1955–56 St. Louis Hawks season

1955–56 St. Louis Hawks season
Head coach	Red Holzman
Arena	Kiel Auditorium
Results
Record	33–39 (.458)
Place	Division: 3rd (Western)
Playoff finish	West Division Finals(eliminated 2–3)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	KTVI
Radio	KMOX

The 1955–1956 Saint Louis Hawks season was the 10th season for the franchise. After 4 last-place seasons in Milwaukee, the Hawks relocated to St. Louis. The city had once been home to the St. Louis Bombers, an early BAA franchise that folded in 1950. The Hawks were on the verge of becoming one of the top teams in the NBA, led by second year forward Bob Pettit, who would earn the very first MVP award in NBA history. The Hawks would finish in third place with a 33–39 record.

In the playoffs against the Minneapolis Lakers, the Hawks were triumphant in Game 1 by a single point. Game 2 was played in Minneapolis, and the Hawks were blown out by 58 points in Game 2. The third game was contested in St. Louis. Once again, the Hawks would win by 1 point to advance to the Western Finals. In the three games, the Hawks were outscored by 56 points. In the Western Finals, the Hawks would win the first 2 games against the Fort Wayne Pistons. However, the Pistons would rebound to take the next 3 games and win the series.

Regular season

Season standings

Western Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Neutral	Div
x-Fort Wayne Pistons	37	35	.514	-	19-7	10-17	8-11	19-17
x-Minneapolis Lakers	33	39	.458	4	14-12	6-21	13-6	19-17
x-St. Louis Hawks	33	39	.458	4	15-11	11-17	7-11	18-18
Rochester Royals	31	41	.431	6	15-14	6-21	10-6	16-20

Record vs. opponents

1955-56 NBA Records
Team	BOS	FWP	MIN	NYK	PHI	ROC	STL	SYR
Boston	—	4–5	7–2	5–7	5–7	5–4	5–4	8–4
Fort Wayne	5–4	—	5–7	5–4	4–5	7–5	7–5	4–5
Minneapolis	2–7	7–5	—	5–4	3–6	7–5	5–7	4–5
New York	7–5	4–5	4–5	—	6–6	6–3	4–5	4–8
Philadelphia	7–5	5–4	6–3	6–6	—	6–3	6–3	9–3
Rochester	4–5	5–7	5–7	3–6	3–6	—	6–6	5–4
St. Louis	4–5	5–7	7–5	5–4	3–6	6–6	—	3–6
Syracuse	4–8	5–4	5–4	8–4	3–9	4–5	6–3	—

Game log

1955–56 Game log
#	Date	Opponent	Score	High points	Record
1	November 5	Minneapolis	89–101	Pettit, Selvy (21)	1–0
2	November 12	Syracuse	91–81	Bob Pettit (32)	1–1
3	November 15	New York	95–121	Bob Pettit (23)	2–1
4	November 19	@ New York	104–91	Bob Pettit (33)	3–1
5	November 20	@ Syracuse	80–84	Chuck Share (20)	3–2
6	November 23	Rochester	88–90 (OT)	Pettit, Share (20)	4–2
7	November 24	@ Minneapolis	99–107	Bob Pettit (20)	4–3
8	November 26	Minneapolis	95–104	Pettit, Selvy (20)	5–3
9	November 27	@ Fort Wayne	106–114 (OT)	Bob Pettit (27)	5–4
10	November 29	Philadelphia	95–108	Bob Pettit (40)	6–4
11	November 30	N Minneapolis	99–97	Bob Harrison (19)	7–4
12	December 1	@ Philadelphia	98–115	Bob Pettit (22)	7–5
13	December 2	@ Boston	81–94	Bob Pettit (24)	7–6
14	December 3	@ Rochester	89–78	Bob Pettit (25)	8–6
15	December 6	Boston	122–99	Bob Pettit (24)	8–7
16	December 10	New York	99–80	Bob Pettit (20)	8–8
17	December 11	@ Rochester	91–93	Bob Pettit (30)	8–9
18	December 14	N Rochester	109–117	Bob Pettit (34)	8–10
19	December 16	N Rochester	100–97 (OT)	Bob Pettit (23)	9–10
20	December 18	Rochester	85–86	Bob Pettit (26)	10–10
21	December 26	N Fort Wayne	67–83	Bob Harrison (12)	10–11
22	December 27	Boston	105–102	Bob Pettit (46)	10–12
23	December 28	@ Minneapolis	111–90	Bob Pettit (33)	11–12
24	December 29	N Minneapolis	71–74	Bob Pettit (20)	11–13
25	December 30	N Fort Wayne	89–90	Jack Stephens (21)	11–14
26	January 1	@ Fort Wayne	68–85	Bob Schafer (17)	11–15
27	January 2	Syracuse	84–82	Chuck Share (20)	11–16
28	January 4	@ Minneapolis	76–94	Bob Pettit (27)	11–17
29	January 7	Fort Wayne	108–97	Bob Pettit (22)	11–18
30	January 8	@ Fort Wayne	96–91	Bob Pettit (21)	12–18
31	January 10	@ Philadelphia	107–109 (OT)	Bob Pettit (26)	12–19
32	January 12	@ Syracuse	78–93	Chuck Share (13)	12–20
33	January 13	N Rochester	90–98	Bob Pettit (20)	12–21
34	January 14	@ New York	104–101 (2OT)	Jack McMahon (29)	13–21
35	January 15	Philadelphia	108–96	Bob Pettit (23)	13–22
36	January 17	N Minneapolis	86–97	Chuck Share (21)	13–23
37	January 19	N Fort Wayne	83–90	Bob Pettit (25)	13–24
38	January 20	@ Boston	112–133	Jack McMahon (22)	13–25
39	January 21	N Rochester	90–97	Bob Pettit (28)	13–26
40	January 22	@ Syracuse	109–105	Bob Pettit (39)	14–26
41	January 25	Rochester	106–114	Bob Pettit (33)	15–26
42	January 28	Syracuse	85–93	Al Ferrari (21)	16–26
43	January 29	@ Minneapolis	114–107	Bob Pettit (39)	17–26
44	January 31	Boston	91–114	Al Ferrari (20)	18–26
45	February 2	Fort Wayne	90–98	Bob Pettit (27)	19–26
46	February 4	N Fort Wayne	98–94	Bob Pettit (40)	20–26
47	February 5	Philadelphia	93–105	Bob Pettit (30)	21–26
48	February 8	N Boston	111–110	Bob Pettit (36)	22–26
49	February 9	@ Philadelphia	97–108	Bob Pettit (27)	22–27
50	February 10	@ Boston	100–124	Jack Coleman (23)	22–28
51	February 11	@ New York	91–107	Bob Pettit (24)	22–29
52	February 12	Philadelphia	87–79	Bob Pettit (37)	22–30
53	February 14	New York	103–99	Bob Pettit (30)	22–31
54	February 19	Fort Wayne	89–83	Bob Pettit (20)	22–32
55	February 20	N Fort Wayne	84–82	Bob Pettit (26)	23–32
56	February 21	Boston	97–101	Pettit, Share (27)	24–32
57	February 22	N Rochester	109–110	Park, Pettit (22)	24–33
58	February 24	N Syracuse	103–116	Bob Pettit (46)	25–33
59	February 25	@ New York	99–89	Bob Pettit (37)	26–33
60	February 26	New York	85–103	Bob Pettit (32)	27–33
61	February 27	N New York	109–113	Bob Pettit (23)	27–34
62	March 1	Rochester	95–94	Bob Pettit (27)	27–35
63	March 3	Fort Wayne	86–92	Ferrari, Share (19)	28–35
64	March 4	@ Minneapolis	84–113	Jack Stephens (14)	28–36
65	March 6	N Philadelphia	102–97	Bob Pettit (32)	29–36
66	March 7	@ Rochester	96–89	Bob Pettit (28)	30–36
67	March 8	@ Syracuse	88–92	Jack Stephens (21)	30–37
68	March 9	Minneapolis	102–103	Bob Pettit (44)	31–37
69	March 10	Minneapolis	97–105	Bob Pettit (34)	32–37
70	March 11	@ Boston	127–121	Bob Pettit (43)	33–37
71	March 12	N Syracuse	97–92	Chuck Share (30)	33–38
72	March 13	@ Philadelphia	113–116	Bob Pettit (29)	33–39

Playoffs

1956 playoff game log
Division Tiebreaker (finished as West's #3 seed) Game Date Team Score High points Location Record 1 March 16 Minneapolis L 97–103 Bob Pettit (22) Kiel Auditorium 0–1
Division Semifinals: 2–1 (home: 1–0; road: 1–1) Game Date Team Score High points Location Series 1 March 17 Minneapolis W 116–115 Bob Pettit (25) Kiel Auditorium 1–0 2 March 19 @ Minneapolis L 75–133 Bob Pettit (14) Minneapolis Auditorium 1–1 3 March 21 @ Minneapolis W 116–115 Bob Pettit (41) Minneapolis Auditorium 2–1
Division Finals: 2–3 (home: 1–1; road: 1–2) Game Date Team Score High points Location Series 1 March 22 @ Fort Wayne W 86–85 Al Ferrari (17) War Memorial Coliseum 1–0 2 March 24 Fort Wayne W 84–74 Al Ferrari (21) Kiel Auditorium 2–0 3 March 25 @ Fort Wayne L 84–107 Alex Hannum (18) War Memorial Coliseum 2–1 4 March 27 Fort Wayne L 84–93 Jack Coleman (19) Kiel Auditorium 2–2 5 March 29 @ Fort Wayne L 97–102 Jack Coleman (20) War Memorial Coliseum 2–3
1956 schedule

Awards and honors

• Bob Pettit, NBA Most Valuable Player Award
• Bob Pettit, All-NBA First Team

References

• Hawks on Basketball Reference