The 1955–56 St. Louis Hawks season was the 10th season for the franchise and the first in St. Louis, Missouri. Formerly, the team had played in Milwaukee, but they elected to relocated to St. Louis after four last-place seasons in Milwaukee. They participated in the draft for the final time under the Milwaukee Hawks name, selecting Dick Ricketts with the first overall pick. St. Louis 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 Hawks' worst playoff loss in franchise history to date. 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

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

Playoffs

| 1 | March 16 | Minneapolis | L 97–103 | Bob Pettit (22) | Kiel Auditorium | 0–1

| 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

| 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

Awards and honors Bob Pettit, NBA Most Valuable Player Award Bob Pettit, All-NBA First Team

References

Hawks on Basketball Reference