As we know, statistics are omnipresent in modern sport. Today’s athletes are on a quest for numbers that push them to outperform. But from time to time, they may run into records sometimes dating back several decades. These historical records each have their own particularity, their history. Some stand out for their longevity, difficulty or symbolism. This series will make you rediscover the great records that have marked the world of sport. If we say that “Records are made to be broken”, these may well be the exceptions that prove the rule. On the menu for the day, 100 points in a game by Wilt Chamberlain, a record almost 60 years old in the NBA and which should not fall anytime soon.
It’s March 2, 1962. The Philadelphia Warriors are solid second to the Eastern Conference, while their linchpin, Wilt Chamberlain, has just linked three games to more than 60 points. That evening, Chamberlain’s teammates face the New York Knicks, the last of the Eastern Conference, for the 76th game of the season. It turns out that these same Knicks beat Wilt Chamberlain’s team a few days earlier. The hour of revenge arrives then, and this time it’s the Warriors who are hosting the Knicks. They move in addition without their pivot holder, Phil Jordon, badly recovered from a too alcoholic evening the day before. Alcohol and drugs were indeed common at the time, in an NBA still far from the professional league we know today. The Knicks therefore move without great hope or motivation for an end of the season without stakes for them.
The game
The match is all the more special for the Warriors because they play their whole last game in Pennsylvania, the franchise moving to San Francisco (its current location) the following season. The context, the thirst for revenge, the emotion of a last home… everything is there to experience an evening of overwhelming domination. And it will not fail.
As of the warm-up, Wilt Chamberlain feels that he will mark the spirits that evening: “I started taking a few warm-up shots… and I didn’t miss any. I felt like I was gone for a big game ». His two direct counterparts in the absence of Jordon, Cleveland Buckner and Darrall Imhoff, are respectively in their first and second year in the NBA. Youth and naivety from which Chamberlain will greatly benefit.
The match begins, and the Philadelphia giant is everywhere. On the first minutes, he multiplies the attempts and shakes the racket of the Knicks. At halftime, he is already at 41 points for 14 rebounds. A quarter later, it’s the bar of 70 points which is about to be exceeded. Sensing that a record can fall, his teammates redouble their efforts to serve it. Fans also add a layer by chanting: « Give it to Wilt ! » (give the ball to Wilt!) in the stands. Every attack goes through him. In the last quarter, Chamberlain took 21 shots and 10 free throws to pass the 100 point mark just seconds from the end. As usual, he will have played the 48 minutes of the match, without being replaced once.
Wilt Chamberlain: a statistical and physical monster
“Wilt Chamberlain was clearly ahead of its time”, explains Tim Bontemps from ESPN. In the 60s, Chamberlain indeed appears as a future athlete : 2m16 for 125kg, one agility to make the majority of the current pivots and disconcerting facilities blush at dunk (he is a former Harlem Globetrotter). A follower of athletics in high school, he was already breaking all records in running and high jump. His NBA opponents just weren’t ready to take on such a physical monster.
After riding on high school and university circuits, Wilt Chamberlain landed in the NBA at 23 years old. From his season rookie, he becomes the first player in history to exceed 30 points on average over a season. Average which it quickly exceeds the following seasons, with 38 points of average in 1960/61, and 50.4 points in 1961/62 (record still unmatched to date). It is best scorer in the league in its first seven seasons. And when a player exercises such domination, he exercises it in all categories. Chamberlain was as terrifying in attack as he was in defense.
Sixth in the NBA all-time ranking
With his sprawling arms, he could intercept and counter countless numbers of balloons (even if they were not officially counted at the time). He also averaged 23 rebounds during his career. The most often ending in lines of statistics straight out of another planet.
The type of stats line that Wilt Chamberlain was capable of in a match (unofficial “BLK” and “STL” stats – Hoops View)
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For ESPN, which places the giant sixth in its all-time ranking of NBA players, « His stats are still historic today, his lack of collective prize list is the only point which prevents him from going up in the classification ”. This is in fact what characterizes Chamberlain. In an era ultra-dominated by Bill Russell’s Celtics, he only managed to take away one title in 1967 with the Sixers. The second will come five years later, after his transfer to the Lakers from Jerry West. “Realize how many titles he could have had if the Celtics hadn’t been there. He would then be unanimously considered the best player in history “, points the team of Clutch Points.
Apart from Kobe Bryant (81 points) and more recently Devin Booker (70 points), no one has really come close to the Wilt Chamberlain record. In any case in the NBA. Abroad or on the university circuit, less strenuous, the 100 point mark has been exceeded several times. But at a level like that of the NBA, where the best players compete on the planet, it is not sure that this record will one day be broken.
Dicodusport
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