Bob Pettit

One year earlier, Bob Pettit had scored 39 points with 19 rebounds across 56 agonizing minutes in a double-overtime Game 7 loss to the Boston Celtics, the kind of performance that haunts a competitor for a lifetime. On April 12, 1958, at Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis, the man they called "Big Blue" made sure there would be no ghosts to carry into the offseason. Pettit pulls up from the wing for a smooth jumper, then spins baseline for a turnaround bank shot, two brushstrokes in an offensive masterpiece that saw the 6'9" power forward pour in 31 points through three quarters before taking complete command of the fourth. With the Celtics rallying and the championship slipping away, Pettit scored 19 of his team's final 21 points, including the decisive tip-in off a Slater Martin miss with 15 seconds remaining that gave the Hawks a 110-107 lead they would ride to a 110-109 victory. The 50 points and 19 rebounds represented the first 50-point performance in NBA Finals history, a record for a series-clinching game that stood unchallenged for 63 years until Giannis Antetokounmpo matched it in 2021. The league's first-ever Most Valuable Player, a two-time MVP, 11-time All-Star, and the first player to score 20,000 career points, Pettit averaged 29.3 points and 17.0 rebounds across the series and was carried off the floor by teammates as fans stormed the court at Kiel. His number sits retired in the rafters of a franchise that has since moved from Milwaukee to St. Louis to Atlanta, but no matter where the Hawks call home, this remains the singular crowning achievement in their history.

Top Shot Debut

Championship Year