# 1962–63 Boston Celtics season

The 1962–63 NBA season was the Celtics' 17th season in the NBA. The Celtics finished the season by winning their sixth NBA Championship. In 2024, HoopsHype would list this squad as the team with the 25th easiest route to an NBA Finals championship due primarily to their first round opponent they faced off against in the Cincinnati Royals.

## Offseason
### NBA draft

The 1962 NBA Draft results were:
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | School/Club Team |
| 1 | 7 | John Havlicek | Forward/Guard | United States | Ohio State |
| 2 | 16 | Jack Foley | Guard | United States | Holy Cross |
| 3 | 25 | Jim Hadnot | | United States | Providence |
| 4 | 34 | Roger Strickland | | United States | Jacksonville University |
| 5 | 43 | Gary Daniels | | United States | The Citadel |
| 6 | 52 | Jim Hooley | | | Boston College |
| 7 | 60 | Clyde Arnold | | | Duquesne |
| 8 | 69 | Chuck Chevalier | | | Boston College |
| 9 | 78 | Mike Cingiser | | | Brown |

## Regular season
### Season standings

| Eastern Divisionvte | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Neutral | Div |
| x-Boston Celtics | 58 | 22 | .725 | – | 25–5 | 21–16 | 12–1 | 25–11 |
| x-Syracuse Nationals | 48 | 32 | .600 | 10 | 23–5 | 13–19 | 12–8 | 21–15 |
| x-Cincinnati Royals | 42 | 38 | .525 | 16 | 23–10 | 15–19 | 4–9 | 20–16 |
| New York Knicks | 21 | 59 | .263 | 37 | 12–22 | 5–28 | 4–9 | 6–30 |

### Record vs. opponents

1962-63 NBA Records :
| Team | BOS | CHI | CIN | DET | LAL | NYK | SFW | STL | SYR |
| Boston | — | 8–2 | 9–3 | 8–0 | 4–5 | 10–2 | 8–1 | 5–3 | 6–6 |
| Chicago | 2–8 | — | 4–6 | 3–7 | 3–7 | 4–6 | 4–6 | 3–7 | 2–8 |
| Cincinnati | 3–9 | 6–4 | — | 4–4 | 3–6 | 10–2 | 6–3 | 3–5 | 7–5 |
| Detroit | 0–8 | 7–3 | 4–4 | — | 1–11 | 8–1 | 7–5 | 4–8 | 3–6 |
| Los Angeles | 5–4 | 7–3 | 6–3 | 11–1 | — | 5–3 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 4–4 |
| New York | 2–10 | 6–4 | 2–10 | 1–8 | 3–5 | — | 2–6 | 3–6 | 2–10 |
| San Francisco | 1–8 | 6–4 | 3–6 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 6–2 | — | 3–9 | 3–5 |
| St. Louis | 3–5 | 7–3 | 5–3 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 6–3 | 9–3 | — | 5–4 |
| Syracuse | 6–6 | 8–2 | 5–7 | 6–3 | 4–4 | 10–2 | 5–3 | 4–5 | — |

### Game log
## Player stats

Note: GP= Games played; REB= Rebounds; AST= Assists; STL = Steals; BLK = Blocks; PTS = Points; AVG = Average
| Player | GP | REB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS | AVG |
| Sam Jones | 76 | 396 | 241 | 0 | 0 | 1499 | 19.7 |
| Tom Heinsohn | 76 | 596 | 95 | 0 | 0 | 1440 | 18.9 |
| Bill Russell | 78 | 1843 | 348 | 0 | 0 | 1309 | 16.8 |
| John Havlicek | 80 | 534 | 179 | 0 | 0 | 1140 | 14.3 |
| Bob Cousy | 76 | 193 | 515 | 0 | 0 | 1003 | 13.2 |
| Frank Ramsey | 77 | 288 | 95 | 0 | 0 | 839 | 10.9 |
| Thomas "Satch" Sanders | 80 | 576 | 95 | 0 | 0 | 864 | 10.8 |
| K.C. Jones | 79 | 263 | 317 | 0 | 0 | 572 | 7.2 |
| Clyde Lovellette | 61 | 177 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 395 | 6.5 |
| Dan Swartz | 39 | 88 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 175 | 4.5 |
| Jim Loscutoff | 63 | 157 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 210 | 3.3 |
| Gene Guarilia | 11 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 2.4 |

## Playoffs

1963 playoff game log :
Division Finals: 4–3 (home: 2–2; road: 2–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
March 28
Cincinnati
L 132–135
Sam Jones (30)
Bill Russell (24)
Bob Cousy (9)
Boston Garden 13,798
1–0
2
March 29
@ Cincinnati
W 125–102
Bill Russell (26)
Bill Russell (24)
Cincinnati Gardens 11,102
1–1
3
March 31
Cincinnati
L 116–121
Tom Heinsohn (28)
Bill Russell (28)
Bob Cousy (7)
Boston Garden 13,909
1–2
4
April 3
@ Cincinnati
W 128–110
Bill Russell (26)
Bill Russell (21)
Cincinnati Gardens 3,498
2–2
5
April 6
Cincinnati
W 125–120
Tom Heinsohn (34)
Bill Russell (26)
Bob Cousy (8)
Boston Garden 13,909
3–2
6
April 7
@ Cincinnati
L 99–109
Sam Jones (22)
Bill Russell (23)
Cincinnati Gardens 7,745
3–3
7
April 10
Cincinnati
W 142–131
Sam Jones (47)
Bill Russell (24)
Bob Cousy (16)
Boston Garden 13,909
4–3 :
NBA Finals: 4–2 (home: 2–1; road: 2–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
April 14
Los Angeles
W 117–114
Sam Jones (29)
Bill Russell (29)
Bob Cousy (11)
Boston Garden 13,909
1–0
2
April 16
Los Angeles
W 113–106
Sam Jones (27)
Bill Russell (38)
Bob Cousy (11)
Boston Garden 13,909
2–0
3
April 17
@ Los Angeles
L 99–119
Sam Jones (30)
Bill Russell (19)
Bill Russell (5)
Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena 15,493
2–1
4
April 19
@ Los Angeles
W 108–105
Tom Heinsohn (35)
Bill Russell (19)
three players tied (5)
Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena 16,382
3–1
5
April 21
Los Angeles
L 119–126
Sam Jones (36)
Bill Russell (27)
Bob Cousy (14)
Boston Garden 13,909
3–2
6
April 24
@ Los Angeles
W 112–109
Tom Heinsohn (22)
Bill Russell (24)
Bill Russell (9)
Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena 15,652
4–2 :
1963 schedule :

## Awards and honors

* Bill Russell, NBA Most Valuable Player Award
* Bill Russell, All-NBA First Team
* Bob Cousy, All-NBA Second Team
* Tom Heinsohn, All-NBA Second Team
* John Havlicek, NBA All-Rookie Team 1st Team
* Nine players are enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.