1956–57 St. Louis Hawks season

1956–57 St. Louis Hawks season
Western 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 @ Basketball-Reference.com
St. Louis Hawks seasons
< 1955–56 1957–58 >

The 1956–57 NBA season was the franchise's 11th season in the 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 2nd year star Ed Macauley.[1] Macauley had been a popular player at St. Louis University. The Hawks struggled 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 the rest of the season. Despite a 34–38 record, the Hawks would claim the Western Division by a tiebreaker and earned a bye into the Western Finals. In the Western Finals, the Hawks would sweep the Minneapolis Lakers in 3 straight games. The Hawks would meet the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.[1] The Hawks would win 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 7th game. Game 7 in Boston would go into double overtime but the Celtics would emerge victorious winning by 2 points.

Contents

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

Season Schedule

Player stats

Note: GP= Games played; REB= Rebounds; AST= Assists; STL = Steals; BLK = Blocks; PTS = Points; AVG = Average

Player GP REB AST STL BLK PTS AVG

Playoffs

NBA Finals

Game Date Home Team Result Road Team
Game 1 March 30 Boston 123-125 (2OT) St. Louis
Game 2 March 31 Boston 119-99 St. Louis
Game 3 April 6 St. Louis 100-98 Boston
Game 4 April 7 St. Louis 118-123 Boston
Game 5 April 9 Boston 124-109 St. Louis
Game 6 April 11 St. Louis 96-94 Boston
Game 7 April 13 Boston 125-123 (OT) St. Louis

Celtics win series 4-3

Awards and honors

References

  1. ^ a b c d e www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/stlhawks/stlhawks.html
1956 NBA Draft • All-Star Game • Playoffs • Finals • Transactions
Boston • New York • Philadelphia • Syracuse
Fort Wayne • Minneapolis • Rochester • St. Louis
Franchise • Seasons
1940s 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49
1950s 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59
1960s 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69
1970s 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79
1980s 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89
1990s 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99
2000s 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09
2010s 2009–10 2010–11