1956–57 Boston Celtics season

The 1956–57 Boston Celtics season was the 11th season for the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). This was the first time in franchise history, where the Celtics advanced to the NBA Finals, which they would later go onto win over the St. Louis Hawks in 7 games. The Celtics would make the Finals a record 10 consecutive seasons, spanning from this season to the 1965–66 season. They were led by 1957's MVP Bob Cousy, as well as Bill Russell, Bill Sharman, and 1957's Rookie of the Year Tom Heinsohn.

1956–57 Boston Celtics season
NBA champions
Division champions
Head coachRed Auerbach
ArenaBoston Garden
Results
Record44–28 (.611)
PlaceDivision: 1st (Eastern)
Playoff finishNBA Champions
(Defeated Hawks 4–3)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
RadioWHDH
The 1956-57 complete roster that won their first championship.

With Russell's death in 2022, Bob Cousy is the only remaining player from the 1957 championship team still alive.

Offseason

Roster
Boston Celtics roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.#Nat.NameHeightWeightDOB (Y-M-D)From
G 14 United States Cousy, Bob 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1928-08-09 Holy Cross
F/C 15 United States Heinsohn, Tom 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 218 lb (99 kg) 1934-08-26 Holy Cross
F 20 United States Hemric, Dick 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1933-08-29 Wake Forest
F 18 United States Loscutoff, Jim 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1930-02-04 Oregon
F/C 16 United States Nichols, Jack 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 222 lb (101 kg) 1926-04-09 Washington
G 17 United States Phillip, Andy 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1922-03-07 Illinois
G/F 23 United States Ramsey, Frank 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1931-07-13 Kentucky
F/C 19 United States Risen, Arnie 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1924-10-09 Ohio State
C 6 United States Russell, Bill 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1934-02-12 San Francisco
G 21 United States Sharman, Bill 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1926-05-25 USC
F 29 United States Tsioropoulos, Lou 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1930-08-31 Kentucky
Head coach
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured Injured

Regular season

Season standings
Eastern Division
 W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
x-Boston Celtics4428.611-24-411-189-620-16
x-Syracuse Nationals3834.528623-99-156-1020-16
x-Philadelphia Warriors3735.514720-55–2512-517-19
New York Knicks3636.500818-109-199-715-21

Record vs. opponents
1956-57 NBA Records
Team BOS FWP MIN NYK PHI ROC STL SYR
Boston –6–35–47–58–46–37–25–7
Fort Wayne 3–6–7–55–44–56–64–85–4
Minneapolis 4–55–7–3–65–49–34–84–5
New York 5–74–56–3–4–85–46–36–6
Philadelphia 4–85–44–58–4–4–57–25–7
Rochester 3–66–63–94–55–4–6–64–5
St. Louis 2–78–48–43–62–76–6–5–4
Syracuse 7–54–55–46–67–55–44–5—

Game log
1956–57 Game log
#DateOpponentScoreHigh pointsRecord
1October 27@ New York115–112Bob Cousy (35)1–0
2November 3New York113–107Bill Sharman (31)1–1
3November 10Minneapolis110–117Bob Cousy (27)2–1
4November 11@ Syracuse94–83Bill Sharman (28)3–1
5November 14N Minneapolis113–97Bill Sharman (28)3–2
6November 15@ Fort Wayne95–98Bill Sharman (24)3–3
7November 17Rochester86–108Jim Loscutoff (20)4–3
8November 18@ Rochester101–87Bill Sharman (32)5–3
9November 21Philadelphia83–95Bill Sharman (28)6–3
10November 22@ Philadelphia101–78Bill Sharman (30)7–3
11November 24Syracuse99–114Cousy, Sharman (21)8–3
12November 27@ St. Louis102–90Bob Cousy (27)9–3
13November 28N Minneapolis93–105Jim Loscutoff (26)10–3
14November 30N Fort Wayne102–104Arnie Risen (22)11–3
15December 1Fort Wayne93–108Bill Sharman (22)12–3
16December 4N St. Louis107–108Cousy, Heinsohn (26)13–3
17December 6@ Philadelphia111–113Bob Cousy (32)13–4
18December 7Minneapolis114–121Bob Cousy (34)14–4
19December 9@ Syracuse110–116Tom Heinsohn (25)14–5
20December 11N Fort Wayne97–113Tom Heinsohn (34)15–5
21December 12Rochester103–93Bob Cousy (23)15–6
22December 15St. Louis99–102Bob Cousy (26)16–6
23December 16N Philadelphia116–104Bob Cousy (21)16–7
24December 18@ New York99–110Bob Cousy (35)16–8
25December 22St. Louis93–95Tom Heinsohn (19)17–8
26December 23@ Fort Wayne87–95Bill Sharman (26)17–9
27December 25N Philadelphia89–82Bob Cousy (22)17–10
28December 26Philadelphia97–120Dickie Hemric (27)18–10
29December 27N Rochester92–97Bill Sharman (19)19–10
30December 30Syracuse92–105Bill Sharman (28)20–10
31January 1N Philadelphia87–100Tom Heinsohn (30)21–10
32January 4N Syracuse116–106Bob Cousy (32)21–11
33January 6Fort Wayne92–118Bob Cousy (20)22–11
34January 8@ New York102–113Cousy, Sharman (25)22–12
35January 10@ Fort Wayne98–81Jim Loscutoff (22)23–12
36January 12@ St. Louis98–100Bill Sharman (32)23–13
37January 13@ Minneapolis87–104Bill Sharman (24)23–14
38January 18St. Louis117–126Bill Sharman (33)24–14
39January 19@ Rochester97–83Bob Cousy (33)25–14
40January 20New York78–114Bob Cousy (32)26–14
41January 23Syracuse108–140Bill Sharman (22)27–14
42January 25Minneapolis106–115Bob Cousy (30)28–14
43January 27@ Philadelphia107–87Bill Sharman (30)29–14
44January 28Philadelphia95–105Bob Cousy (22)30–14
45January 29N Minneapolis91–103Bill Sharman (32)31–14
46January 30Syracuse119–116Bill Sharman (26)31–15
47January 31@ Syracuse104–105Bill Sharman (30)31–16
48February 2@ New York114–111Bill Russell (22)32–16
49February 3New York98–116Bill Sharman (33)33–16
50February 5N Syracuse101–105Bob Cousy (24)34–16
51February 6Fort Wayne93–108Bill Sharman (28)35–16
52February 8N New York92–90Frank Ramsey (23)35–17
53February 9@ Rochester102–103Tom Heinsohn (20)35–18
54February 10Philadelphia98–103 (OT)Bob Cousy (26)36–18
55February 13@ Minneapolis114–115Cousy, Heinsohn (27)36–19
56February 14@ Fort Wayne106–112Frank Ramsey (25)36–20
57February 15@ St. Louis123–116 (2OT)Bob Cousy (33)37–20
58February 17@ Syracuse106–116Bill Russell (23)37–21
59February 19@ New York112–110Bob Cousy (27)38–21
60February 21St. Louis112–125Tom Heinsohn (32)39–21
61February 22@ Philadelphia109–117Heinsohn, Russell (30)39–22
62February 24New York85–97Bill Sharman (27)40–22
63February 26N Rochester77–92Bill Sharman (32)41–22
64February 28N New York122–121 (OT)Tom Heinsohn (35)41–23
65March 1Philadelphia80–90Ramsey, Sharman (19)42–23
66March 2@ Rochester87–96Tom Heinsohn (20)42–24
67March 3Rochester102–111Bill Russell (30)43–24
68March 5@ St. Louis102–104Tom Heinsohn (41)43–25
69March 7@ Minneapolis104–109Bill Sharman (26)43–26
70March 9@ Syracuse102–104Bill Sharman (27)43–27
71March 10Syracuse94–92Bill Sharman (24)43–28
72March 13New York91–122Bill Sharman (28)44–28

Player statistics
Legend
  GP Games played  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game
 PPG  Points per game

Season
Player GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
Bob Cousy6436.9.378.8214.87.520.6
Tom Heinsohn7229.9.397.7909.81.616.2
Dick Hemric6715.7.344.6954.50.65.4
Jim Loscutoff7031.7.345.70610.41.310.6
Jack Nichols6122.5.363.7946.11.48.2
Togo Palazzi*2111.1.347.7193.60.45.0
Andy Phillip6722.0.379.6422.72.54.4
Frank Ramsey3523.1.393.7915.11.911.9
Arnie Risen4321.7.388.6796.71.28.0
Bill Russell4835.3.427.49219.61.814.7
Bill Sharman6735.9.416.9054.33.521.1
Lou Tsioropoulos5212.9.309.7754.00.64.4

* – Stats with the Celtics.

Playoffs
Player GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
Bob Cousy1044.0.324.7476.19.320.2
Tom Heinsohn1037.0.390.71011.72.022.9
Dick Hemric29.5.143.4.50.51.0
Jim Loscutoff1025.9.284.6438.30.58.0
Jack Nichols1011.7.400.6001.70.73.5
Andy Phillip1012.8.364.4002.01.72.2
Frank Ramsey1022.9.463.7804.31.712.2
Arnie Risen1015.2.444.6555.80.87.5
Bill Russell1040.9.365.50824.43.213.9
Bill Sharman1037.7.381.9533.52.921.1

Playoffs
1957 playoff game log
Division Finals: 3–0 (home: 2–0; road: 1–0)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsLocationSeries
1 March 21 Syracuse W 108–90 Frank Ramsey (20) Bill Russell (31) Boston Garden 1–0
2 March 23 @ Syracuse W 120–105 Tom Heinsohn (30) Bill Russell (30) Onondaga War Memorial 2–0
3 March 24 Syracuse W 83–80 Bill Sharman (23) Bill Russell (23) Boston Garden 3–0
NBA Finals: 4–3 (home: 3–1; road: 1–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Series
1 March 30 St. Louis L 123–125 (2OT) Bill Sharman (36) Bill Russell (18) — Boston Garden
5,976		 0–1
2 March 31 St. Louis W 119–99 Cousy, Ramsey (22) Bill Russell (25) Bob Cousy (7) Boston Garden
13,909		 1–1
3 April 6 @ St. Louis L 98–100 Bill Sharman (28) Bill Russell (19) Bob Cousy (8) Kiel Auditorium
10,048		 1–2
4 April 7 @ St. Louis W 123–118 Bob Cousy (31) Bill Russell (20) Arnie Risen (9) Kiel Auditorium
10,035		 2–2
5 April 9 St. Louis W 124–109 Bill Sharman (32) Bill Russell (23) Bob Cousy (19) Boston Garden
13,909		 3–2
6 April 11 @ St. Louis L 94–96 Tom Heinsohn (28) Bill Russell (23) — Kiel Auditorium
10,053		 3–3
7 April 13 St. Louis W 125–123 (2OT) Tom Heinsohn (37) Bill Russell (32) Bob Cousy (11) Boston Garden
13,909		 4–3
1957 schedule

Awards and honors
  • Bob Cousy, NBA MVP of the Year
  • Bob Cousy, All-NBA First Team
  • Tom Heinsohn, NBA Rookie of the Year
  • Bill Sharman, All-NBA First Team

References
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