1956–57 Boston Celtics season

NBA basketball team season (Season champions) August 2023 March 2026 Boston Celtics 1957 yes yes 44 28 1 Eastern Red Auerbach Boston Garden WHDH NBA champions(Defeated Hawks 4–3) BOS thumb|right|250px|The 1956-57 complete roster that won their first championship. The 1956–57 Boston Celtics season was the 11th season for the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). This was the first time in franchise history where the Celtics advanced to the NBA Finals, which they won over the St. Louis Hawks in 7 games. The Celtics would make the Finals a record 10 consecutive seasons, spanning from this season to the 1965–66 season. They were led by 1957's MVP Bob Cousy, as well as Bill Russell, Bill Sharman, and 1957's Rookie of the Year Tom Heinsohn. HoopsHype would later rank this championship squad as tied with the 1955–56 Philadelphia Warriors team a season prior as the team with the second-easiest path to the NBA Finals ever in 2024 due to them being one of three total championship teams who had playoff opponents that averaged around an average overall record or less during their championship run.Urbina Frank Ranking the easiest paths to an NBA title ever HoopsHype 2024-06-17 https://hoopshype.com/lists/ranking-the-easiest-paths-to-an-nba-title-ever-championship/ 2025-03-19 With Russell's death in 2022, Bob Cousy is the only living player from the 1957 championship team (as of 2026). Offseason NBA draft Roster Boston Celtics 1956–57 14 Bob Cousy G 6 1 175 1928-08-09 Holy Cross 15 Tom Heinsohn F/C 6 7 218 1934-08-26 Holy Cross 20 Dick Hemric F 6 6 220 1933-08-29 Wake Forest 18 Jim Loscutoff F 6 5 220 1930-02-04 Oregon 16 Jack Nichols basketball F/C 6 7 222 1926-04-09 Washington 17 Andy Phillip G 6 2 195 1922-03-07 Illinois 23 Frank Ramsey basketball G/F 6 3 190 1931-07-13 Kentucky 19 Arnie Risen F/C 6 9 200 1924-10-09 Ohio State 6 Bill Russell C 6 9 215 1934-02-12 San Francisco 21 Bill Sharman G 6 1 175 1926-05-25 USC 29 Lou Tsioropoulos F 6 5 190 1930-08-31 Kentucky Red Auerbach Regular season Season standings BOS Game log 1956–57 Game log # Date Opponent Score High points Record 1 October 27 @ New York 115–112 Bob Cousy (35) 1–0 2 November 3 New York 113–107 Bill Sharman (31) 1–1 3 November 10 Minneapolis 110–117 Bob Cousy (27) 2–1 4 November 11 @ Syracuse 94–83 Bill Sharman (28) 3–1 5 November 14 N Minneapolis 113–97 Bill Sharman (28) 3–2 6 November 15 @ Fort Wayne 95–98 Bill Sharman (24) 3–3 7 November 17 Rochester 86–108 Jim Loscutoff (20) 4–3 8 November 18 @ Rochester 101–87 Bill Sharman (32) 5–3 9 November 21 Philadelphia 83–95 Bill Sharman (28) 6–3 10 November 22 @ Philadelphia 101–78 Bill Sharman (30) 7–3 11 November 24 Syracuse 99–114 Cousy, Sharman (21) 8–3 12 November 27 @ St. Louis 102–90 Bob Cousy (27) 9–3 13 November 28 N Minneapolis 93–105 Jim Loscutoff (26) 10–3 14 November 30 N Fort Wayne 102–104 Arnie Risen (22) 11–3 15 December 1 Fort Wayne 93–108 Bill Sharman (22) 12–3 16 December 4 N St. Louis 107–108 Cousy, Heinsohn (26) 13–3 17 December 6 @ Philadelphia 111–113 Bob Cousy (32) 13–4 18 December 7 Minneapolis 114–121 Bob Cousy (34) 14–4 19 December 9 @ Syracuse 110–116 Tom Heinsohn (25) 14–5 20 December 11 N Fort Wayne 97–113 Tom Heinsohn (34) 15–5 21 December 12 Rochester 103–93 Bob Cousy (23) 15–6 22 December 15 St. Louis 99–102 Bob Cousy (26) 16–6 23 December 16 N Philadelphia 116–104 Bob Cousy (21) 16–7 24 December 18 @ New York 99–110 Bob Cousy (35) 16–8 25 December 22 St. Louis 93–95 Tom Heinsohn (19) 17–8 26 December 23 @ Fort Wayne 87–95 Bill Sharman (26) 17–9 27 December 25 N Philadelphia 89–82 Bob Cousy (22) 17–10 28 December 26 Philadelphia 97–120 Dickie Hemric (27) 18–10 29 December 27 N Rochester 92–97 Bill Sharman (19) 19–10 30 December 30 Syracuse 92–105 Bill Sharman (28) 20–10 31 January 1 N Philadelphia 87–100 Tom Heinsohn (30) 21–10 32 January 4 N Syracuse 116–106 Bob Cousy (32) 21–11 33 January 6 Fort Wayne 92–118 Bob Cousy (20) 22–11 34 January 8 @ New York 102–113 Cousy, Sharman (25) 22–12 35 January 10 @ Fort Wayne 98–81 Jim Loscutoff (22) 23–12 36 January 12 @ St. Louis 98–100 Bill Sharman (32) 23–13 37 January 13 @ Minneapolis 87–104 Bill Sharman (24) 23–14 38 January 18 St. Louis 117–126 Bill Sharman (33) 24–14 39 January 19 @ Rochester 97–83 Bob Cousy (33) 25–14 40 January 20 New York 78–114 Bob Cousy (32) 26–14 41 January 23 Syracuse 108–140 Bill Sharman (22) 27–14 42 January 25 Minneapolis 106–115 Bob Cousy (30) 28–14 43 January 27 @ Philadelphia 107–87 Bill Sharman (30) 29–14 44 January 28 Philadelphia 95–105 Bob Cousy (22) 30–14 45 January 29 N Minneapolis 91–103 Bill Sharman (32) 31–14 46 January 30 Syracuse 119–116 Bill Sharman (26) 31–15 47 January 31 @ Syracuse 104–105 Bill Sharman (30) 31–16 48 February 2 @ New York 114–111 Bill Russell (22) 32–16 49 February 3 New York 98–116 Bill Sharman (33) 33–16 50 February 5 N Syracuse 101–105 Bob Cousy (24) 34–16 51 February 6 Fort Wayne 93–108 Bill Sharman (28) 35–16 52 February 8 N New York 92–90 Frank Ramsey (23) 35–17 53 February 9 @ Rochester 102–103 Tom Heinsohn (20) 35–18 54 February 10 Philadelphia 98–103 (OT) Bob Cousy (26) 36–18 55 February 13 @ Minneapolis 114–115 Cousy, Heinsohn (27) 36–19 56 February 14 @ Fort Wayne 106–112 Frank Ramsey (25) 36–20 57 February 15 @ St. Louis 123–116 (2OT) Bob Cousy (33) 37–20 58 February 17 @ Syracuse 106–116 Bill Russell (23) 37–21 59 February 19 @ New York 112–110 Bob Cousy (27) 38–21 60 February 21 St. Louis 112–125 Tom Heinsohn (32) 39–21 61 February 22 @ Philadelphia 109–117 Heinsohn, Russell (30) 39–22 62 February 24 New York 85–97 Bill Sharman (27) 40–22 63 February 26 N Rochester 77–92 Bill Sharman (32) 41–22 64 February 28 N New York 122–121 (OT) Tom Heinsohn (35) 41–23 65 March 1 Philadelphia 80–90 Ramsey, Sharman (19) 42–23 66 March 2 @ Rochester 87–96 Tom Heinsohn (20) 42–24 67 March 3 Rochester 102–111 Bill Russell (30) 43–24 68 March 5 @ St. Louis 102–104 Tom Heinsohn (41) 43–25 69 March 7 @ Minneapolis 104–109 Bill Sharman (26) 43–26 70 March 9 @ Syracuse 102–104 Bill Sharman (27) 43–27 71 March 10 Syracuse 94–92 Bill Sharman (24) 43–28 72 March 13 New York 91–122 Bill Sharman (28) 44–28 Player statistics Legend   GP Games played  MPG  Minutes per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage  RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  PPG  Points per game Season Player GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG Cousy, Bob Bob Cousy 64 36.9 .378 .821 4.8 7.5 20.6 Heinsohn, Tom Tom Heinsohn 72 29.9 .397 .790 9.8 1.6 16.2 Hemric, Dick Dick Hemric 67 15.7 .344 .695 4.5 0.6 5.4 Loscutoff, Jim Jim Loscutoff 70 31.7 .345 .706 10.4 1.3 10.6 Nichols, Jack Jack Nichols 61 22.5 .363 .794 6.1 1.4 8.2 Palazzi, Togo Togo Palazzi* 21 11.1 .347 .719 3.6 0.4 5.0 Phillip, Andy Andy Phillip 67 22.0 .379 .642 2.7 2.5 4.4 Ramsey, Frank Frank Ramsey 35 23.1 .393 .791 5.1 1.9 11.9 Risen, Arnie Arnie Risen 43 21.7 .388 .679 6.7 1.2 8.0 Russell, Bill Bill Russell 48 35.3 .427 .492 19.6 1.8 14.7 Sharman, Bill Bill Sharman 67 35.9 .416 .905 4.3 3.5 21.1 Tsioropoulos, Lou Lou Tsioropoulos 52 12.9 .309 .775 4.0 0.6 4.4 * – Stats with the Celtics. Playoffs Player GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG Cousy, Bob Bob Cousy 10 44.0 .324 .747 6.1 9.3 20.2 Heinsohn, Tom Tom Heinsohn 10 37.0 .390 .710 11.7 2.0 22.9 Hemric, Dick Dick Hemric 2 9.5 .143 . 4.5 0.5 1.0 Loscutoff, Jim Jim Loscutoff 10 25.9 .284 .643 8.3 0.5 8.0 Nichols, Jack Jack Nichols 10 11.7 .400 .600 1.7 0.7 3.5 Phillip, Andy Andy Phillip 10 12.8 .364 .400 2.0 1.7 2.2 Ramsey, Frank Frank Ramsey 10 22.9 .463 .780 4.3 1.7 12.2 Risen, Arnie Arnie Risen 10 15.2 .444 .655 5.8 0.8 7.5 Russell, Bill Bill Russell 10 40.9 .365 .508 24.4 3.2 13.9 Sharman, Bill Bill Sharman 10 37.7 .381 .953 3.5 2.9 21.1 Playoffs Boston Celtics 1957 yes Boston Celtics #008040 white Division Finals yes yes no 2 0 1 0 yes yes |- | 1 | March 21 | Syracuse | W 108–90 | Frank Ramsey (20) | Bill Russell (31) | Boston Garden | 1–0 |- | 2 | March 23 | @ Syracuse | W 120–105 | Tom Heinsohn (30) | Bill Russell (30) | Onondaga War Memorial | 2–0 |- | 3 | March 24 | Syracuse | W 83–80 | Bill Sharman (23) | Bill Russell (23) | Boston Garden | 3–0 |- Boston Celtics #008040 white NBA Finals yes no 3 1 1 2 |- | 1 | March 30 | St. Louis | L 123–125 (2OT) | Bill Sharman (36) | Bill Russell (18) | — | Boston Garden5,976 | 0–1 |- | 2 | March 31 | St. Louis | W 119–99 | Cousy, Ramsey (22) | Bill Russell (25) | Bob Cousy (7) | Boston Garden13,909 | 1–1 |- | 3 | April 6 | @ St. Louis | L 98–100 | Bill Sharman (28) | Bill Russell (19) | Bob Cousy (8) | Kiel Auditorium10,048 | 1–2 |- | 4 | April 7 | @ St. Louis | W 123–118 | Bob Cousy (31) | Bill Russell (20) | Arnie Risen (9) | Kiel Auditorium10,035 | 2–2 |- | 5 | April 9 | St. Louis | W 124–109 | Bill Sharman (32) | Bill Russell (23) | Bob Cousy (19) | Boston Garden13,909 | 3–2 |- | 6 | April 11 | @ St. Louis | L 94–96 | Tom Heinsohn (28) | Bill Russell (23) | — | Kiel Auditorium10,053 | 3–3 |- | 7 | April 13 | St. Louis | W 125–123 (2OT) | Tom Heinsohn (37) | Bill Russell (32) | Bob Cousy (11) | Boston Garden13,909 | 4–3 |- BOS yes 1957 Awards and honors Bob Cousy, NBA MVP of the Year Bob Cousy, All-NBA First Team Tom Heinsohn, NBA Rookie of the Year Bill Sharman, All-NBA First Team References Celtics on Database Basketball Celtics on Basketball Reference Category:Boston Celtics seasons Category:NBA championship seasons Boston Celtics Boston Celtics Boston Celtics Category:1950s in Boston