The 1962–63 Boston Celtics season was the Celtics' 17th season in the NBA. The Celtics finished the season by winning their sixth NBA Championship. In 2024, HoopsHype would list this squad as the team with the 25th easiest route to an NBA Finals championship due primarily to their first round opponent they faced off against in the Cincinnati Royals.
This would be the last NBA Title for Bob Cousy, who retired after the season.
Offseason
NBA draft The 1962 NBA draft results were:
Round Pick Player Position Nationality School/Club team 1 7 John Havlicek Forward/Guard Ohio State 2 16 Jack Foley Guard Holy Cross 3 25 Jim Hadnot Providence 4 34 Roger Strickland Jacksonville University 5 43 Gary Daniels The Citadel 6 52 Jim Hooley Boston College 7 60 Clyde Arnold Duquesne 8 69 Chuck Chevalier Boston College 9 78 Mike Cingiser Brown
Roster
Regular season
Season standings
Game log 1962–63 game log # Date Opponent Score High points Record 1 October 20 New York W 149–116 Sam Jones (25) 1–0 2 October 26 @ New York W 133–108 Bill Russell (25) 2–0 3 October 27 Syracuse W 118–98 Heinsohn, S. Jones, Sanders (17) 3–0 4 October 30 @ St. Louis L 97–98 Sam Jones (23) 3–1 5 October 31 @ Detroit W 115–100 Tom Heinsohn (24) 4–1 6 November 2 @ Chicago W 107–97 Bob Cousy (23) 5–1 7 November 3 Detroit W 125–114 Tom Heinsohn (21) 6–1 8 November 7 @ Cincinnati W 106–105 Sam Jones (23) 7–1 9 November 9 Los Angeles L 120–133 Sam Jones (23) 7–2 10 November 11 vs. New York W 117–98 Tom Heinsohn (24) 8–2 11 November 12 Cincinnati W 137–126 Tom Heinsohn (25) 9–2 12 November 13 @ New York W 116–102 Tom Heinsohn (26) 10–2 13 November 16 @ Syracuse L 105–113 Tom Heinsohn (27) 10–3 14 November 17 San Francisco W 127–109 Tom Heinsohn (28) 11–3 15 November 20 vs. Chicago W 113–106 Heinsohn, Russell (20) 12–3 16 November 21 St. Louis W 115–106 Bill Russell (26) 13–3 17 November 22 vs. Syracuse L 120–130 Frank Ramsey (23) 13–4 18 November 23 vs. Chicago W 116–104 Satch Sanders (27) 14–4 19 November 24 @ St. Louis L 95–97 Satch Sanders (21) 14–5 20 November 27 vs. Detroit W 125–115 Tom Heinsohn (24) 15–5 21 December 1 Syracuse W 129–110 Heinsohn, S. Jones, Russell (22) 16–5 22 December 2 @ Cincinnati W 128–127 (OT) Sam Jones (27) 17–5 23 December 5 @ Detroit W 106–93 Sam Jones (20) 18–5 24 December 7 Los Angeles W 126–112 Bill Russell (24) 19–5 25 December 8 @ Syracuse L 97–102 Tom Heinsohn (20) 19–6 26 December 11 @ New York L 87–95 Bill Russell (18) 19–7 27 December 12 St. Louis W 111–98 Sam Jones (27) 20–7 28 December 13 vs. Detroit W 103–93 Tom Heinsohn (26) 21–7 29 December 15 Cincinnati L 120–124 Bill Russell (23) 21–8 30 December 22 New York L 106–120 Sam Jones (24) 21–9 31 December 26 San Francisco W 116–113 Sam Jones (20) 22–9 32 December 27 vs. San Francisco W 108–102 Sam Jones (32) 23–9 33 December 28 @ Cincinnati W 121–113 John Havlicek (31) 24–9 34 December 29 @ St. Louis L 100–102 Tom Heinsohn (23) 24–10 35 January 2 @ San Francisco W 135–120 (OT) Tom Heinsohn (41) 25–10 36 January 4 @ Los Angeles L 123–125 Tom Heinsohn (29) 25–11 37 January 5 @ Los Angeles L 104–106 John Havlicek (24) 25–12 38 January 8 @ San Francisco W 118–112 Bob Cousy (19) 26–12 39 January 9 @ Chicago L 123–131 John Havlicek (20) 26–13 40 January 10 @ Cincinnati L 121–130 Bill Russell (31) 26–14 41 January 11 Syracuse W 134–117 John Havlicek (27) 27–14 42 January 13 Chicago W 143–99 Clyde Lovellette (24) 28–14 43 January 17 vs. Chicago W 110–93 Tom Heinsohn (18) 29–14 44 January 18 Cincinnati W 122–114 Tom Heinsohn (25) 30–14 45 January 19 @ Syracuse W 149–148 (OT) Sam Jones (37) 30–15 46 January 20 Los Angeles W 133–121 S. Jones, Russell (29) 31–15 47 January 22 @ New York W 124–100 Bob Cousy (19) 32–15 48 January 23 @ Cincinnati L 133–138 Tom Heinsohn (25) 32–16 49 January 24 vs. St. Louis W 111–109 Sam Jones (27) 33–16 50 January 25 St. Louis W 113–98 Sam Jones (21) 34–16 51 January 27 New York W 123–110 John Havlicek (26) 35–16 52 January 29 vs. Chicago W 100–99 Sam Jones (23) 36–16 53 January 30 San Francisco W 125–111 Bill Russell (23) 37–16 54 January 31 vs. Cincinnati W 128–125 Sam Jones (22) 38–16 55 February 1 Syracuse L 111–125 Satch Sanders (22) 38–17 56 February 3 Detroit W 137–128 Sam Jones (35) 39–17 57 February 5 @ Cincinnati W 106–96 Sam Jones (27) 40–17 58 February 6 @ Syracuse L 109–126 Sam Jones (22) 40–18 59 February 8 @ New York W 129–97 John Havlicek (19) 41–18 60 February 9 San Francisco W 118–112 Cousy, S. Jones (22) 42–18 61 February 10 New York W 129–123 Sam Jones (21) 43–18 62 February 12 vs. Los Angeles W 120–93 Sam Jones (25) 44–18 63 February 13 Los Angeles L 128–134 Satch Sanders (25) 44–19 64 February 15 vs. Syracuse W 123–114 Tom Heinsohn (33) 45–19 65 February 16 @ St. Louis W 114–94 Sam Jones (34) 46–19 66 February 17 @ Chicago W 110–107 Sam Jones (28) 47–19 67 February 19 Cincinnati W 126–129 Heinsohn, S. Jones (25) 48–19 68 February 20 @ Detroit W 117–113 John Havlicek (24) 49–19 69 February 21 @ San Francisco W 135–118 Bill Russell (25) 50–19 70 February 22 @ Los Angeles L 105–113 Sam Jones (24) 50–20 71 February 24 @ Los Angeles W 119–109 Sam Jones (28) 51–20 72 February 26 @ San Francisco L 112–128 Bill Russell (20) 51–21 73 March 2 New York W 122–117 John Havlicek (32) 52–21 74 March 3 @ New York W 102–95 Sam Jones (17) 53–21 75 March 7 @ Detroit W 115–104 Sam Jones (31) 54–21 76 March 8 @ Chicago L 109–110 Bill Russell (24) 54–22 77 March 10 Cincinnati W 149–117 Tom Heinsohn (29) 55–22 78 March 13 Chicago W 121–108 Tom Heinsohn (37) 56–22 79 March 16 @ Syracuse W 125–121 Tom Heinsohn (21) 57–22 80 March 17 Syracuse W 125–116 Tom Heinsohn (28) 58–22
Player stats Note: GP= Games played; REB= Rebounds; AST= Assists; STL = Steals; BLK = Blocks; PTS = Points; AVG = Average Player GP REB AST STL BLK PTS AVGSam Jones7639624100149919.7Tom Heinsohn765969500144018.9Bill Russell78184334800130916.8John Havlicek8053417900114014.3Bob Cousy7619351500100313.2Frank Ramsey77288950083910.9Thomas "Satch" Sanders80576950086410.8K.C. Jones79263317005727.2Clyde Lovellette6117727003956.5Dan Swartz398821001754.5Jim Loscutoff6315725002103.3Gene Guarilia1114200262.4
Playoffs
| 1 | March 28 | Cincinnati | L 132–135 | Sam Jones (30) | Bill Russell (24) | Bob Cousy (9) | Boston Garden13,798 | 1–0 |- | 2 | March 29 | @ Cincinnati | W 125–102 | Bill Russell (26) | Bill Russell (24) | — | Cincinnati Gardens11,102 | 1–1 |- | 3 | March 31 | Cincinnati | L 116–121 | Tom Heinsohn (28) | Bill Russell (28) | Bob Cousy (7) | Boston Garden13,909 | 1–2 |- | 4 | April 3 | @ Cincinnati | W 128–110 | Bill Russell (26) | Bill Russell (21) | — | Cincinnati Gardens3,498 | 2–2 |- | 5 | April 6 | Cincinnati | W 125–120 | Tom Heinsohn (34) | Bill Russell (26) | Bob Cousy (8) | Boston Garden13,909 | 3–2 |- | 6 | April 7 | @ Cincinnati | L 99–109 | Sam Jones (22) | Bill Russell (23) | — | Cincinnati Gardens7,745 | 3–3 |- | 7 | April 10 | Cincinnati | W 142–131 | Sam Jones (47) | Bill Russell (24) | Bob Cousy (16) | Boston Garden13,909 | 4–3
| 1 | April 14 | Los Angeles | W 117–114 | Sam Jones (29) | Bill Russell (29) | Bob Cousy (11) | Boston Garden13,909 | 1–0 |- | 2 | April 16 | Los Angeles | W 113–106 | Sam Jones (27) | Bill Russell (38) | Bob Cousy (11) | Boston Garden13,909 | 2–0 |- | 3 | April 17 | @ Los Angeles | L 99–119 | Sam Jones (30) | Bill Russell (19) | Bill Russell (5) | Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena15,493 | 2–1 |- | 4 | April 19 | @ Los Angeles | W 108–105 | Tom Heinsohn (35) | Bill Russell (19) | three players tied (5) | Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena16,382 | 3–1 |- | 5 | April 21 | Los Angeles | L 119–126 | Sam Jones (36) | Bill Russell (27) | Bob Cousy (14) | Boston Garden13,909 | 3–2 |- | 6 | April 24 | @ Los Angeles | W 112–109 | Tom Heinsohn (22) | Bill Russell (24) | Bill Russell (9) | Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena15,652 | 4–2
Awards and honors Bill Russell, NBA Most Valuable Player Award Bill Russell, All-NBA First Team Bob Cousy, All-NBA Second Team Tom Heinsohn, All-NBA Second Team John Havlicek, NBA All-Rookie Team 1st Team Nine players are enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
References
Celtics on Basketball Reference