# 1956–57 Boston Celtics season

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.
With Russell's death in 2022, Bob Cousy is the only living player from the 1957 championship team (as of 2024).

## Regular season
### Season standings

| Eastern Divisionvte | W | L | 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 |

### 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
## Player statistics
### Season

| Player | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
| Bob Cousy | 64 | 36.9 | .378 | .821 | 4.8 | 7.5 | 20.6 |
| Tom Heinsohn | 72 | 29.9 | .397 | .790 | 9.8 | 1.6 | 16.2 |
| Dick Hemric | 67 | 15.7 | .344 | .695 | 4.5 | 0.6 | 5.4 |
| Jim Loscutoff | 70 | 31.7 | .345 | .706 | 10.4 | 1.3 | 10.6 |
| Jack Nichols | 61 | 22.5 | .363 | .794 | 6.1 | 1.4 | 8.2 |
| Togo Palazzi* | 21 | 11.1 | .347 | .719 | 3.6 | 0.4 | 5.0 |
| Andy Phillip | 67 | 22.0 | .379 | .642 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 4.4 |
| Frank Ramsey | 35 | 23.1 | .393 | .791 | 5.1 | 1.9 | 11.9 |
| Arnie Risen | 43 | 21.7 | .388 | .679 | 6.7 | 1.2 | 8.0 |
| Bill Russell | 48 | 35.3 | .427 | .492 | 19.6 | 1.8 | 14.7 |
| Bill Sharman | 67 | 35.9 | .416 | .905 | 4.3 | 3.5 | 21.1 |
| 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 |
| Bob Cousy | 10 | 44.0 | .324 | .747 | 6.1 | 9.3 | 20.2 |
| Tom Heinsohn | 10 | 37.0 | .390 | .710 | 11.7 | 2.0 | 22.9 |
| Dick Hemric | 2 | 9.5 | .143 | . | 4.5 | 0.5 | 1.0 |
| Jim Loscutoff | 10 | 25.9 | .284 | .643 | 8.3 | 0.5 | 8.0 |
| Jack Nichols | 10 | 11.7 | .400 | .600 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 3.5 |
| Andy Phillip | 10 | 12.8 | .364 | .400 | 2.0 | 1.7 | 2.2 |
| Frank Ramsey | 10 | 22.9 | .463 | .780 | 4.3 | 1.7 | 12.2 |
| Arnie Risen | 10 | 15.2 | .444 | .655 | 5.8 | 0.8 | 7.5 |
| Bill Russell | 10 | 40.9 | .365 | .508 | 24.4 | 3.2 | 13.9 |
| Bill Sharman | 10 | 37.7 | .381 | .953 | 3.5 | 2.9 | 21.1 |

## Playoffs

1957 playoff game log :
Division Finals: 3–0 (home: 2–0; road: 1–0)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsLocationSeries
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 :
NBA Finals: 4–3 (home: 3–1; road: 1–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
March 30
St. Louis
L 123–125 (2OT)
Bill Sharman (36)
Bill Russell (18)
Boston Garden 5,976
0–1
2
March 31
St. Louis
W 119–99
Cousy, Ramsey (22)
Bill Russell (25)
Bob Cousy (7)
Boston Garden 13,909
1–1
3
April 6
@ St. Louis
L 98–100
Bill Sharman (28)
Bill Russell (19)
Bob Cousy (8)
Kiel Auditorium 10,048
1–2
4
April 7
@ St. Louis
W 123–118
Bob Cousy (31)
Bill Russell (20)
Arnie Risen (9)
Kiel Auditorium 10,035
2–2
5
April 9
St. Louis
W 124–109
Bill Sharman (32)
Bill Russell (23)
Bob Cousy (19)
Boston Garden 13,909
3–2
6
April 11
@ St. Louis
L 94–96
Tom Heinsohn (28)
Bill Russell (23)
Kiel Auditorium 10,053
3–3
7
April 13
St. Louis
W 125–123 (2OT)
Tom Heinsohn (37)
Bill Russell (32)
Bob Cousy (11)
Boston Garden 13,909
4–3 :
1957 schedule :

## 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