1957–58 St. Louis Hawks season

The 1957–58 St. Louis Hawks season was the third for the franchise in St. Louis, ninth in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and 12th overall. Coming off their trip to the 1957 NBA Finals, the Hawks won the Western Division by 8 games with a record of 41 wins and 31 losses. Bob Pettit ranked 3rd in scoring and 2nd in rebounding. In the Western Finals, the Hawks would beat the Detroit Pistons in 5 games. The Hawks would then face the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. After Games 1 and 2, the teams headed to St. Louis with the series tied at a game apiece. The Hawks took Game 3, as the Celtics lost Bill Russell to an ankle injury. Despite playing without Russell, the Celtics were triumphant in Game 4. The Hawks pulled out a 2-point victory in the Game 5 to take control of the series. Needing one more win for their first NBA Championship, the Hawks beat the Celtics 110–109 in Game 6. Bob Pettit scored 50 points playing against an injured Bill Russell as the Hawks and owner Ben Kerner won their first NBA Title.

The Hawks were the second St. Louis–based pro sports team to win a major championship, joining the, then, six-time World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball. They would be followed by five more World Series championships by the Cardinals, a championship by the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV, and a championship by the St. Louis Blues in the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals which made St. Louis the eighth city to win a championship in each of the four major U.S. sports. The Hawks were the last non-integrated team to win an NBA title; every NBA champion since then has had at least one African-American player included.

The 1958 title remains the only one to be won by the franchise, which has been based in Atlanta since 1968. As such, it remains the second-longest drought for championship teams in NBA history behind only the Sacramento Kings, who had previously last won their only NBA Finals championship in 1951 back when they played as the Rochester Royals. HoopsHype later ranked this squad as the team with the 16th easiest route to the NBA Finals, primarily due to their first opponent being against a 33–39 Detroit Pistons team that had recently moved to Detroit that season.

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Game log 1957–58 Game log # Date Opponent Score High points Record 1 October 22 Boston L 90–115 Bob Pettit (26) 0–1 2 October 23 vs. New York L 95–112 Cliff Hagan (19) 0–2 3 October 26 Minneapolis W 112–84 Bob Pettit (27) 1–2 4 November 1 @ Cincinnati L 92–99 Bob Pettit (45) 1–3 5 November 2 Cincinnati W 102–93 Slater Martin (25) 2–3 6 November 5 Syracuse W 115–101 Bob Pettit (34) 3–3 7 November 9 Philadelphia W 105–100 Bob Pettit (23) 4–3 8 November 11 @ Boston L 88–92 Ed Macauley (19) 4–4 9 November 15 @ Syracuse L 86–91 Cliff Hagan (22) 4–5 10 November 16 Syracuse W 118–101 Bob Pettit (33) 5–5 11 November 17 @ Cincinnati W 98–97 Bob Pettit (24) 6–5 12 November 19 New York W 118–115 Bob Pettit (38) 7–5 13 November 23 Detroit W 115–110 Cliff Hagan (40) 8–5 14 November 26 @ New York W 120–110 Bob Pettit (27) 9–5 15 November 27 @ Detroit W 121–110 Bob Pettit (27) 10–5 16 November 28 Cincinnati W 112–96 Bob Pettit (28) 11–5 17 November 30 @ Minneapolis L 113–118 Bob Pettit (28) 11–6 18 December 3 vs. Minneapolis W 115–108 Bob Pettit (31) 12–6 19 December 5 @ Philadelphia L 109–124 Slater Martin (27) 12–7 20 December 6 @ Boston L 97–111 Bob Pettit (28) 12–8 21 December 8 New York L 110–113 Cliff Hagan (24) 12–9 22 December 10 vs. Cincinnati W 102–90 Bob Pettit (31) 13–9 23 December 11 vs. New York W 135–126 Bob Pettit (43) 14–9 24 December 12 vs. Boston W 97–94 Cliff Hagan (28) 15–9 25 December 14 New York W 136–124 Bob Pettit (23) 16–9 26 December 15 @ Minneapolis W 138–118 Cliff Hagan (40) 17–9 27 December 17 vs. Detroit W 106–99 Bob Pettit (36) 18–9 28 December 21 vs. Syracuse W 146–136 Bob Pettit (51) 19–9 29 December 22 Minneapolis W 123–115 Cliff Hagan (31) 20–9 30 December 26 Detroit L 106–110 Cliff Hagan (21) 20–10 31 December 27 @ Cincinnati W 97–96 Ed Macauley (25) 21–10 32 December 28 Boston W 112–107 Cliff Hagan (33) 22–10 33 December 30 vs. Minneapolis W 105–98 Ed Macauley (27) 23–10 34 January 2 @ Philadelphia L 93–95 Ed Macauley (26) 23–21 35 January 5 Detroit W 95–93 Bob Pettit (26) 24–11 36 January 7 @ New York W 114–112 Ed Macauley (25) 25–11 37 January 10 @ Philadelphia L 93–124 Share, Wilfong (15) 25–12 38 January 11 Boston W 102–98 Cliff Hagan (25) 26–12 39 January 12 Minneapolis W 111–105 Cliff Hagan (27) 27–12 40 January 14 Philadelphia L 109–110 Cliff Hagan (36) 27–13 41 January 16 @ Syracuse L 96–112 Hagan, Pettit (24) 27–14 42 January 17 vs. Minneapolis L 110–112 (OT) Cliff Hagan (32) 27–15 43 January 18 Detroit W 105–103 Bob Pettit (40) 28–15 44 January 19 Cincinnati W 108–90 Bob Pettit (28) 29–15 45 January 25 @ Detroit L 98–105 Ed Macauley (24) 29–16 46 January 26 Philadelphia L 112–125 Cliff Hagan (32) 29–17 47 January 28 vs. Philadelphia W 123–109 Bob Pettit (29) 30–17 48 January 29 @ Boston L 101–111 Bob Pettit (22) 30–18 49 January 31 @ Cincinnati L 92–100 Cliff Hagan (23) 30–19 50 February 1 Cincinnati W 127–88 Cliff Hagan (24) 31–19 51 February 2 Syracuse L 100–102 Cliff Hagan (29) 31–20 52 February 4 @ New York L 116–120 Cliff Hagan (41) 31–21 53 February 7 vs. Detroit L 107–125 Cliff Hagan (19) 31–22 54 February 8 @ Syracuse W 103–102 Bob Pettit (32) 32–22 55 February 9 @ Philadelphia L 98–105 Bob Pettit (29) 32–23 56 February 11 New York W 107–105 Win Wilfong (25) 33–23 57 February 12 @ Detroit W 122–105 Bob Pettit (25) 34–23 58 February 14 @ Minneapolis W 104–100 Bob Pettit (23) 35–23 59 February 16 Detroit L 98–100 Bob Pettit (27) 35–24 60 February 18 Minneapolis 118–98 Bob Pettit (33) 36–24 61 February 21 Boston W 119–100 Bob Pettit (29) 37–24 62 February 22 @ Detroit L 96–98 Cliff Hagan (32) 37–25 63 February 23 @ Syracuse L 92–101 Bob Pettit (21) 37–26 64 February 25 vs. Detroit L 113–114 (OT) Cliff Hagan (34) 37–27 65 February 26 vs. Cincinnati W 105–103 Ed Macauley (29) 38–27 66 March 2 Cincinnati W 103–93 Bob Pettit (21) 39–27 67 March 5 @ Boston L 102–109 Bob Pettit (30) 39–28 68 March 7 Syracuse W 102–100 Bob Pettit (39) 40–28 69 March 8 Minneapolis W 126–123 Hagan, Pettit (25) 41–28 70 March 9 @ Minneapolis L 99–107 Bob Pettit (28) 41–29 71 March 10 @ Cincinnati L 84–122 Hagan, Pettit (17) 41–30 72 March 11 Philadelphia L 101–106 Bob Pettit (30) 41–31

Playoffs

| 1 | March 19 | Detroit | W 114–111 | Cliff Hagan (38) | Kiel Auditorium7,328 | 1–0 |- | 2 | March 22 | @ Detroit | W 99–96 | Cliff Hagan (27) | University of Detroit Fieldhouse | 2–0 |- | 3 | March 23 | Detroit | L 89–109 | Cliff Hagan (29) | Kiel Auditorium9,321 | 2–1 |- | 4 | March 25 | @ Detroit | W 145–101 | Cliff Hagan (28) | Detroit Olympia | 3–1 |- | 5 | March 27 | Detroit | W 120–96 | Cliff Hagan (32) | Kiel Auditorium7,661 | 4–1

| 1 | March 29 | @ Boston | W 104–102 | Cliff Hagan (33) | Bob Pettit (19) | Boston Garden3,652 | 1–0 |- | 2 | March 30 | @ Boston | L 112–136 | Cliff Hagan (37) | Cliff Hagan (12) | Boston Garden10,249 | 1–1 |- | 3 | April 2 | Boston | W 111–108 | Bob Pettit (32) | Bob Pettit (19) | Kiel Auditorium10,148 | 2–1 |- | 4 | April 5 | Boston | L 98–109 | Cliff Hagan (27) | Bob Pettit (17) | Kiel Auditorium10,216 | 2–2 |- | 5 | April 9 | @ Boston | W 102–100 | Bob Pettit (33) | Bob Pettit (21) | Boston Garden13,909 | 3–2 |- | 6 | April 12 | Boston | W 110–109 | Bob Pettit (50) | Bob Pettit (19) | Kiel Auditorium10,216 | 4–2

Awards and honors Bob Pettit, All-NBA First Team Slater Martin, All-NBA Second Team Cliff Hagan, All-NBA Second Team

References

Hawks on Basketball Reference