1960 Boston Celtics

Boston was now the league's measuring stick. The Celtics won 59 games and led the NBA in scoring while Russell led it in rebounding. To reach the Finals they got past the Philadelphia Warriors and their rookie Wilt Chamberlain in six.

Russell's rebounding in this series is hard to believe. He took 40 boards in Game 2, a Finals record at the time. Tom Heinsohn carried the scoring, and Sam Jones had grown into a starter alongside Cousy.

The Hawks, now coached by former Celtic Ed Macauley, traded games with Boston into a seventh. Bob Pettit kept St. Louis close, but the Celtics broke the game open at home, 122-103, behind 35 rebounds from Russell.

This was the fourth Boston-St. Louis title meeting in four years. It was also the last NBA Finals ever played in March.

The league was smaller than it is today, but the 1960 playoffs still required beating the best teams in the division and then the other side of the bracket. Title paths from this era are shorter on paper than a modern run, yet the Finals still decided the champion.

The starting five was Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, Sam Jones, and Tom Sanders. Red Auerbach coached the group with Frank Ramsey as the primary bench scorer.

This was title number 4 in a Boston Celtics run that stretched across consecutive or near-consecutive seasons. Repeat winners carried continuity from one year to the next.

The full roster ran deeper than the headline names. Role players who mattered included Bill Sharman (All-Star guard near the end of his career).

The 1960 playoffs ran through divisional rounds before the Finals. The Boston Celtics still needed four series wins in many years, but the league had fewer teams than the 30-franchise map used today.

The Boston Celtics share a lineage with other banners from 1957, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1981, 1984, 1986, 2008, 2024. Compare those seasons on the franchise hub to see how the roster and style changed between title runs.

Looking back, the 1959-60 Celtics went 59-16, the best record the franchise had posted, and beat the St. Louis Hawks in a seven-game Finals. Bill Russell set a single-game Finals rebounding record with 40 in Game 2. Boston closed the series with a 19-point win in Game 7 at home.

For the full roster beyond the featured starters, see the table on this page. For other Boston Celtics titles, use the franchise hub linked below.