This Day In Hawks History: March 19th

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There Was A Time when the NBA Had Its Own March Madness

In the days of St. Louis, late March was usually the beginning of the NBA playoffs. The Hawks had a total of 3 playoff games on this day in years past.

(Original Caption) St. Louis, Missouri: Laker Tom Hawkins spreads both arms and legs wide to prevent Hawk star Bob Pettit from getting around him during 2nd period action of the final NBA playoff series for the Western Division championships. /

1960: Game 3 of The Western Conference Finals (Minneapolis Armory)

When the Hawks arrived in St. Louis in 1955, they had developed a nice postseason rivalry with the then Minneapolis Lakers.

In 1960, they split the first 2 games in St. Louis, with the Hawks winning Game 1 and the Lakers winning Game 2.

In Game 3, St. Louis started out strong as they came out the gates to lead 26-15 at the end of the first quarter. However, Minneapolis would battle back to cut their deficit to 48-46 at the half.

The Second half would be a tight see-saw battle that St. Louis would eventually prevail 93-89 to take a 2-1 series lead.

Bob Pettit scored 35 for the Hawks and second-year Laker Elgin Baylor finished with 27.

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