1957 NBA Finals

1957 NBA Finals

Team Coach Wins Boston Celtics Red Auerbach 4 St. Louis Hawks Alex Hannum 3
Dates	March 30–April 13
Hall of Famers	Celtics: Bob Cousy (1971) Tom Heinsohn (1986) Andy Phillip (1961) Frank Ramsey (1982) Arnie Risen (1998) Bill Russell (1975) Bill Sharman (1976) Hawks: Bob Pettit (1970) Slater Martin (1982) Ed Macauley (1960) Coaches: Red Auerbach (1969) Alex Hannum (1998)
Eastern finals	Celtics defeated Nationals, 3–0
Western finals	Hawks defeated Lakers, 3–0

The 1957 NBA World Championship Series was the championship series of the 1956–57 National Basketball Association season, and was the conclusion of the 1957 NBA Playoffs. The best-of-seven series was played between the Western Division champion St. Louis Hawks and the Eastern Division champion Boston Celtics. This was the first trip to the Finals for each team, the first Finals in which both teams competing were making their first appearances since 1951. Red Auerbach became the first head coach to have taken two separate teams to the NBA Finals, having done so with Washington in 1949. The Celtics won the series over the Hawks, 4–3. It remains the only Game 7 in NBA history to be decided in double-overtime.

Game summaries

Game	Date	Home team	Result	Road team
Game 1	March 30	Boston Celtics	123–125 (2OT) (0–1)	St. Louis Hawks
Game 2	March 31	Boston Celtics	119–99 (1–1)	St. Louis Hawks
Game 3	April 6	St. Louis Hawks	100–98 (2–1)	Boston Celtics
Game 4	April 7	St. Louis Hawks	118–123 (2–2)	Boston Celtics
Game 5	April 9	Boston Celtics	124–109 (3–2)	St. Louis Hawks
Game 6	April 11	St. Louis Hawks	96–94 (3–3)	Boston Celtics
Game 7	April 13	Boston Celtics	125–123 (2OT) (4–3)	St. Louis Hawks

Celtics win series 4–3

Records

Celtics center Bill Russell set a rookie record for rebounds in a single NBA finals game with 32 in game 7, and averaged an NBA finals rookie record of 22.9 rebounds per game for the entire series.

External links

• NBA History