Putting this here so far.
St. Louis, Jan. 21 (U.P.)—Bill Russell and Bob Pettit renew their duel between the National Basketball Association’s two best big men tonight, while coaches Red Auerbach and Alex Hannum resume a personal feud in the league’s annual East-West All-Star game.
Auerbach’s East team, with a superior overall scoring average of about 10 points in regular season competition, was a three-point favorite for the eighth annual pro basketball classic at St. Louis for the game. Although each team presents 10 of the outstanding stars in the pro league, much attention will be centered on the match-up between Russell, the Boston Celtics’ six-foot-10 defensive marvel, and Pettit, the St. Louis Hawks’ six-foot-nine shooting wizard who has a 25-point scoring average.
Russell, whom West Coast Hannum concedes “swings the defensive advantage to the East team,” may not be in peak form. An injured ankle forced him to miss three games in recent weeks. And in last Sunday’s game against Philadelphia, Russell was relieved twice because of a combination of ankle and elbow miseries.
Russell vs. Pettit
With Russell assigned to guard jump-shooting Pettit, the West strategy will be the same as most NBA teams try to employ in games against the Celtics. Pettit will concentrate on “outside” shots in an effort to lure Russell away from the boards and thus give six-foot-seven Maurice Stokes of the Cincinnati Royals a chance to dominate the rebounding.
These tactics fail to perturb the dour Auerbach. “Russell will guard Pettit no matter where he plays, inside or outside,” he said. Russell will have some help on the boards from Neil Johnston and Dolph Schayes.
“We have a much better team offensively,” Auerbach insisted. “We have better shooters in Johnston, Bill Sharman, Ken Sears and Schayes. Our back court is much better with Bob Cousy and Sharman. Defensively, we should be much better, too, depending on Russell’s ankle.”
Even Hannum conceded that, on paper, the East appeared to be a better team. (Reading Eagle, Jan. 21, 1958)
Bob Pettit was All-Star Game MVP.
ST. LOUIS—(AP)—“This one game me more satisfaction than any All-Star victory the East has ever won.”
Boston’s Red Auerbach was talking and the old pro of his Boston Celtics, Bob Cousy, smiled and nodded.
“This one,” Auerbach said, “was in St. Louis. We would rather win here than anywhere else.”
The favored East team, 10 points down early in the last half, battled back and won going away, 130-118, with Cousy dazzling.
They did it despite an all-out effort by Bob Pettit, the St. Louis Hawks star, who set new NBA All-Star records with 28 points and 26 rebounds. And they did it despite a partisan St. Louis Arena crowd of 12,854, which gave Auerbach and his Celtics a strong booing.
Most Valuable
Pettit’s performance earned him the most valuable player award for the second time. Cousy, himself a two-time winner of the honors had 20 points and 10 assists and was second in the voting.
Auerbach said he couldn’t pick a turning point.
“We were just hitting and they weren’t,” he said.
West Coach Alex Hannum was downcast but praised the efforts of his West All-Stars.
“I felt mighty sick when I saw Bobby (Pettit) on the floor after Slater Martin had gone out,” Alex said.
Pettit Sprains Knee
Pettit suffered a slight knee sprain. Martin had what physicians termed a torn muscle fibre. It may keep him out for a while.
Hannum said a two minute cold spell late in the game was the difference. Cousy tossed in seven straight points while the West was getting a lone field goal in this stretch and a one-point East lead grew to six.
A bitter St. Louis-Boston rivalry made this All-Star Game sweeter for the victors and harder to take for the losers.
“We had the best team and I guess this proves it,” said Auerbach.
(Sarasota Journal, Jan. 22, 1958)
Mar. 2, 1958, Pettit scored 21 points and grabbed a team-record 35 rebounds in a 103-93 win over Cincinnati.
Western Division Finals – St. Louis Hawks (41-31) vs. Detroit Pistons (33-39)St. Louis won Game 1 114-111, led by Cliff Hagan, who had 38 points. “The Hawks were forced to overcome a six-point deficit in the final quarter. And they did it with a big boost from Cliff Hagan, who tallied 11 of his 38 points in the final 12 minutes” (
The Southeast Missourian, Mar. 20, 1958).
St. Louis won Game 2 99-96 on “two driving layups by veteran Slater Martin in the closing 90 seconds” (
Reading Eagle, Mar. 23, 1958).
Detroit, March 22—(AP)—Two driving layups by Veteran Slater Martin in the closing 90 seconds gave St. Louis a 99-96 victory over Detroit Saturday, the Hawks’ second straight triumph in the best-of-seven series for the Western title in the National Basketball Assn.
Win Wilfong stole the ball from Walter Dukes and hurled a perfect pass the length of the floor which Martin converted. This gave the Hawks a 97-96 edge and Martin salted it moments later with another driving basket.
Until the final flurry it looked as if the Pistons might even the series in this rough and tumble contest. Behind 61-50 at halftime, they roared back into a 67-66 lead after slightly more than seven minutes of the third period.
With three and a half minutes left in the game Detroit led by three points. But Cliff Hagan, the game’s high scorer with 27 points, sank a field goal and Bob Pettit added two free throws while the Pistons were collecting only two free throws. Martin’s last basket ended it. (The Milwaukee Sentinel, Mar. 22, 1958)
Cliff Hagan led St. Louis with a game-high 27 points, Bob Pettit had 15, Ed Macauley and Slater Martin had 14 apiece, and Wil Wilfong had 10. George Yardley led Detroit with 26 points, Walter Dukes had 17, Gene Shue had 16, Harry Gallatin 14 and Dick McGuire 13 (
Reading Eagle, Mar. 23, 1958).
Detroit won Game 3 109-89. “The Pistons jumped off to a 35-21 first quarter lead against the Hawks in St. Louis Sunday and never trailed. The usually high-scoring Hawks tallied only 15 points in the third period. George Yardley, the league’s top scorer, dropped in 17 of his 31 points in the Pistons’ final quarter.
“Veteran Cliff Hagan, the Hawks’ scoring star in the first two games came up with 29 points but didn’t receive much help from Bob Pettit, who scored only a sub-par 18 against the fine guarding of Walt Dukes” (
Park City Daily News, Mar. 24, 1958).
St. Louis won Game 4 145-101, led by Cliff Hagan, who had 28 points, and Bob Pettit had 23. “The Hawks turned in a blazing first half. They raced to a 72-44 advantage and coasted the rest of the way. The Hawks’ total points broke a two-year-old team scoring record for a playoff game set by Minneapolis. St. Louis also set another mark by pumping 55 field goals through the hoop” (
The Southeast Missourian, Mar. 24, 1958).
St. Louis won Game 5 120-96 to win the series 4 games to 1. Cliff Hagan led the way with 32 points, 26 in the second half (
The Lewiston Daily Sun, Mar. 27, 1958) “to lead the Hawks from a 49-42 halftime lead to a blistering 36 point third period that sewed it up” (
Times Daily, Mar. 24, 1958). “This gave Hagan a total of 154 points for the five games,” an average of 30.8 per game. Bob Pettit had 20, “weakened [...] with a bout of the flu” (
The Lewiston Daily Sun, Mar. 27, 1958). Charlie Shore received a fractured lower jaw bone and damage to four teeth in a collision with Wally Dukes (
The Milwaukee Sentinel, Mar. 28, 1958). George Yardley had 18 for Detroit.
nice try though...
