Summary
It looked as if the wheels had come off the Boston Celtics' dynasty. After nine straight Eastern Division titles, they finished second to the Philadelphia 76ers.
When the season ended, Boston Coach Red Auerbach announced that he was going to retire for a front office job. That seemed to inspire the team to try to win him one last title. The Celtics knocked off the 76ers in five games to move into the championship round against the Los Angeles Lakers, who pulled through a tough seven-game series against the St. Louis Hawks.
The home-court advantage was virtually non-existent in the finals. The Lakers won the first game in Boston, but the Celtics came back to win two in Los Angeles, taking a 3-1 lead. Then Los Angeles won again in Boston and finally got a victory at home, evening the series.
The seventh game was in Boston, because the Celtics had a better regular season-record than the Lakers. They pulled out a 95-93 victory to win their eighth straight championship and ninth in ten years.
Philadelphia's Wilt Chamberlain won the scoring title for the seventh and last time. He also led the league in rebounds and field goal percentage and was named Most Valuable Player. Oscar Robertson of Cincinnati was the assists leader for the third year in a row.
The Rookie of the Year was Rick Barry of San Francisco, who finished fourth in scoring with a 25.7 average. He was the fourth player, after Chamberlain, Robertson, and Walt Bellamy, to score more than 2,000 points in his first NBA season.
