1956–57 St. Louis Hawks season

1956–57 St. Louis Hawks season
Division champions
Head coach	Red Holzman, Slater Martin and Alex Hannum
Arena	Kiel Auditorium
Results
Record	34–38 (.472)
Place	Division: 1st (Western)
Playoff finish	NBA Finals (eliminated 3–4)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

The 1956–57 St. Louis Hawks season was the 11th season for the franchise and eighth 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. 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. The new head coach was Slater Martin, who led the Hawks to a 5–3 record. 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. The Hawks won Game 1 in double overtime, 125–123 in Boston. 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.

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 Hawks	34	38	.472	-	17-9	10-20	7-9	22-14
x-Minneapolis Lakers	34	38	.472	-	15-9	5-22	14-7	18-18
x-Fort Wayne Pistons	34	38	.472	-	23-5	5-23	6-10	17-19
Rochester Royals	31	41	.431	3	19-10	7-17	5-14	15-21

Record vs. opponents

1956-57 NBA Records
Team	BOS	FWP	MIN	NYK	PHI	ROC	STL	SYR
Boston	—	6–3	5–4	7–5	8–4	6–3	7–2	5–7
Fort Wayne	3–6	—	7–5	5–4	4–5	6–6	4–8	5–4
Minneapolis	4–5	5–7	—	3–6	5–4	9–3	4–8	4–5
New York	5–7	4–5	6–3	—	4–8	5–4	6–3	6–6
Philadelphia	4–8	5–4	4–5	8–4	—	4–5	7–2	5–7
Rochester	3–6	6–6	3–9	4–5	5–4	—	6–6	4–5
St. Louis	2–7	8–4	8–4	3–6	2–7	6–6	—	5–4
Syracuse	7–5	4–5	5–4	6–6	7–5	5–4	4–5	—

Game log

1956–57 Game log
#	Date	Opponent	Score	High points	Record
1	October 27	Minneapolis	75–97	Bob Pettit (25)	1–0
2	November 3	N Syracuse	75–73	Jack McMahon (21)	1–1
3	November 4	@ Syracuse	78–76	Ed Macauley (20)	2–1
4	November 7	New York	101–107	Bob Pettit (34)	3–1
5	November 10	Fort Wayne	79–86	Bob Pettit (27)	4–1
6	November 11	@ Fort Wayne	81–96	Bob Pettit (27)	4–2
7	November 13	Rochester	105–118	Bob Pettit (49)	5–2
8	November 17	Fort Wayne	87–92	Ed Macauley (23)	6–2
9	November 18	@ New York	69–102	Bob Pettit (13)	6–3
10	November 20	Syracuse	81–104	Bob Pettit (26)	7–3
11	November 21	@ Rochester	76–85	Bob Pettit (28)	7–4
12	November 24	Minneapolis	104–102 (OT)	Ed Macauley (27)	7–5
13	November 25	@ Minneapolis	95–94	Ed Macauley (26)	8–5
14	November 27	Boston	102–90	Bob Pettit (25)	8–6
15	December 1	Philadelphia	107–95	Bob Pettit (23)	8–7
16	December 4	N Boston	107–108	Bob Pettit (24)	8–8
17	December 6	N Minneapolis	96–103	Bob Pettit (17)	8–9
18	December 7	New York	107–101	Bob Pettit (22)	8–10
19	December 8	N New York	104–109	Bob Pettit (21)	8–11
20	December 11	@ New York	137–128	Bob Pettit (41)	9–11
21	December 12	@ Philadelphia	99–115	Jack Coleman (25)	9–12
22	December 15	@ Boston	99–102	Bob Pettit (31)	9–13
23	December 16	@ Syracuse	91–101	Bob Pettit (26)	9–14
24	December 18	N Fort Wayne	95–84	Bob Pettit (30)	10–14
25	December 22	@ Boston	93–95	Bob Pettit (28)	10–15
26	December 25	@ New York	107–105 (OT)	Bob Pettit (37)	11–15
27	December 27	Syracuse	95–102	Bob Pettit (39)	12–15
28	December 29	@ Minneapolis	95–92	Bob Pettit (22)	13–15
29	December 30	Minneapolis	93–100	Bob Pettit (41)	14–15
30	January 1	@ Rochester	101–102 (OT)	Bob Pettit (32)	14–16
31	January 3	N Philadelphia	81–82	Bob Pettit (26)	14–17
32	January 4	@ Philadelphia	92–96	Jack Coleman (21)	14–18
33	January 6	Rochester	93–86	Bob Pettit (33)	14–19
34	January 10	N New York	84–89 (OT)	Bob Pettit (38)	14–20
35	January 12	Boston	98–100	Bob Pettit (39)	15–20
36	January 13	@ Fort Wayne	89–91	Bob Pettit (28)	15–21
37	January 16	@ Rochester	108–106 (OT)	Bob Pettit (26)	16–21
38	January 17	N Fort Wayne	106–82	Slater Martin (22)	17–21
39	January 18	@ Boston	117–126	Bob Pettit (38)	17–22
40	January 19	@ Syracuse	104–96	Bob Pettit (30)	18–22
41	January 20	Philadelphia	102–104 (OT)	Bob Pettit (23)	19–22
42	January 22	@ Fort Wayne	87–97	Bob Pettit (30)	19–23
43	January 23	N Fort Wayne	101–78	Bob Pettit (22)	20–23
44	January 24	@ Philadelphia	96–107	Bob Pettit (30)	20–24
45	January 25	N Rochester	100–99	Bob Pettit (36)	21–24
46	January 27	Rochester	83–107	Bob Pettit (33)	22–24
47	January 29	Fort Wayne	91–85	Bob Pettit (26)	22–25
48	February 2	@ Minneapolis	106–97	Bob Pettit (37)	23–25
49	February 3	Minneapolis	85–102	Bob Pettit (31)	24–25
50	February 5	Philadelphia	101–87	Bob Pettit (26)	24–26
51	February 6	@ Rochester	100–103	Bob Pettit (24)	24–27
52	February 7	@ Syracuse	110–112	Bob Pettit (31)	24–28
53	February 8	@ Philadelphia	90–93	Bob Pettit (41)	24–29
54	February 10	Rochester	93–117	Bob Pettit (44)	25–29
55	February 11	N Syracuse	101–107	Bob Pettit (33)	26–29
56	February 12	N Minneapolis	105–110	Bob Pettit (35)	26–30
57	February 15	Boston	123–116 (2OT)	Bob Pettit (31)	26–31
58	February 17	@ Minneapolis	118–115 (OT)	Ed Macauley (36)	27–31
59	February 19	Fort Wayne	83–96	Ed Macauley (23)	28–31
60	February 21	@ Boston	112–125	Jack Coleman (33)	28–32
61	February 23	@ Rochester	86–101	Ed Macauley (21)	28–33
62	February 24	Philadelphia	112–113	Chuck Share (28)	29–33
63	February 25	N Minneapolis	110–94	Med Park (24)	30–33
64	February 26	@ New York	76–107	Jack Coleman (17)	30–34
65	February 27	N Syracuse	108–93	Ed Macauley (21)	30–35
66	March 2	New York	97–94	Cliff Hagan (19)	30–36
67	March 3	@ Fort Wayne	112–102	Jack McMahon (27)	31–36
68	March 5	Boston	102–104	Jack McMahon (21)	32–36
69	March 8	N Rochester	100–92	Ed Macauley (26)	33–36
70	March 9	Fort Wayne	96–97	Bob Pettit (23)	34–36
71	March 10	@ Minneapolis	104–117	Ed Macauley (17)	34–37
72	March 13	N Rochester	99–104	Ed Macauley (22)	34–38

Playoffs

1957 playoff game log
Division Tiebreaker (finished as West's #1 seed) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds Location Record 1 March 14 Fort Wayne W 115–103 Jack McMahon (24) Cliff Hagan (16) Kiel Auditorium 1–0 2 March 16 Minneapolis W 114–111 (OT) Cliff Hagan (28) Bob Pettit (18) Kiel Auditorium 2–0
Division Finals: 3–0 (home: 2–0; road: 1–0) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 March 21 Minneapolis W 118–109 Slater Martin (24) Bob Pettit (16) Jack McMahon (9) Kiel Auditorium 6,028 1–0 2 March 24 Minneapolis W 106–104 Bob Pettit (30) Jack Coleman (15) — Kiel Auditorium 9,451 2–0 3 March 26 @ Minneapolis W 143–135 (2OT) Bob Pettit (35) — — Minneapolis Auditorium 3–0
NBA Finals: 3–4 (home: 2–1; road: 1–3) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 March 30 @ Boston W 125–123 (2OT) Bob Pettit (37) Bob Pettit (14) — Boston Garden 5,976 1–0 2 March 31 @ Boston L 99–119 Ed Macauley (19) Bob Pettit (13) Slick Leonard (4) Boston Garden 13,909 1–1 3 April 6 Boston W 100–98 Bob Pettit (26) Bob Pettit (28) three player tied (5) Kiel Auditorium 10,048 2–1 4 April 7 Boston L 118–123 Bob Pettit (33) Bob Pettit (16) Martin, Hagan (6) Kiel Auditorium 10,035 2–2 5 April 9 @ Boston L 109–124 Bob Pettit (33) Bob Pettit (15) Med Park (6) Boston Garden 13,909 2–3 6 April 11 Boston W 96–94 Bob Pettit (32) Bob Pettit (23) — Kiel Auditorium 10,053 3–3 7 April 13 @ Boston L 123–125 (2OT) Bob Pettit (39) Bob Pettit (19) Martin, Coleman (7) Boston Garden 13,909 3–4
1957 schedule

Awards and honors

• Bob Pettit, All-NBA First Team
• Slater Martin, All-NBA Second Team

References

• Hawks on Basketball Reference