1956–57 St. Louis Hawks season

The 1956–57 St. Louis Hawks season was the 11th season for the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Prior to the start of the season, the Hawks made one of the biggest draft-day deals in NBA history. The Hawks sent 2nd overall pick Bill Russell to the Boston Celtics for Cliff Hagan and second-year star Ed Macauley.[1] Macauley had been a popular player at St. Louis University. The Hawks struggled for most of the season and coach Red Holzman was fired midway through the season.[1] The new head coach was Slater Martin, who led the Hawks to a 5–3 record.[1] Martin did not want the added responsibility of head coach, so Alex Hannum took over for the rest of the season. Despite a 34–38 record, the Hawks claimed the Western Division by a tiebreaker and earned a bye into the Western Finals, where the Hawks swept the Minneapolis Lakers in three straight games. The Hawks met the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.[1] The Hawks won Game 1 in double overtime, 125–123 in Boston.[1] The Celtics took Game 2 and the Hawks took Game 3 at home by 2 points. After losing Game 5 in Boston, the Hawks needed another victory at home to force a decisive seventh game. Game 7 in Boston went into double overtime and the Celtics emerged victorious, winning by 2 points.

1956–57 St. Louis Hawks season
Division champions
Head coachRed Holzman, Slater Martin and Alex Hannum
ArenaKiel Auditorium
Results
Record3438 (.472)
PlaceDivision: 1st (Western)
Playoff finishNBA Finals
(eliminated 3–4)

Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com

Offseason

NBA Draft

Pick Player Position School
2 Bill Russell Center San Francisco

Regular season

Season standings

Western Division W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
x-St. Louis Hawks3438.472-17-910-207-922-14
x-Minneapolis Lakers3438.472-15-95-2214-718-18
x-Fort Wayne Pistons3438.472-23-55-236-1017-19
Rochester Royals3141.431319-107-175-1415-21

Record vs. opponents

1956-57 NBA Records
Team BOS FWP MIN NYK PHI ROC STL SYR
Boston 6–35–47–58–46–37–25–7
Fort Wayne 3–67–55–44–56–64–85–4
Minneapolis 4–55–73–65–49–34–84–5
New York 5–74–56–34–85–46–36–6
Philadelphia 4–85–44–58–44–57–25–7
Rochester 3–66–63–94–55–46–64–5
St. Louis 2–78–48–43–62–76–65–4
Syracuse 7–54–55–46–67–55–44–5

Playoffs

West Division Tiebreakers

St. Louis Hawks vs. Minneapolis Lakers: Hawks win series 1–0

  • Game 1 @ St. Louis: St. Louis 114, Minneapolis 111 (OT)

St. Louis Hawks vs. Fort Wayne Pistons: Hawks win series 1–0

  • Game 1 @ St. Louis: St. Louis 115, Fort Wayne 103

West Division Semifinals

Hawks had a division semifinal bye.

West Division Finals

(1) St. Louis Hawks vs. (2) Minneapolis Lakers: Hawks win series 3–0

  • Game 1 @ St. Louis: St. Louis 118, Minneapolis 109
  • Game 2 @ St. Louis: St. Louis 106, Minneapolis 104
  • Game 3 @ Minneapolis: St. Louis 143, Minneapolis 135 (2OT)

NBA Finals

GameDateHome TeamResultRoad Team
Game 1March 30Boston123–125 (2OT)St. Louis
Game 2March 31Boston119–99St. Louis
Game 3April 6St. Louis100–98Boston
Game 4April 7St. Louis118–123Boston
Game 5April 9Boston124–109St. Louis
Game 6April 11St. Louis96–94Boston
Game 7April 13Boston125–123 (OT)St. Louis

Celtics win series 4–3

Awards and honors

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.