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1961 NBA playoffs

Postseason tournament

Field	Value
title	NBA playoffs
year	1961
season	[1960–61](1960-61-nba-season)
dates	March 14–April 11, 1961
num_teams	6
winners	Boston Celtics
count	4
second	St. Louis Hawks
semifinal1	Los Angeles Lakers
semifinal2	Syracuse Nationals
prev_season	[1960](1960-nba-playoffs)
next_season	[1962](1962-nba-playoffs)

The 1961 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1960-61 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Division champion Boston Celtics defeating the Western Division champion St. Louis Hawks 4 games to 1 in the NBA Finals.

The Lakers made the playoffs for the first time after moving to Los Angeles. They were one game away from their first Finals in L.A. as the St. Louis Hawks defeat them.

The Division Semifinals were extended from a best-of-three to a best-of-five series.

For the Celtics, it was their third straight NBA title and fourth overall. This would be the last Finals appearance for the Hawks franchise to date; though they still exist in the NBA as the Atlanta Hawks, they have yet to return to the Finals as of 2024.

Bracket

| RD2-text1= | RD2-text2=

| RD3-seed1=E1 | RD3-team1=Boston* | RD3-score1=4 | RD3-seed2=W1 | RD3-team2=St. Louis* | RD3-score2=1 |* Division winner |Bold Series winner |Italic Team with home-court advantage in NBA Finals}}

Division Semifinals

Eastern Division Semifinals

(2) [[Philadelphia Warriors]] vs. (3) [[Syracuse Nationals]]

This was the eighth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the 76ers/Nationals winning four of the first seven meetings.

Philadelphia 76ers/ Syracuse Nationals leads 4–3 in all-time playoff series

Western Division Semifinals

(2) [[Los Angeles Lakers]] vs. (3) [[Detroit Pistons]]

This was the eighth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Lakers winning six of the first seven meetings when the Lakers were in Minneapolis. (It was also the 18th playoff series in Pistons history, and the first time they met a team that would not later move to another city.)

Los Angeles leads 6–1 in all-time playoff series

Division Finals

Eastern Division Finals

(1) [[Boston Celtics]] vs. (3) [[Syracuse Nationals]]

This was the eighth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Nationals winning four of the first seven meetings.

Syracuse leads 4–3 in all-time playoff series

Western Division Finals

(1) [[St. Louis Hawks]] vs. (2) [[Los Angeles Lakers]]

This was the fifth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Hawks winning three of the first four meetings while the Lakers were based in Minneapolis.

St. Louis leads 3–1 in all-time playoff series

NBA Finals: (E1) Boston Celtics vs. (W1) St. Louis Hawks

Main article: 1961 NBA Finals

Bill Sharman's final NBA game.

This was the fourth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Celtics winning two of the first three meetings.

Boston leads 2–1 in all-time playoff series

References

"Team Rivalry Finder — Golden State Warriors versus Philadelphia 76ers (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com.
"Team Rivalry Finder — Detroit Pistons versus Los Angeles Lakers (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com.
"Team Rivalry Finder — Boston Celtics versus Philadelphia 76ers (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com.
"Team Rivalry Finder — Atlanta Hawks versus Los Angeles Lakers (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com.
"Team Rivalry Finder — Atlanta Hawks versus Boston Celtics (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

nba-playoffs 1960–61-nba-season

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