinnati	121–110	Bailey Howell (20)	12–14
27	December 17	N Los Angeles	122–116	Gene Shue (21)	12–15
28	December 19	N Syracuse	124–111	Bailey Howell (21)	12–16
29	December 20	Philadelphia	117–102	Ferry, Ohl (19)	12–17
30	December 23	N Cincinnati	134–125	Gene Shue (27)	13–17
31	December 25	N Chicago	97–118	Gene Shue (20)	13–18
32	December 26	N Chicago	101–108	Gene Shue (26)	13–19
33	December 27	Chicago	93–121	Gene Shue (26)	14–19
34	December 29	@ Cincinnati	131–116	Gene Shue (25)	15–19
35	December 30	@ Syracuse	108–109	Don Ohl (31)	15–20
36	January 1	St. Louis	145–139	Don Ohl (27)	15–21
37	January 2	@ New York	104–110	Bailey Howell (24)	15–22
38	January 3	Boston	103–112	Gene Shue (22)	16–22
39	January 5	N Syracuse	135–138 (OT)	Bailey Howell (35)	17–22
40	January 6	N New York	115–111	Bob Ferry (20)	17–23
41	January 9	N St. Louis	113–122	Gene Shue (24)	18–23
42	January 10	Philadelphia	113–110	Don Ohl (20)	18–24
43	January 12	@ Chicago	102–99	Gene Shue (25)	19–24
44	January 13	Cincinnati	119–112	Ray Scott (29)	19–25
45	January 14	N Los Angeles	108–118	Gene Shue (32)	20–25
46	January 17	Boston	126–116	Bailey Howell (35)	20–26
47	January 19	N Philadelphia	136–125	Bailey Howell (27)	20–27
48	January 20	@ Philadelphia	107–123	Gene Shue (23)	20–28
49	January 21	@ Boston	124–120	Gene Shue (30)	21–28
50	January 22	N Cincinnati	106–115	Bailey Howell (21)	21–29
51	January 24	Syracuse	102–111	Don Ohl (25)	22–29
52	January 25	N Syracuse	100–101	Ray Scott (20)	23–29
53	January 27	New York	107–115	Bailey Howell (28)	24–29
54	January 28	@ St. Louis	97–110	Don Ohl (21)	24–30
55	January 31	Los Angeles	123–122 (OT)	Bailey Howell (27)	24–31
56	February 2	@ Chicago	96–112	Bob Ferry (20)	24–32
57	February 3	N Chicago	116–109	Gene Shue (28)	25–32
58	February 4	St. Louis	113–121	Gene Shue (30)	26–32
59	February 6	@ Cincinnati	119–118	Gene Shue (27)	27–32
60	February 7	Cincinnati	107–113	Bailey Howell (29)	28–32
61	February 11	@ Syracuse	116–132	Don Ohl (24)	28–33
62	February 14	Philadelphia	110–119	Don Ohl (26)	29–33
63	February 16	Los Angeles	121–127	Don Ohl (27)	30–33
64	February 17	@ Cincinnati	123–113	Don Ohl (25)	31–33
65	February 18	St. Louis	112–119	Don Ohl (30)	32–33
66	February 20	@ New York	103–110	Bailey Howell (26)	32–34
67	February 21	@ St. Louis	126–123	Ohl, Shue (27)	33–34
68	February 23	Cincinnati	134–120	Bailey Howell (27)	33–35
69	February 25	@ Los Angeles	99–128	Scott, Shue (16)	33–36
70	February 27	@ Los Angeles	100–107	Bailey Howell (28)	33–37
71	February 28	N New York	119–109	Howell, Shue (23)	33–38
72	March 2	N Cincinnati	112–120	Bailey Howell (22)	33–39
73	March 3	Syracuse	128–114	Bailey Howell (25)	33–40
74	March 4	N Chicago	133–116	Dukes, Howell, Ohl (21)	34–40
75	March 7	N New York	112–119	Bailey Howell (31)	35–40
76	March 9	Boston	130–111	Johnny Egan (20)	35–41
77	March 10	@ Syracuse	111–128	Bailey Howell (21)	35–42
78	March 11	@ St. Louis	123–126	Shue, Scott (24)	35–43
79	March 12	N Chicago	121–116	Bailey Howell (29)	36–43
80	March 14	Syracuse	102–105	Ray Scott (28)	37–43

Playoffs

1962 playoff game log
Division Semifinals: 3–1 (home: 2–0; road: 1–1) Game Date Team Score High points Location Series 1 March 16 Cincinnati W 123–122 Ray Scott (34) Cobo Arena 1–0 2 March 17 @ Cincinnati L 107–129 Ohl, Shue (18) Cincinnati Gardens 1–1 3 March 18 Cincinnati W 118–107 Bailey Howell (27) Cobo Arena 2–1 4 March 20 @ Cincinnati W 112–111 Don Ohl (33) Cincinnati Gardens 3–1
Division Finals: 2–4 (home: 1–2; road: 1–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds Location Series 1 March 24 @ Los Angeles L 108–132 Bailey Howell (27) Walter Dukes (12) Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena 0–1 2 March 25 @ Los Angeles L 112–127 Don Ohl (33) Bailey Howell (13) Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena 0–2 3 March 27 Los Angeles L 106–111 Gene Shue (26) Walter Dukes (25) Cobo Arena 0–3 4 March 29 Los Angeles W 118–117 Bailey Howell (24) Ray Scott (23) Cobo Arena 1–3 5 March 31 @ Los Angeles W 132–125 Willie Jones (27) Ray Scott (13) Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena 2–3 6 April 3 Los Angeles L 117–123 Ray Scott (22) — Cobo Arena 2–4
1962 schedule

See also

• 1962 in Michigan