Wilt Chamberlain is remembered as one of the first great superstars of the NBA, he put up incredible numbers during the 60s and dominated his position like very few players since have been able to do. While Chamberlain didn’t have as many rings as his rival Bill Russell, his stats make for some truly absurd reading, he was on a level by himself in those days.
His crowning achievement was the time he scored 100 points in a game, a record that will possibly never be broken again in the NBA. Playing for the Philadelphia Warriors against the New York Knicks, Chamberlain scored a staggering 100 points in 1962 but according to what he told author Terry Pluto, the game ended up being quite an embarrassment for him (via The Athletic).
“The 100-point game will never be as important to me as it is to some other people. That’s because I’m embarrassed by it. After I got into the 80s, I pushed for 100 and it destroyed the game because I took shots that I normally never would. I was not real fluid. I mean, 63 shots? You take that many shots on the playground and no one ever wants you on their team again.”
His concerns make sense when one remembers that the biggest accusations leveled against Wilt at the time in which he played were that he only cared about playing for himself and putting up stats that would make him look good. Bill Russell, despite not being as prolific as Wilt, managed to win 11 titles, which was something that people at the time used in arguments to diminish Wilt’s achievements.
However, the era and the circumstance don’t matter when talking about putting up 100 points in just one game. Doing that is an almost superhuman feat and will stand as a testament to Chamberlain’s greatness, even if he didn’t look too kindly on it. The NBA is unlikely to see dominance to that level again and if it does, it will surely be an incredible spectacle to behold.
