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
1961 playoff game log
Division Finals: 4–3 (Home: 2–2; Road: 2–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsLocation
Attendance		Series
1 March 21 Los Angeles L 118–122 Bob Pettit (28) Bob Pettit (20) Kiel Auditorium
8,147		 0–1
2 March 22 Los Angeles W 121–106 Clyde Lovellette (28) Bob Pettit (19) Kiel Auditorium
8,472		 1–1
3 March 24 @ Los Angeles L 112–118 Bob Pettit (26) Bob Pettit (13) Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena
5,006		 1–2
4 March 25 @ Los Angeles W 118–117 Bob Pettit (40) Bob Pettit (18) Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena
4,923		 2–2
5 March 27 Los Angeles L 112–121 Cliff Hagan (26) Bob Pettit (21) Kiel Auditorium 2–3
6 March 29 @ Los Angeles W 114–113 (OT) Bob Pettit (31) Bob Pettit (21) Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena
14,840		 3–3
7 April 1 Los Angeles W 105–103 Bob Pettit (31) Bob Pettit (17) Kiel Auditorium 4–3
NBA Finals: 1–4 (Home: 1–1; Road: 0–3)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Series
1 April 2 @ Boston L 95–129 Cliff Hagan (33) Cliff Hagan (13) Hagan, Sauldsberry (4) Boston Garden
11,531		 0–1
2 April 5 @ Boston L 108–116 Cliff Hagan (40) Bob Pettit (19) Cliff Hagan (6) Boston Garden
13,909		 0–2
3 April 8 Boston W 124–120 Bob Pettit (31) Bob Pettit (24) Si Green (7) Kiel Auditorium
8,468		 1–2
4 April 9 Boston L 104–119 Bob Pettit (40) Bob Pettit (18) Cliff Hagan (7) Kiel Auditorium
10,442		 1–3
5 April 11 @ Boston L 112–121 Bob Pettit (24) Pettit, Sauldsberry (11) Johnny McCarthy (6) Boston Garden
13,909		 1–4
1961 schedule

Awards and honors

References
  1. "St. Louis Hawks – Sports Ecyclopedia".
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