1956–57 St. Louis Hawks season

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
< 1955–56 1957–58 >

The 1956–57 St. Louis Hawks season was the 11th season for the franchise and eighth in the

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 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.

Offseason

NBA draft

Pick	Player	Position	School
2	Bill Russell	Center	San Francisco

Regular season

Season standings

Western Division v t e	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

• All-NBA First Team
• All-NBA Second Team

References

• Hawks on Basketball Reference