1960–61 St. Louis Hawks season

Prior to the 1960–61 St. Louis Hawks season owner Ben Kerner changed coaches despite reaching the 1960 NBA Finals. Ed Macauley was replaced with Paul Seymour.[1] On the court, rookie Lenny Wilkens was averaging 11.7 points per game in his first year.[1] The brunt of the scoring came from the Hawks' front line of Bob Pettit, Cliff Hagan, and Clyde Lovellette. They combined for 72.0 points per game, and the Hawks won the West by 15 games.[1] The Hawks finished the season with a record of 51–28. In the playoffs, the Hawks needed a 1-point overtime win in Game 6 on the road to force a 7th game with the Los Angeles Lakers. Game 7 was played in St. Louis and the Hawks beat the Lakers by 2 points.[1] The Hawks then were up against the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. The Hawks fell in 5 games as the Celtics won their 4th NBA Title in 5 seasons.

1960–61 St. Louis Hawks season
Division champions
Head coachPaul Seymour
ArenaKiel Auditorium
Results
Record51–28 (.646)
PlaceDivision: 1st (Western)
Playoff finishNBA Finals
(Eliminated 1–4)

Regular season

Standings
Western Division W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
x-St. Louis Hawks5128.646–29–515–207–325–14
x-Los Angeles Lakers3643.4561516–128–2012–1119–20
x-Detroit Pistons3445.4301720–113–1911–1518–21
Cincinnati Royals3346.4181818–138–197–1416–23

Record vs. opponents
1960-61 NBA Records
Team BOS CIN DET LAL NYK PHI STL SYR
Boston —7–38–28–210–38–56–410–3
Cincinnati 3–7—2–118–58–22–86–74–6
Detroit 2–811–2—4–95–55–53–104–6
Los Angeles 2–85–89–4—7–32–85–86–4
New York 3–102–85–53–7—2–111–95–8
Philadelphia 5–88–25–58–211–2—3–76–7
St. Louis 4–67–610–38–59–17–3—6–4
Syracuse 3–106–46–44–68–57–64–6—

Playoffs

West Division Semifinals

The Hawks had a division semifinal bye.

West Division Finals

(1) St. Louis Hawks vs. (2) Los Angeles Lakers: Hawks win series 4–3

  • Game 1 @ St. Louis: Los Angeles 122, St. Louis 118
  • Game 2 @ St. Louis: St. Louis 121, Los Angeles 106
  • Game 3 @ Los Angeles: Los Angeles 118, St. Louis 112
  • Game 4 @ Los Angeles: St. Louis 118, Los Angeles 117
  • Game 5 @ St. Louis: Los Angeles 121, St. Louis 112
  • Game 6 @ Los Angeles: St. Louis 114, Los Angeles 113 (OT)
  • Game 7 @ St. Louis: St. Louis 105, Los Angeles 103

NBA Finals

(1) Boston Celtics vs. (1) St. Louis Hawks: Celtics win series 4–1

  • Game 1 @ Boston: Boston 129, St. Louis 95
  • Game 2 @ Boston: Boston 116, St. Louis 108
  • Game 3 @ St. Louis: St. Louis 124, Boston 120
  • Game 4 @ St. Louis: Boston 119, St. Louis 104
  • Game 5 @ Boston: Boston 121, St. Louis 112

Awards and honors

References
  1. http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/stlhawks/stlhawks.html
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