The 1958 NBA World Championship Series was the championship series for the 1957–58

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA) season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. It pitted the Western Division champion

St. Louis Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

against the Eastern Division champion Boston Celtics. The Hawks won the series in six games to win the franchise's first and only NBA title. This was the last Finals until

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that wasn't won by the Celtics, and the last until 1971 that was won by the Western Conference.

Recap

After being defeated by the Celtics in Game 7 of the

1957 NBA Finals 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 champ ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

survived a sometimes difficult 1957-58 NBA season en route to winning the Western Division crown with a 41-31 record. The Celtics, meanwhile, had dominated the Eastern Division with a 49-23 record. The Hawks upset the Celtics (with a healthy Russell) in Game 1 at the

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, 104-102. Boston struck back with a wipeout in Game 2, 136-112. In St. Louis, the Hawks prevailed 111-108 in Game 3 when Russell severely sprained his ankle. Without Russell, the Celtics evened the series with a 109-98 surprise victory in Game 4. St. Louis forced a 102-100 win in Game 5 in Boston to take the series lead. Back home in

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on April 12, the Hawks weren't about to miss their opportunity to defeat the defending champions. Pettit turned in a spectacular performance. He scored 31 points in the first three quarters, then zoomed off in the final period, nailing 19 of his team's last 21 points. His last two points, on a tip-in with 15 seconds remaining, put the Hawks ahead 110-107. The Celtics scored one final bucket but could do no more. The Hawks finally had a title, 110-109. Pettit had scored 50 points, including 18 of the Hawks' final 21 points in propelling the Hawks to the championship. Pettit's 50 points set a new Finals record for most scored by a player in a series-clinching game, a record that would finally be tied by Giannis Antetokounmpo in

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Most observers figured that the Celtics probably would have won the 1958 title if Russell hadn't suffered his ankle injury in game 3. Auerbach, however, found no comfort in that opinion. "You can always look for excuses," he said. "We just got beat."

Series summary

''Hawks win series 4–2''

Team rosters

St. Louis Hawks

Boston Celtics

References

1957-58 NBA Season Summary
''basketball-reference.com''. Retrieved March 29, 2014.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:1958 Nba Finals

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