The 10 greatest NBA Playoffs performances of all time

9. Bob Pettit, Game 7 of the 1958 NBA Finals, April 12, 1958

When basketball fans think about the NBA during the late 1950s and 1960s, they typically think of the Boston Celtics. That is for good reason; led by Bill Russell, the team won an amazing 11 championships over a 13-year span. However, they often forget about the St. Louis Hawks, who defeated the Celtics in the 1958 NBA Finals.

In 1957, Russell’s rookie year, the Celtics defeated the pesky St. Louis Hawks in a grueling seven-game series. In 1958, the Hawks were out for revenge. Bob Pettit, the team’s best player, had established himself as one of the best power forwards in the game, winning the 1956 MVP Award in the process. However, he was yet to obtain the most prized possession in the game, an NBA championship.

In front of their hometown fans in St. Louis, Missouri, the Hawks were determined to capitalize on the three-games-to-two advantage they had going into Game 6. They knew that a failure to close the series would result in the daunting task of having to win Game 7 on the road in Boston. Both teams battled hard, with the Hawks holding a one-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

They were able to hold off the pesky Celtics and win the game 110–109 in front of their hometown fans. During the contest, Pettit pulled down an impressive 19 rebounds to go along with his incredible 50-point performance. The 50 points he scored that night remained the most scored by a single player in a closeout game of the NBA Finals until Giannis Antetokounmpo duplicated the feat in 2021.

Footage of this game is difficult to find, but due to the amount of points he scored, the one-point margin of victory, and the legendary team the Hawks beat that night, Bob Pettit’s closeout performance is one of the greatest in NBA history.