# 1956–57 St. Louis Hawks season

The 1956–57 St. Louis Hawks season was the 11th season for the franchise and eighth in the National Basketball Association (NBA). 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. 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 |

## Regular season
### Season standings

| Western Divisionvte | W | L | 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 | 3 | 19-10 | 7-17 | 5-14 | 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
## Playoffs

1957 playoff game log :
Division Tiebreaker (finished as West's #1 seed)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsLocationRecord
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 :
Division Finals: 3–0 (home: 2–0; road: 1–0)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
March 21
Minneapolis
W 118–109
Slater Martin (24)
Bob Pettit (16)
Jack McMahon (9)
Kiel Auditorium 6,028
1–0
2
March 24
Minneapolis
W 106–104
Bob Pettit (30)
Jack Coleman (15)
Kiel Auditorium 9,451
2–0
3
March 26
@ Minneapolis
W 143–135 (2OT)
Bob Pettit (35)
Minneapolis Auditorium
3–0 :
NBA Finals: 3–4 (home: 2–1; road: 1–3)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
March 30
@ Boston
W 125–123 (2OT)
Bob Pettit (37)
Bob Pettit (14)
Boston Garden 5,976
1–0
2
March 31
@ Boston
L 99–119
Ed Macauley (19)
Bob Pettit (13)
Slick Leonard (4)
Boston Garden 13,909
1–1
3
April 6
Boston
W 100–98
Bob Pettit (26)
Bob Pettit (28)
three player tied (5)
Kiel Auditorium 10,048
2–1
4
April 7
Boston
L 118–123
Bob Pettit (33)
Bob Pettit (16)
Martin, Hagan (6)
Kiel Auditorium 10,035
2–2
5
April 9
@ Boston
L 109–124
Bob Pettit (33)
Bob Pettit (15)
Med Park (6)
Boston Garden 13,909
2–3
6
April 11
Boston
W 96–94
Bob Pettit (32)
Bob Pettit (23)
Kiel Auditorium 10,053
3–3
7
April 13
@ Boston
L 123–125 (2OT)
Bob Pettit (39)
Bob Pettit (19)
Martin, Coleman (7)
Boston Garden 13,909
3–4 :
1957 schedule :

## Awards and honors

* Bob Pettit, All-NBA First Team
* Slater Martin, All-NBA Second Team