1961 Overview

From Hoopedia

1960-61 NBA Season

One rookie was teased about being too skinny, the other about having a big behind. Yet it didn’t take long for observers to realize that Jerry West and Oscar Robertson were on their way to greatness.

Robertson came out of Cincinnati and moved right in with the Royals. West graduated from West Virginia and learned he was headed to the Lakers, but not to Minneapolis.

The two rising stars helped make the U.S. Olympic team dominant at the summer games in Rome that year, then returned home to find a rapidly changing pro league, one that was bicoastal for the first time. In a sudden move, the Lakers had departed Minneapolis to take up a new home in Los Angeles.

Robertson immediately used his strength and skills to average 30.5 points per game and lead the league with 9.7 assists per game. Robertson’s presence gave the league three scorers averaging better than 30 a game for the first time. Wilt Chamberlain led the NBA at 38.4 points per game followed by Elgin Baylor with 34.8. West finished with an impressive 17.6 points per game.

The eight-team league expanded its schedule to 79 games, but little changed. Boston won 57 games, six better than second-best St. Louis.

For the second straight season, St. Louis had to fight off the Lakers in seven games in the Western Division Finals to earn the right to meet the Celtics, who had defeated Syracuse in five games. The Hawks, with their own impressive rookie in Lenny Wilkens, had no better luck against Bill Russell and Co. in the NBA Finals.

The Celtics needed just five games to claim their fourth title.