1962–63 Boston Celtics season

1962–63 Boston Celtics season
NBA champions
Division champions
Head coach	Red Auerbach
Arena	Boston Garden
Results
Record	58–22 (.725)
Place	Division: 1st (Eastern)
Playoff finish	NBA Champions (Defeated Lakers 4–2)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	WHDH-TV
Radio	WHDH

The 1962–63 NBA season was the Celtics' 17th season in the NBA. The Celtics finished the season by winning their sixth NBA Championship. In 2024, HoopsHype would list this squad as the team with the 25th easiest route to an NBA Finals championship due primarily to their first round opponent they faced off against in the Cincinnati Royals.

Offseason

NBA draft

The 1962 NBA Draft results were:

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	School/Club Team
1	7	John Havlicek	Forward/Guard	United States	Ohio State
2	16	Jack Foley	Guard	United States	Holy Cross
3	25	Jim Hadnot		United States	Providence
4	34	Roger Strickland		United States	Jacksonville University
5	43	Gary Daniels		United States	The Citadel
6	52	Jim Hooley			Boston College
7	60	Clyde Arnold			Duquesne
8	69	Chuck Chevalier			Boston College
9	78	Mike Cingiser			Brown

Regular season

Season standings

Eastern Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Neutral	Div
x-Boston Celtics	58	22	.725	–	25–5	21–16	12–1	25–11
x-Syracuse Nationals	48	32	.600	10	23–5	13–19	12–8	21–15
x-Cincinnati Royals	42	38	.525	16	23–10	15–19	4–9	20–16
New York Knicks	21	59	.263	37	12–22	5–28	4–9	6–30

Record vs. opponents

1962-63 NBA Records
Team	BOS	CHI	CIN	DET	LAL	NYK	SFW	STL	SYR
Boston	—	8–2	9–3	8–0	4–5	10–2	8–1	5–3	6–6
Chicago	2–8	—	4–6	3–7	3–7	4–6	4–6	3–7	2–8
Cincinnati	3–9	6–4	—	4–4	3–6	10–2	6–3	3–5	7–5
Detroit	0–8	7–3	4–4	—	1–11	8–1	7–5	4–8	3–6
Los Angeles	5–4	7–3	6–3	11–1	—	5–3	8–4	7–5	4–4
New York	2–10	6–4	2–10	1–8	3–5	—	2–6	3–6	2–10
San Francisco	1–8	6–4	3–6	5–7	4–8	6–2	—	3–9	3–5
St. Louis	3–5	7–3	5–3	8–4	5–7	6–3	9–3	—	5–4
Syracuse	6–6	8–2	5–7	6–3	4–4	10–2	5–3	4–5	—

Game log

1962–63 Game log
#	Date	Opponent	Score	High points	Record
1	October 20	New York	116–149	Sam Jones (25)	1–0
2	October 26	@ New York	133–108	Bill Russell (25)	2–0
3	October 27	Syracuse	98–118	Heinsohn, S. Jones, Sanders (17)	3–0
4	October 30	@ St. Louis	97–98	Sam Jones (23)	3–1
5	October 31	@ Detroit	115–100	Tom Heinsohn (24)	4–1
6	November 2	@ Chicago	107–97	Bob Cousy (23)	5–1
7	November 3	Detroit	114–125	Tom Heinsohn (21)	6–1
8	November 7	@ Cincinnati	106–105	Sam Jones (23)	7–1
9	November 9	Los Angeles	133–120	Sam Jones (23)	7–2
10	November 11	N New York	98–117	Tom Heinsohn (24)	8–2
11	November 12	Cincinnati	126–137	Tom Heinsohn (25)	9–2
12	November 13	@ New York	116–102	Tom Heinsohn (26)	10–2
13	November 16	@ Syracuse	105–113	Tom Heinsohn (27)	10–3
14	November 17	San Francisco	109–127	Tom Heinsohn (28)	11–3
15	November 20	N Chicago	106–113	Heinsohn, Russell (20)	12–3
16	November 21	St. Louis	106–115	Bill Russell (26)	13–3
17	November 22	N Syracuse	130–120	Frank Ramsey (23)	13–4
18	November 23	N Chicago	104–116	Satch Sanders (27)	14–4
19	November 24	@ St. Louis	95–97	Satch Sanders (21)	14–5
20	November 27	N Detroit	115–125	Tom Heinsohn (24)	15–5
21	December 1	Syracuse	110–129	Heinsohn, S. Jones, Russell (22)	16–5
22	December 2	@ Cincinnati	128–127 (OT)	Sam Jones (27)	17–5
23	December 5	@ Detroit	106–93	Sam Jones (20)	18–5
24	December 7	Los Angeles	112–126	Bill Russell (24)	19–5
25	December 8	@ Syracuse	97–102	Tom Heinsohn (20)	19–6
26	December 11	@ New York	87–95	Bill Russell (18)	19–7
27	December 12	St. Louis	98–111	Sam Jones (27)	20–7
28	December 13	N Detroit	93–103	Tom Heinsohn (26)	21–7
29	December 15	Cincinnati	124–120	Bill Russell (23)	21–8
30	December 22	New York	120–106	Sam Jones (24)	21–9
31	December 26	San Francisco	113–116	Sam Jones (20)	22–9
32	December 27	N San Francisco	102–108	Sam Jones (32)	23–9
33	December 28	@ Cincinnati	121–113	John Havlicek (31)	24–9
34	December 29	@ St. Louis	100–102	Tom Heinsohn (23)	24–10
35	January 2	@ San Francisco	135–120 (OT)	Tom Heinsohn (41)	25–10
36	January 4	@ Los Angeles	123–125	Tom Heinsohn (29)	25–11
37	January 5	@ Los Angeles	104–106	John Havlicek (24)	25–12
38	January 8	@ San Francisco	118–112	Bob Cousy (19)	26–12
39	January 9	@ Chicago	123–131	John Havlicek (20)	26–13
40	January 10	@ Cincinnati	121–130	Bill Russell (31)	26–14
41	January 11	Syracuse	117–134	John Havlicek (27)	27–14
42	January 13	Chicago	99–143	Clyde Lovellette (24)	28–14
43	January 17	N Chicago	93–110	Tom Heinsohn (18)	29–14
44	January 18	Cincinnati	114–122	Tom Heinsohn (25)	30–14
45	January 19	@ Syracuse	148–149 (OT)	Sam Jones (37)	30–15
46	January 20	Los Angeles	121–133	S. Jones, Russell (29)	31–15
47	January 22	@ New York	124–100	Bob Cousy (19)	32–15
48	January 23	@ Cincinnati	133–138	Tom Heinsohn (25)	32–16
49	January 24	N St. Louis	109–111	Sam Jones (27)	33–16
50	January 25	St. Louis	98–113	Sam Jones (21)	34–16
51	January 27	New York	110–123	John Havlicek (26)	35–16
52	January 29	N Chicago	99–100	Sam Jones (23)	36–16
53	January 30	San Francisco	111–125	Bill Russell (23)	37–16
54	January 31	N Cincinnati	125–128	Sam Jones (22)	38–16
55	February 1	Syracuse	125–111	Satch Sanders (22)	38–17
56	February 3	Detroit	128–137	Sam Jones (35)	39–17
57	February 5	@ Cincinnati	106–96	Sam Jones (27)	40–17
58	February 6	@ Syracuse	109–126	Sam Jones (22)	40–18
59	February 8	@ New York	129–97	John Havlicek (19)	41–18
60	February 9	San Francisco	112–118	Cousy, S. Jones (22)	42–18
61	February 10	New York	123–129	Sam Jones (21)	43–18
62	February 12	N Los Angeles	93–120	Sam Jones (25)	44–18
63	February 13	Los Angeles	134–128	Satch Sanders (25)	44–19
64	February 15	N Syracuse	114–123	Tom Heinsohn (33)	45–19
65	February 16	@ St. Louis	114–94	Sam Jones (34)	46–19
66	February 17	@ Chicago	110–107	Sam Jones (28)	47–19
67	February 19	Cincinnati	126–129	Heinsohn, S. Jones (25)	48–19
68	February 20	@ Detroit	117–113	John Havlicek (24)	49–19
69	February 21	@ San Francisco	135–118	Bill Russell (25)	50–19
70	February 22	@ Los Angeles	105–113	Sam Jones (24)	50–20
71	February 24	@ Los Angeles	119–109	Sam Jones (28)	51–20
72	February 26	@ San Francisco	112–128	Bill Russell (20)	51–21
73	March 2	New York	117–122	John Havlicek (32)	52–21
74	March 3	@ New York	102–95	Sam Jones (17)	53–21
75	March 7	@ Detroit	115–104	Sam Jones (31)	54–21
76	March 8	@ Chicago	109–110	Bill Russell (24)	54–22
77	March 10	Cincinnati	117–149	Tom Heinsohn (29)	55–22
78	March 13	Chicago	108–121	Tom Heinsohn (37)	56–22
79	March 16	@ Syracuse	125–121	Tom Heinsohn (21)	57–22
80	March 17	Syracuse	116–125	Tom Heinsohn (28)	58–22

Player stats

Note: GP= Games played; REB= Rebounds; AST= Assists; STL = Steals; BLK = Blocks; PTS = Points; AVG = Average

Player	GP	REB	AST	STL	BLK	PTS	AVG
Sam Jones	76	396	241	0	0	1499	19.7
Tom Heinsohn	76	596	95	0	0	1440	18.9
Bill Russell	78	1843	348	0	0	1309	16.8
John Havlicek	80	534	179	0	0	1140	14.3
Bob Cousy	76	193	515	0	0	1003	13.2
Frank Ramsey	77	288	95	0	0	839	10.9
Thomas "Satch" Sanders	80	576	95	0	0	864	10.8
K.C. Jones	79	263	317	0	0	572	7.2
Clyde Lovellette	61	177	27	0	0	395	6.5
Dan Swartz	39	88	21	0	0	175	4.5
Jim Loscutoff	63	157	25	0	0	210	3.3
Gene Guarilia	11	14	2	0	0	26	2.4

Playoffs

1963 playoff game log
Division Finals: 4–3 (home: 2–2; road: 2–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 March 28 Cincinnati L 132–135 Sam Jones (30) Bill Russell (24) Bob Cousy (9) Boston Garden 13,798 1–0 2 March 29 @ Cincinnati W 125–102 Bill Russell (26) Bill Russell (24) — Cincinnati Gardens 11,102 1–1 3 March 31 Cincinnati L 116–121 Tom Heinsohn (28) Bill Russell (28) Bob Cousy (7) Boston Garden 13,909 1–2 4 April 3 @ Cincinnati W 128–110 Bill Russell (26) Bill Russell (21) — Cincinnati Gardens 3,498 2–2 5 April 6 Cincinnati W 125–120 Tom Heinsohn (34) Bill Russell (26) Bob Cousy (8) Boston Garden 13,909 3–2 6 April 7 @ Cincinnati L 99–109 Sam Jones (22) Bill Russell (23) — Cincinnati Gardens 7,745 3–3 7 April 10 Cincinnati W 142–131 Sam Jones (47) Bill Russell (24) Bob Cousy (16) Boston Garden 13,909 4–3
NBA Finals: 4–2 (home: 2–1; road: 2–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 April 14 Los Angeles W 117–114 Sam Jones (29) Bill Russell (29) Bob Cousy (11) Boston Garden 13,909 1–0 2 April 16 Los Angeles W 113–106 Sam Jones (27) Bill Russell (38) Bob Cousy (11) Boston Garden 13,909 2–0 3 April 17 @ Los Angeles L 99–119 Sam Jones (30) Bill Russell (19) Bill Russell (5) Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena 15,493 2–1 4 April 19 @ Los Angeles W 108–105 Tom Heinsohn (35) Bill Russell (19) three players tied (5) Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena 16,382 3–1 5 April 21 Los Angeles L 119–126 Sam Jones (36) Bill Russell (27) Bob Cousy (14) Boston Garden 13,909 3–2 6 April 24 @ Los Angeles W 112–109 Tom Heinsohn (22) Bill Russell (24) Bill Russell (9) Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena 15,652 4–2
1963 schedule

Awards and honors

• Bill Russell, NBA Most Valuable Player Award
• Bill Russell, All-NBA First Team
• Bob Cousy, All-NBA Second Team
• Tom Heinsohn, All-NBA Second Team
• John Havlicek, NBA All-Rookie Team 1st Team
• Nine players are enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

References

• Celtics on Database Basketball
• Celtics on Basketball Reference