1957-58 NBA Finals
March 29, 1958 – April 12, 1958
1957-58 NBA Finals result: SLHSt. Louis Hawks def. BCBoston Celtics, 4-2, March 29, 1958 – April 12, 1958.
Result
| Team | Series | |
|---|---|---|
| Champion | SLHSt. Louis Hawks | 4-2 |
| Runner-up | BCBoston Celtics |
Games
| Game | Date | Result | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Game 1 | March 29, 1958 | SLHSt. Louis Hawks 104–102 Boston Celtics | Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts |
| Game 2 | March 30, 1958 | BCBoston Celtics 136–112 St. Louis Hawks | Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts |
| Game 3 | April 2, 1958 | SLHSt. Louis Hawks 111–108 Boston Celtics | Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, Missouri |
| Game 4 | April 5, 1958 | BCBoston Celtics 109–98 St. Louis Hawks | Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, Missouri |
| Game 5 | April 9, 1958 | SLHSt. Louis Hawks 102–100 Boston Celtics | Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts |
| Game 6 | April 12, 1958 | SLHSt. Louis Hawks 110–109 Boston Celtics | Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, Missouri |
Finals MVP
The Finals MVP award was not introduced until 1969; no Finals MVP was named for this series.
Series context
The 1958 NBA Finals was a rematch of the previous year's classic, with the St. Louis Hawks avenging their seven-game loss to the Boston Celtics and winning the only NBA championship in franchise history. Boston, the defending champion, had a dominant regular season at 49-23 to win the Eastern Division, while St. Louis improved to 41-31 to capture the Western Division outright this time, rather than via tiebreaker as in the prior year. Both teams entered as the top seed in their respective divisions, and expectations were high for another classic series between Bill Russell's Celtics and Bob Pettit's Hawks. Both clubs had to work for the rematch: Boston beat Philadelphia 4-1 in the Eastern Division Finals after the Warriors had escaped Syracuse in the semifinals, while St. Louis beat Detroit 4-1 in the Western Division Finals after the Pistons had swept past Cincinnati. St. Louis stole home-court advantage immediately, winning Game 1 in Boston, 104-102. The Celtics responded with a rout in Game 2, winning 136-112. The series shifted to St. Louis, where the Hawks took Game 3, 111-108, but Boston evened things again with a 109-98 win in Game 4. The turning point of the series, and one of the most consequential injuries in Finals history, came during Game 3, when Celtics center Bill Russell severely sprained his ankle. The injury hampered him for the remainder of the series and is widely believed to have been decisive; many historians have argued that Boston would likely have repeated as champions had Russell remained healthy, though Auerbach himself dismissed such reasoning, famously saying he thought the team simply got beat. With Russell diminished, St. Louis took control, winning Game 5, 102-100, and then closing out the championship in Game 6 with a 110-109 victory in Boston. The signature moment of the series came in that clinching game, when Bob Pettit scored 50 points, one of the highest-scoring individual performances in a series-clinching Finals game in league history; Pettit had 31 through three quarters before pouring in 19 of the Hawks' final 21 points, capped by a tip-in with 15 seconds left that sealed the win, a Finals-clinching scoring mark that stood alone for more than six decades until Giannis Antetokounmpo matched it in 2021. This championship remains the only title in St. Louis Hawks franchise history (the franchise would later relocate to Atlanta), and it marked the last Finals not won by the Boston Celtics until 1967, as well as the last time a Western Division team won the title until 1971. The series stands as a rare interruption in the Celtics dynasty and a signature moment for Pettit, one of the era's greatest forwards.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
← Basketball · Champions list · All-time records · Season standings · All competitions · Teams · Players