On March 2, 1962 Wilt Chamberlain did the impossible. He scored 100 points in an NBA game.
Chamberlain, only being in his 3rd season in the NBA, was having an already historic season; averaging 50.4 points per game, along with 25.7 rebounds per game. The 4x MVP would face the New York Knicks in one of his most memorable home games as a member of the Philadelphia Warriors. With only 4,124 people in attendance, Chamberlain would set the sports world on fire after an impressive 41-point first half. In a high scoring game that the Warriors would end victorious 169-147, “The Big Dipper” made headlines for weeks after adding in 49 more points in the second half to have the highest scoring individual game for an NBA player.
Wilt Chamberlain averaged 20 made field goals per game in 1962, so shooting the ball a lot was nothing new to him. The only difference this game, was that the 51% career free throw shooter shot a terrific 28-32 (.875) from the free throw line that game. Chamberlain was no selfish player either, leading the NBA in assists per game (8.6) in 1967 after he promised he would; Chamberlain wasn’t even demanding the ball in the game, but his teammates knew he was hot and they wouldn’t stop feeding the 7’1 second place all-time leader in points per game the ball.
In the last minute of the game, Chamberlain had 98 points and missed two straight field goal attempts, Joe Ruklick had an easy lay-up at the basket; but instead lobbed it up to Chamberlain who was being guarded by all 5 opposing players on the floor and jumped up to put in his historic 100th point of the game. With 46 seconds left on the clock, the pandemonium of the fans in Pennsylvania forced them to rush the court like a college basketball rivalry game to get close to Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain, who shot a huge 63 total field goals in the game, while knocking down 36 of them.
55 years later, this astonishing record still has yet to be broken. In fact, only 2 players (David Robinson & Kobe Bryant) since 1978 have scored over 70 points in an NBA game. The possibility of breaking this record is nearly impossible, the NBA is having its highest team points per game average in 14 years, yet the average is 13 points off from that record breaking season (118.8) when Wilt scored 100. If you’re expecting anyone to score anywhere near 100, stick to playing 2K or watch high schooler LaMelo Ball (92 points) cherry pick for Chino Hills to have another one of his unbelievable scoring nights. Just when it comes to NBA basketball, the 55 year and counting NBA record won’t see a new face owning it anytime soon (if ever).
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