# 1960–61 St. Louis Hawks season

the 1960–61 Saint Louis Hawks season owner Ben Kerner changed coaches despite reaching the 1960 NBA Finals. Ed Macauley was replaced with Paul Seymour. On the court, rookie Lenny Wilkens was averaging 11.7 points per game in his first year. The brunt of the scoring came from the Hawks' front line of Bob Pettit, Cliff Hagan, and Clyde Lovellette. They combined for 72.0 points per game, and the Hawks won the West by 15 games. The Hawks finished the season with a record of 51–28. In the playoffs, the Hawks needed a 1-point overtime win in Game 6 on the road to force a 7th game with the Los Angeles Lakers. Game 7 was played in St. Louis and the Hawks beat the Lakers by 2 points. The Hawks then were up against the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. The Hawks fell in 5 games as the Celtics won their 4th NBA Title in 5 seasons.

## Regular season
### Standings

| Western Divisionvte | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Neutral | Div |
| x-St. Louis Hawks | 51 | 28 | .646 | – | 29–5 | 15–20 | 7–3 | 25–14 |
| x-Los Angeles Lakers | 36 | 43 | .456 | 15 | 16–12 | 8–20 | 12–11 | 19–20 |
| x-Detroit Pistons | 34 | 45 | .430 | 17 | 20–11 | 3–19 | 11–15 | 18–21 |
| Cincinnati Royals | 33 | 46 | .418 | 18 | 18–13 | 8–19 | 7–14 | 16–23 |

### Record vs. opponents

1960-61 NBA Records :
| Team | BOS | CIN | DET | LAL | NYK | PHI | STL | SYR |
| Boston | — | 7–3 | 8–2 | 8–2 | 10–3 | 8–5 | 6–4 | 10–3 |
| Cincinnati | 3–7 | — | 2–11 | 8–5 | 8–2 | 2–8 | 6–7 | 4–6 |
| Detroit | 2–8 | 11–2 | — | 4–9 | 5–5 | 5–5 | 3–10 | 4–6 |
| Los Angeles | 2–8 | 5–8 | 9–4 | — | 7–3 | 2–8 | 5–8 | 6–4 |
| New York | 3–10 | 2–8 | 5–5 | 3–7 | — | 2–11 | 1–9 | 5–8 |
| Philadelphia | 5–8 | 8–2 | 5–5 | 8–2 | 11–2 | — | 3–7 | 6–7 |
| St. Louis | 4–6 | 7–6 | 10–3 | 8–5 | 9–1 | 7–3 | — | 6–4 |
| Syracuse | 3–10 | 6–4 | 6–4 | 4–6 | 8–5 | 7–6 | 4–6 | — |

### Game log
## Playoffs

1961 playoff game log :
Division Finals: 4–3 (home: 2–2; road: 2–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
March 21
Los Angeles
L 118–122
Bob Pettit (28)
Bob Pettit (20)
Kiel Auditorium 8,147
0–1
2
March 22
Los Angeles
W 121–106
Clyde Lovellette (28)
Bob Pettit (19)
Kiel Auditorium 8,472
1–1
3
March 24
@ Los Angeles
L 112–118
Bob Pettit (26)
Bob Pettit (13)
Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena 5,006
1–2
4
March 25
@ Los Angeles
W 118–117
Bob Pettit (40)
Bob Pettit (18)
Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena 4,923
2–2
5
March 27
Los Angeles
L 112–121
Cliff Hagan (26)
Bob Pettit (21)
Kiel Auditorium
2–3
6
March 29
@ Los Angeles
W 114–113 (OT)
Bob Pettit (31)
Bob Pettit (21)
Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena 14,840
3–3
7
April 1
Los Angeles
W 105–103
Bob Pettit (31)
Bob Pettit (17)
Kiel Auditorium
4–3 :
NBA Finals: 1–4 (home: 1–1; road: 0–3)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
April 2
@ Boston
L 95–129
Cliff Hagan (33)
Cliff Hagan (13)
Hagan, Sauldsberry (4)
Boston Garden 11,531
0–1
2
April 5
@ Boston
L 108–116
Cliff Hagan (40)
Bob Pettit (19)
Cliff Hagan (6)
Boston Garden 13,909
0–2
3
April 8
Boston
W 124–120
Bob Pettit (31)
Bob Pettit (24)
Si Green (7)
Kiel Auditorium 8,468
1–2
4
April 9
Boston
L 104–119
Bob Pettit (40)
Bob Pettit (18)
Cliff Hagan (7)
Kiel Auditorium 10,442
1–3
5
April 11
@ Boston
L 112–121
Bob Pettit (24)
Pettit, Sauldsberry (11)
Johnny McCarthy (6)
Boston Garden 13,909
1–4 :
1961 schedule :

## Awards and honors

* Bob Pettit, All-NBA First Team