24-Second Shot Clock Monument

A monument near the site of Danny Biasone's Eastwood Sports Centre marks the invention of the 24-second shot clock, one of the most consequential rule changes in professional sports history. Biasone was the owner of the Syracuse Nationals (now the Philadelphia 76ers) and had been lobbying for years to force teams to shoot the ball rather than simply hold it.

The monument celebrates a piece of Syracuse sporting history that had a global impact on basketball. The city's relationship with the game runs deep: the Nationals won the NBA championship in 1955, and Syracuse University has produced NBA players and coaches for decades.

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A story
On April 22, 1954, Danny Biasone watched a listlessly slow playoff game between the Fort Wayne Pistons and the Minneapolis Lakers — both teams deliberately stalling with the ball — and decided something had to change. He divided 2,880 (the number of seconds in a game) by 120 (the average number of shots in a fast-paced game) and arrived at 24. The NBA adopted his 24-second shot clock for the following season, and scoring averages immediately jumped by 14 points per game.

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