1956–57 St. Louis Hawks season

NBA professional basketball team season August 2023 March 2026 St. Louis Hawks 1957 yes 34 38 Western 1 Red Holzman, Slater Martin and Alex Hannum Kiel Auditorium NBA Finals(lost to Celtics 3–4) STL The 1956–57 St. Louis Hawks season was the 11th season for the franchise, eighth in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the second in St. Louis, Missouri. 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.http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/stlhawks/stlhawks.html St. Louis Hawks – Sports Ecyclopedia February 9, 2014 December 28, 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20111228121102/http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/stlhawks/stlhawks.html dead 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 Roster St. Louis Hawks 1956-57 25 John Barber basketball F 6 6 210 June 27, 1927 California State University, Los Angeles 26 Irv Bemoras SF 6 3 185 November 18, 1930 Illinois 12 Jack Coleman basketball PF 6 7 195 May 23, 1924 Louisville 6, 17 Cliff Hagan SF 6 4 210 December 9, 1931 Kentucky 33 Alex Hannum PF 6 7 210 July 19, 1923 USC Bob Harrison basketball G 6 1 190 August 12, 1927 Michigan 20, 50 Ed Macauley PF 6 8 185 March 22, 1928 Saint Louis 22 Slater Martin PG 5 10 170 October 22, 1925 Texas 21 Jack McMahon SG 6 1 185 December 3, 1928 St. John's 33 Willie Naulls F-C 6 6 225 October 7, 1934 UCLA 32 Med Park SG 6 2 205 April 11, 1933 Missouri 9 Bob Pettit C 6 9 205 December 12, 1932 LSU 70 Chuck Share C 6 11 235 March 14, 1927 Bowling Green 15 Odie Spears SF 6 5 205 June 17, 1924 Western Kentucky 22 Norm Stewart F 6 5 205 January 20, 1935 Missouri Alex Hannum https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/STL/1957.html Regular season Season standings STL Game log 1956–57 Game log # Date Opponent Score High points Record 1 October 27 Minneapolis W 97–75 Bob Pettit (25) 1–0 2 November 3 vs. Syracuse L 73–75 Jack McMahon (21) 1–1 3 November 4 @ Syracuse W 78–76 Ed Macauley (20) 2–1 4 November 7 New York W 107–101 Bob Pettit (34) 3–1 5 November 10 Fort Wayne W 86–79 Bob Pettit (27) 4–1 6 November 11 @ Fort Wayne L 81–96 Bob Pettit (27) 4–2 7 November 13 Rochester W 118–105 Bob Pettit (49) 5–2 8 November 17 Fort Wayne W 92–87 Ed Macauley (23) 6–2 9 November 18 @ New York L 69–102 Bob Pettit (13) 6–3 10 November 20 Syracuse W 104–81 Bob Pettit (26) 7–3 11 November 21 @ Rochester L 76–85 Bob Pettit (28) 7–4 12 November 24 Minneapolis L 102–104 (OT) Ed Macauley (27) 7–5 13 November 25 @ Minneapolis W 95–94 Ed Macauley (26) 8–5 14 November 27 Boston L 90–102 Bob Pettit (25) 8–6 15 December 1 Philadelphia L 95–107 Bob Pettit (23) 8–7 16 December 4 vs. Boston L 107–108 Bob Pettit (24) 8–8 17 December 6 vs. Minneapolis L 96–103 Bob Pettit (17) 8–9 18 December 7 New York L 101–107 Bob Pettit (22) 8–10 19 December 8 vs. New York L 104–109 Bob Pettit (21) 8–11 20 December 11 @ New York W 137–128 Bob Pettit (41) 9–11 21 December 12 @ Philadelphia L 99–115 Jack Coleman (25) 9–12 22 December 15 @ Boston L 99–102 Bob Pettit (31) 9–13 23 December 16 @ Syracuse L 91–101 Bob Pettit (26) 9–14 24 December 18 vs. Fort Wayne W 95–84 Bob Pettit (30) 10–14 25 December 22 @ Boston L 93–95 Bob Pettit (28) 10–15 26 December 25 @ New York W 107–105 (OT) Bob Pettit (37) 11–15 27 December 27 Syracuse W 102–95 Bob Pettit (39) 12–15 28 December 29 @ Minneapolis W 95–92 Bob Pettit (22) 13–15 29 December 30 Minneapolis W 100–93 Bob Pettit (41) 14–15 30 January 1 @ Rochester L 101–102 (OT) Bob Pettit (32) 14–16 31 January 3 vs. Philadelphia L 81–82 Bob Pettit (26) 14–17 32 January 4 @ Philadelphia 92–96 Jack Coleman (21) 14–18 33 January 6 Rochester L 86–93 Bob Pettit (33) 14–19 34 January 10 vs. New York L 84–89 (OT) Bob Pettit (38) 14–20 35 January 12 Boston W 100–98 Bob Pettit (39) 15–20 36 January 13 @ Fort Wayne L 89–91 Bob Pettit (28) 15–21 37 January 16 @ Rochester W 108–106 (OT) Bob Pettit (26) 16–21 38 January 17 vs. Fort Wayne W 106–82 Slater Martin (22) 17–21 39 January 18 @ Boston L 117–126 Bob Pettit (38) 17–22 40 January 19 @ Syracuse W 104–96 Bob Pettit (30) 18–22 41 January 20 Philadelphia W 104–102 (OT) Bob Pettit (23) 19–22 42 January 22 @ Fort Wayne L 87–97 Bob Pettit (30) 19–23 43 January 23 vs. Fort Wayne W 101–78 Bob Pettit (22) 20–23 44 January 24 @ Philadelphia L 96–107 Bob Pettit (30) 20–24 45 January 25 vs. Rochester W 100–99 Bob Pettit (36) 21–24 46 January 27 Rochester W 107–83 Bob Pettit (33) 22–24 47 January 29 Fort Wayne L 85–91 Bob Pettit (26) 22–25 48 February 2 @ Minneapolis W 106–97 Bob Pettit (37) 23–25 49 February 3 Minneapolis W 102–85 Bob Pettit (31) 24–25 50 February 5 Philadelphia L 87–101 Bob Pettit (26) 24–26 51 February 6 @ Rochester L 100–103 Bob Pettit (24) 24–27 52 February 7 @ Syracuse L 110–112 Bob Pettit (31) 24–28 53 February 8 @ Philadelphia L 90–93 Bob Pettit (41) 24–29 54 February 10 Rochester W 117–93 Bob Pettit (44) 25–29 55 February 11 vs. Syracuse W 107–101 Bob Pettit (33) 26–29 56 February 12 vs. Minneapolis L 105–110 Bob Pettit (35) 26–30 57 February 15 Boston L 116–123 (2OT) Bob Pettit (31) 26–31 58 February 17 @ Minneapolis W 118–115 (OT) Ed Macauley (36) 27–31 59 February 19 Fort Wayne W 96–83 Ed Macauley (23) 28–31 60 February 21 @ Boston L 112–125 Jack Coleman (33) 28–32 61 February 23 @ Rochester L 86–101 Ed Macauley (21) 28–33 62 February 24 Philadelphia W 113–112 Chuck Share (28) 29–33 63 February 25 vs. Minneapolis W 110–94 Med Park (24) 30–33 64 February 26 @ New York L 76–107 Jack Coleman (17) 30–34 65 February 27 vs. Syracuse L 93–108 Ed Macauley (21) 30–35 66 March 2 New York L 94–97 Cliff Hagan (19) 30–36 67 March 3 @ Fort Wayne W 112–102 Jack McMahon (27) 31–36 68 March 5 Boston W 104–102 Jack McMahon (21) 32–36 69 March 8 vs. Rochester W 100–92 Ed Macauley (26) 33–36 70 March 9 Fort Wayne W 97–96 Bob Pettit (23) 34–36 71 March 10 @ Minneapolis L 104–117 Ed Macauley (17) 34–37 72 March 13 vs. Rochester L 99–104 Ed Macauley (22) 34–38 Playoffs St. Louis Hawks 1957 yes #000000 #FFFFFF St. Louis Hawks Division Tiebreaker no yes #EEE1C6 #000000 (finished as West's #1 seed) yes yes |- | 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 |- St. Louis Hawks Division Finals no yes #EEE1C6 #000000 2 0 1 0 |- | 1 | March 21 | Minneapolis | W 118–109 | Slater Martin (24) | Bob Pettit (16) | Jack McMahon (9) | Kiel Auditorium6,028 | 1–0 |- | 2 | March 24 | Minneapolis | W 106–104 | Bob Pettit (30) | Jack Coleman (15) | — | Kiel Auditorium9,451 | 2–0 |- | 3 | March 26 | @ Minneapolis | W 143–135 (2OT) | Bob Pettit (35) | — | — | Minneapolis Auditorium | 3–0 |- St. Louis Hawks NBA Finals no yes #EEE1C6 #000000 2 1 1 3 |- | 1 | March 30 | @ Boston | W 125–123 (2OT) | Bob Pettit (37) | Bob Pettit (14) | — | Boston Garden5,976 | 1–0 |- | 2 | March 31 | @ Boston | L 99–119 | Ed Macauley (19) | Bob Pettit (13) | Slick Leonard (4) | Boston Garden13,909 | 1–1 |- | 3 | April 6 | Boston | W 100–98 | Bob Pettit (26) | Bob Pettit (28) | three player tied (5) | Kiel Auditorium10,048 | 2–1 |- | 4 | April 7 | Boston | L 118–123 | Bob Pettit (33) | Bob Pettit (16) | Martin, Hagan (6) | Kiel Auditorium10,035 | 2–2 |- | 5 | April 9 | @ Boston | L 109–124 | Bob Pettit (33) | Bob Pettit (15) | Med Park (6) | Boston Garden13,909 | 2–3 |- | 6 | April 11 | Boston | W 96–94 | Bob Pettit (32) | Bob Pettit (23) | — | Kiel Auditorium10,053 | 3–3 |- | 7 | April 13 | @ Boston | L 123–125 (2OT) | Bob Pettit (39) | Bob Pettit (19) | Martin, Coleman (7) | Boston Garden13,909 | 3–4 |- STL 1957 yes Awards and honors Bob Pettit, All-NBA First Team Slater Martin, All-NBA Second Team References Hawks on Basketball Reference St. Louis Category:Atlanta Hawks seasons St. Louis Hawks St. Louis Hawks