The Sporting News recently came out with their Top 10 “Great Records” written by Steve Greenberg. In an 11 part series, I will breakdown each record, why the record is impressive (or not), and if the record could ever be broken.
#2 Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 Point NBA Single Game Scoring Record
Considered one of the greatest NBA games ever played, Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain’s 100 point game has not come close to being broken over the past 49 years. The closest to date is Kobe Bryant’s 81 point game against the Toronto Raptors in 2006, clipping Chamberlain’s second highest single game point total of 78 in a triple overtime game.
Chamberlain’s Philadelphia Warriors beat the New York Knicks 169-147 on March 2, 1962 in a late season game that started as a meaningless game to both teams. Wilt was reportedly hung over from partying the night before and missed the team bus to the game. The Knicks’ starting center, Phil Jordan, did not play due to injury so backup Darrall Imhoff task was to try and stop Chamberlain. This was a tough task even for the great defensive talent of Bill Russell. Imhoff was in foul trouble by the end of the 1st quarter and Wilt was off to the scoring record. With no one of his equal able to slow him down, Wilt had 41 points by halftime.
The Knicks tried to foul Chamberlain to start the second half in hopes of stopping him as Chamberlain was a notoriously bad free throw shooter. He averaged .613 from the charity stripe that year making it his highest seasonal average in an otherwise dismal.511 career average. This strategy allowed him extra opportunities to score without running time off the game clock which would prove to be in his favor by the end of the game. Scoring 28 points in the 3rd quarter, he stood at 69 points going into the 4th quarter. As Chamberlain neared 100 the game reportedly got out of hand. Knicks’ players began fouling other Warriors players so anyone but Wilt would shoot free throws. Warriors’ head coach, Frank McGuire, then put in his subs to foul the Knicks players so Wilt could make a run at 100.
Wilt scored his 100th point with 46 seconds left in the game. The game was stopped for nine minutes to acknowledge his accomplishment before a crowd of 4,124 people. When the game was finished Wilt’s scoring line was 36 field goals made on 63 field goals attempted and 28 free throws made on 32 attempts.
Just to clarify, this is a reoccurring theme through most of these records, different time and a different era. It’s still amazing that Chamberlain scored 100 points against other professional basketball players while being quintuple teamed. What’s even more amazing is he did it without the 3-point shot. Wilt was a physical specimen for his time (7 foot 1 inch, 275-300 lbs); with his size, he would’ve been able to compete in today’s NBA.
Wilt’s record may stand for another 49 years but I think this is a record that could fall. If the NBA continues to expand their total number of teams and dilute the overall talent in the league, if a player gets hot against the right team this record is broken. That would be one heck of a night and I hope I am around to see it happen. I can then preach to whoever will listen about how they played defense in the NBA through the 1980’s and ‘90’s.
No comments:
Post a Comment