1956 -- 57 NBA season - Wikipedia 1956 -- 57 NBA season 1956 -- 57 NBA season League National Basketball Association Sport Basketball Number of games 72 Number of teams 8 TV partner ( s ) NBC Regular season Season MVP Bob Cousy ( Boston ) Top scorer Paul Arizin ( Philadelphia ) Playoffs Eastern champions Boston Celtics Eastern runners - up Syracuse Nationals Western champions St. Louis Hawks Western runners - up Minneapolis Lakers Finals Champions Boston Celtics Runners - up St. Louis Hawks NBA seasons ← 1955 -- 56 1957 -- 58 → The 1956 -- 57 NBA season was the 11th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Boston Celtics winning the NBA Championship ( which would be the first of their 17 NBA titles ), beating the St. Louis Hawks 4 games to 3 in the NBA Finals. Contents 1 Notable occurrences 2 Final standings 2.1 Eastern Division 2.2 Western Division 3 Statistics leaders 4 NBA awards 5 References Notable occurrences The 1957 NBA All - Star Game was played in Boston, Massachusetts, with the East beating the West 109 - 97. Local hero Bob Cousy of the Boston Celtics wins the game 's MVP award. Final standings Eastern Division Eastern Division PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div x-Boston Celtics 44 28. 611 - 24 - 4 11 - 18 9 - 6 20 - 16 x-Syracuse Nationals 38 34. 528 6 23 - 9 9 - 15 6 - 10 20 - 16 x-Philadelphia Warriors 37 35. 514 7 20 - 5 5 -- 25 12 - 5 17 - 19 New York Knicks 36 36. 500 8 18 - 10 9 - 19 9 - 7 15 - 21 Western division Western Division 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 19 - 10 7 - 17 5 - 14 15 - 21 St. Louis finished ahead of Fort Wayne and Minneapolis by defeating them in tiebreaker matches. x -- clinched playoff spot Statistics leaders Player Team Stat Points Paul Arizin Philadelphia Warriors 1,817 Rebounds Maurice Stokes Rochester Royals 1,256 Assists Bob Cousy Boston Celtics 478 FG % Neil Johnston Philadelphia Warriors. 447 FT % Bill Sharman Boston Celtics. 905 Note : Prior to the 1969 -- 70 season, league leaders in points, rebounds, and assists were determined by totals rather than averages. NBA awards Most Valuable Player : Bob Cousy, Boston Celtics Rookie of the Year : Tom Heinsohn, Boston Celtics All - NBA First Team : Paul Arizin, Philadelphia Warriors Bob Pettit, St. Louis Hawks Bob Cousy, Boston Celtics Bill Sharman, Boston Celtics Dolph Schayes, Syracuse Nationals All - NBA Second Team : Dick Garmaker, Minneapolis Lakers Neil Johnston, Philadelphia Warriors Slater Martin, St. Louis Hawks Maurice Stokes, Rochester Royals George Yardley, Fort Wayne Pistons References 1956 -- 57 NBA Season Summary basketball-reference.com. Retrieved December 10, 2010 NBA 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 2011 -- 12 2012 -- 13 2013 -- 14 2014 -- 15 2015 -- 16 2016 -- 17 2017 -- 18 1956 -- 57 NBA season Draft All - Star Game Playoffs Finals Eastern Boston New York Philadelphia Syracuse Western Fort Wayne Minneapolis Rochester St. Louis This basketball - related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1956 -- 57_NBA_season&oldid = 764445911 '' Categories : 1956 -- 57 NBA season Basketball stubs Hidden categories : Pages using infobox sports season with unknown parameters All stub articles Talk Contents About Wikipedia Bosanski Català Español Français Հայերեն Italiano עברית Latviešu Magyar Монгол 日本 語 Português Русский Suomi Svenska Türkçe 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 8 February 2017, at 23 : 48. About Wikipedia

Question: how many teams in the nba in 1956
Answer: 8