As Simmons wrote in The Book of Basketball about the pace-inspired wonkiness of this era, Compare the numbers from [then to now] again. NBA Playoff Seeding, Conference Championship Previews, and Best Bets, Adidas 2023 Sneaker Preview and Dillon Brookss Wild Outfit, Bucks Continue to Dominate, Believing in the Knicks, and Yet Another Live Show Announcement, The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 1 Deep Dive, The Ploys and Tactics Behind Oscar Campaigning, A Secret Laundromat Meetup, New Jersey Episode 4, and Potomac Reunion Part 2. His basketball battles against his own personal . He topped the rebounding leaderboards, too, and took the leagues crown in 11 of his 14 seasons, often averaging by himself what an entire frontcourt does in the modern NBA. He also made 13 All-Star appearances, 10 All-NBA Teams, and won seven scoring titles. Wilt's ascension as a . So if there was ever a clue that I was going to have a hot day, this was definitely the clue.". In a 1999 interview, shortly before he died, Chamberlain made the following revealing statement: "Having a thousand different ladies is pretty cool, I've learned in my life. Everyone gets sick once in a while, which would have cost Chamberlain precious time during those 37 to 40 sexually active years. Fittingly, Chamberlain has been named to the NBA's 35th, 50th and 75th Anniversary teams. A Hall of Famer, the late Walt Bellamy set the NBA record for most games played in a single season with88. . Data Provided By Draft Wilt Chamberlain Today! Even more than his 50.4 points per game, Chamberlains most unbreakable single-season record might be his minutes-per-game mark: 48.5 in 1961-62. "I was just doing what was naturalchasing good-looking ladies, whoever they were and wherever they were." Chamberlain finally bested his nemesis in 1967, when his Philadelphia 76ers put together a remarkably strong team, and he was persuaded to pass the ball more. In his legendary career, Chamberlain scored 31,419 points, including the unbelievable time he actually scored 100 points in one game. In a career lasting from 1959 until 1973 he scored 31,419 points. Of course this is all s. But most incredibly, even with those reported 20,000 sexual liaisons, Chamberlain is not known to have contracted any serious sexually transmitted diseases. Jordan did it three times. So perhaps he made time for repeats after all. 1. Do you have a blog? In the 132 Warriors games in that span for which Basketball-Reference has rebounding data, Wilts rebounding percentage was 20 percent on the nose. Powered by phpBB Forum Software phpBB Limited. Kc Jones the assistant coach of the 72 Lakers publicly said to the media that he was utterly wrong in his thought about Wilt as a defensive player and also as a human being and in fact he even said it was the fault of Wilt's teammates as to why Wilt couldn't beat Russell and the Celtics. Wilton Norman Chamberlain, basketball player, born August 21 1936; died October 12 1999, Giant figure of basketball whose skills revolutionised the game, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination, Andrew Lang. He was acquired by the Philadelphia 76ers midway through the 1964-65 season. The single-game record is 55, courtesy of Wilt in November 1960, which is so absurd from a modern vantage that it might as well be a million. Join our linker program. That works out to roughly 1.4 women a day. Do you have a sports website? So why are rebounds seemingly immune to other sorts of statistical inflation? Wilt Chamberlain steals per game data with additional film breakdown. Hassan Whiteside did it four. Thats good! Not that he minded. Still impressed by Oscars triple-double or Wilt slapping up a 50-25 for the season? But rebounds stand distinct, their records untouched, even from a distance, by modern man. The NBA's weirdest triple doubles include some of the NBA's signature names, including Wilt Chamberlain and Jason Kidd. "We went straight to the arena where we had to wait around for five or six hours for the game. 14 assists and one steal in 28 minutes. Todays stats are just an estimation just as they were in the 60s. The man was 6-foot-8 and weighed 220 pounds. The modern game has caused records to fall and statistical outliers to erupt at the same frenetic pace as its games are played. https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/status/1379037281479139334, https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/status/1379037314924474370, https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/status/1379037346641813505, https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/status/1379037380640841738. the official stats partner of the NBA, NHL and MLB. Wilt Chamberlain, 7ft 2ins tall and 23 stone, was forced to play that role all his life. To believe that any of 2023's neo-contenders can become bonafide champs over the next few months is to believe that a once-in-a-quarter-century occurrence is about to transpire. Keep in mind Chamberlain shot 51.1 percent from the line for his career, so hitting nearly 90 percent of his free throws in one game is some kind of anomaly. He spent much of his basketball career fighting against those stereotypes. According to close friends, Wilt loved threesomes. One can only wonder at Wilt's rejections probably extremely few, to manage that 20,000 record. Due to the schedules forboth teams, he went on to play the Pistons' remaining 53 games and ended up with 88. His dominance was such that nearly every scoring or rebounding recordof hiswould remainuntouched. In the case of the remaining 10%, thoserecords are unbreakable. On March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain set the NBA single-game scoring record by tallying 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a 169-147 victory over the New York Knicks. Regular season: PTS, FG, FT, 3P complete all-time. Born in Philadelphia, one of 10 children, Wilt began attracting attention after growing five inches the summer he entered high school. To succeed in the NFL, hell need to be an outlier among outliers. 1 and 2. Chamberlain took a pass from Warriors guard Joe Ruklick, who played only eight minutes off the bench, and scored his final two points with 46 seconds left to the delight of the fans in attendance. This data along with some other defensive data of 72 Wilt and Nba archives footage that I have seen of him throughout that legendary season. Nate Thurmond, who played with and against Chamberlain, stated that Wilt was "7'2" and 290 lbs that season" (In the Wilt Chamberlain Scouting Tool video). But the man who loved 20,000 women never married, and apparently died alone. Copyright 2023 Sporting News Holdings Limited. Luckily, we can tinker with some available data from earlier in Wilts run. Wilt Chamberlain is one of the most dominant players in NBA history. If this is all just based on newspaper reports the stats are not trustworthy at all. The Knicks finished as the worst team in the Eastern Division that year, and they didn't have their full frontcourt to challenge Chamberlain in the paint. As for his nemesis Bill Russell, in 1961, the man with 11 rings pulled off one of the most shocking quadruple doubles ever and it was against Wilt: 15 points, 25 rebounds, 13 blocks and 15 stealsnot assists but steals. (Not impressive at all!). This exercise is meant to gaze in awe at Wilts statistical hegemony, not conclude that he was Drummond or Whiteside with a heavier workload in a different era. He scored 23 points in the first quarter and had 41 by halftime, then tallied 28 in the third quarter, when the fans began to chant, "Give It To Wilt! Wilt Chamberlain averages for the NBA season and Playoffs, including points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and other categories, year by year and career numbers. He had a reputation as having many partners. No team has averaged 55 rebounds per game since 1972-73which was Chamberlains last season. Visit site . A lot of NBA scoring and rebounding records look unattainable because of Chamberlain's dominance in the 1960s. Give It To Wilt!". Theres a reason Joel Embiid told NBA Desktop that he considers Chamberlain the GOAT because of all his records. And considering he never had any children, I would suggest that he could have been infertile from an STD he caught early in his career. Chamberlain won two NBA championships, four NBA MVPs, and an NBA Finals MVP (1972). Despite not winning the MVP that year, his 1961-62 is one of the greatest ever with his insurmountable season averages of50.4 points and 48.5 minutes. New York's starting center, Phil Jordon, was out with the flu, though it may have been something else keeping him on the sidelines. That's exactly what the Warriors did, feeding Chamberlain at every opportunity in the fourth quarter. It is no surprise that analysts and pundits covering basketball call the NBA record book 'The Autobiography of Wilt Chamberlain.' That puts Wilt at 7'4". Wilt Chamberlain wasn't just a scoring champion. The reality is there are only four real contenders. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. The five seasons with the most qualifying players with a rebounding percentage of 20 or better are the five most recent seasons, as many traditionally sized rebounders leave the court (or spread out on it) and yield more space for the few remaining close-to-the-basket bigs. His "finger-roll" earned him the nickname Big Dipper, which he preferred to Stilt. Chamberlain finished with 100 points on 36-of-63 shooting from the field (57.1 percent) and 28-of-32 shooting from the free . ", I have Bird #19 and Kobe #20 on my all-time list and both guys will probably get passed by Jokic by the end of this season, Jonathan Isaac Out For Season Following Adductor Surgery, Norm Powell To Be Re-Evaluated In One Week Due To Shoulder Injury, Bucks Emerge As Favorites For Goran Dragic, Stephen Curry Targeting Return From Leg Injury Sunday At Lakers, The Lottery Pick Gleam Still On Kris Dunn, The 2023 Title Contenders Are Already Here, Six Biggest X-Factors After The All-Star Break, Ty Lue Says Clippers Need 'To Be Tougher', Spurs Claim And Convert Sandro Mamukelashvili, Waive Isaiah Roby, Thunder Sign Jared Butler To Two-Way Contract. Neutral site games were not all that uncommon, but the scheduledid present achallenge for players. I remember reading that someone kept a tally of Chamberlain's blocks one game, and he ended up with 26. Basketball games are 48 minutes long; Wilt averaged more than 48 minutes per game for an entire season, playing every minute of every game, including extra time. Maybe Embiid should call himself the greatest. https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat37281479139334, https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat37314924474370, https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat37346641813505, https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat37380640841738, https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat37412291084288, https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat37446818594825, https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat37502430830595, https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat37548207480836, https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat37597045944322, https://twitter.com/bullsmanguy/stat37633913921536. And what about turndowns? "His dominance, power, demeanor and the rivalry with Bill Russell says it all." Chamberlain starred in the NBA from 1959 through 1973, when he played for the Philadelphia (later the San Francisco) Warriors, 76ers and Lakers. He put up video game numbers on a regular basis. Let's go back 60 years to learn more about Chamberlain's iconic performance. Subscribe to Stathead Basketball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Basketball Reference Database. In his nine-year career, the . The reasons for their failure may have been inherent to the whole project. The first thing that jumps out immediately is Wilts ability to deny the post entry pass. Report: Wilt Chamberlain may have fathered a child in 1964. And later on, there is discussion of whether or not double-dipping is an acceptable way to eat! When Wilt grabbed a record 55 rebounds in one game against Russell, the Celtics still won. 135 games for Bill Russell, 8.1 blocks per game: I am a far better poster than anyone else here. Rasheed Wallace, while with the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2000-01 season,set the NBA record for most technicals fouls in a single season with 41. So, it's highly improbable that any player would come close to Stockton's record, let alone break it. Here is some official blocked shot data from other players of the Russell / Wilt era: The best BLK% of all time (actually since 73-74) is Bol with 10.8%. I don't have steal numbers from available footage (yet) but I'm almost sure that Russell averaged more steals per game - he was Hakeem-esque in terms of disruption both down low and on perimeter. Weve ranked them, from 1 to 100. As of the All-Star break, there had been 60 quarters in the past three seasons in which a player tallied 10 or more rebounds. The reasons for their failure may have been inherent to the whole project. NEW: Sample Searches for learning more about the power and flexibility of Stathead. Fifty years ago, Wilt Chamberlain grabbed 42 rebounds (not a typo) against the Celtics. Which players will have the most active markets? The NBA did not count steals and blocks at the time, so the record is unofficial. As he blocked 15 shots and grabbed 11 rebounds in the 2nd half alone. In both categories, Jason Kidd ranks second to Stockton with 12,091assistsand 2,684 steals. Because of the lack of comprehensive play-by-play data for most of Wilts career, we have exact rebounding percentages for only the final three seasons of his career. He holds dozens of unbreakable basketball records. But it is believed that Chamberlain achieved a quintuple-double in that game. Give Naatu Naatu Best Original Song. But his playoff averages significantly dropped. For Wilt to have this kind of % in the 61-62 season he would need to average 12 blks per game. But not historically so, or even particularly notable next to totals from this decade. Keep in mind, a bulk of these games are from the later rounds of the playoffs. This doesn't look trustworthy to be honest. 1y. For his feats, Chamberlain was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978, elected into the NBA 35th Anniversary Team in 1980, chosen as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996, and named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Teamin 2021. Sure but not as much.. No team has averaged even 50 rebounds per game since 1977-78. Factor no. 4. Find out more. Head to Head: Wilt Chamberlain vs. Bill Russell. Seriously, just take a moment and think about this: 50.4 points and25.7 rebounds per game on 50.6 percent shooting from the field and 61.3 percent from the line (a career high, by the way). When he retired following the 1972-73 season, it was 128 times. Recorded the Only Double Triple Double In NBA History His is a name I know, although I have never followed basketball. Wilt Chamberlain: 118: 2: Michael Jordan: 31: 3: Kobe Bryant: 25: 4: James Harden: 23: 5: Elgin Baylor . Chamberlain's 100 point game is an NBA record that will likely never be touched. In 1960-61, that was the averagewhich means that teams went higher than 109 shots half the time; the night Wilt tallied 55 boards, his team took 128 field goals and 41 free throws. It was well known at the time the Lakers coach was not getting along well with Wilt. When Wilt or one of his rivals grabbed a bunch of boards in quick succession, they just kept going. Your login session has expired. But the 42 boards he gobbled up 50 years ago Thursday in an overtime win over the Boston Celtics represent his most relevant rebounding feat viewed from todays context. More than 7 feet (2.1 metres) tall, Chamberlain was an outstanding centre . FGA, TRB, AST, PF, GS over 99% complete back to 1975-76. Nor was there ever a woman who came forward with an unplanned pregnancy or a paternity suit. Oops. At 7'1", Wilt Chamberlain may have been the most dominating and amazing basketball player of all time. Heres why. Thats because of factor no. We ask all these burning questions, and more! Since the official NBA record for steals is 11, that means Russell's unknown quadruple-double also contains an unknown NBA record. Maybe that tally isnt fair to Chamberlain, given that it comprises the end of his career rather than his peak. For much of this Celtics' dynasty, the leaguehad aroundeight teams. The streak is part of Green's 1,278-game career that lasted 16seasons withfourfranchises Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, and the Miami Heat. The NBA did not count steals and blocks at the time, so the record is unofficial. There is some selection bias. A year later he joined his hometown Philadelphia Warriors in the National Basketball Association. Those arent trivial totals; theyre the precise pace needed to reach 40 boards in a game. Let alone the best depth too. Since it's inception in 1947, the NBA has witnessed plenty of such records. Every guy in human history has been turned down by a woman at some point. In 2018-19, 11 qualifying players boast a higher mark, and that group includes Embiid, who lauds Wilt as superior to Michael Jordan specifically because of records like these. So many more shots meant so many more rebounds, especially when combined with factor no. Chamberlain attempted nearly 40 field goals and shot 17 free throws per game. The Biggest Questions About the Seasons Stretch Run, KDs Suns Debut, Load Management, and Five-Year Anniversary of the Rockets-Clippers Tunnel Debacle. After losing in the national collegiate final in his third year, he left Kansas to join the Harlem Globetrotters, where his skills made him a huge attraction. According to legend, he was intimate with 23 different women on one 10-day road trip. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Russell Westbrook has made the triple-double look easy. Chamberlain was one of the few players of his . All rights reserved. So in addition to the advantage prior-generation players had because of their eras pace, and in addition to the advantage prior-generation players had because of their eras field goal inaccuracies, prior-generation players were also allowed to play more. He won one more championship, with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1972. Think that one over. "And I couldn't miss anything. Wilt Chamberlain On March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain set the NBA single-game scoring record by tallying 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a 169-147 victory over the New York Knicks. 1 that suggests Drummond would struggle to challenge Chamberlains total is that teams in 2019 dont take enough shots. Both had different ideas as to what Wilt's role should be on the team. Chamberlain tallied 25 separate 30-rebound games in his rookie season. Two of the 10 records Bill Simmons detailed in his Book of Basketball as the most unbreakable have fallen in the past four years. He averaged 22.9 RPG also an NBA record for his career and with current day centers not grabbing near as many rebounds as centers from the past, it is pretty safe to say this record will not be broken. Five things you didn't know about Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Jordan Greer is an NBA content producer for The Sporting News. Drummond hit that mark in a game this season. Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic both had 40-point games after the Sixers loss against the Mavs. Three-time NBA Champion A.C. Green holds the records for most consecutive games played with 1,192. If this is a representative sample, using the blocked shot numbers: "If I walk outside somebody might just hit me with their car, or say anything negative to me. His lack of foul shooting ability was notorious, as if he refused to take advantage of the inevitability of being hacked by lesser mortals. There are caveats, of course: Wilts rebounding percentages would have improved if he hadnt had to pace himself for 48 minutes, and he wouldve grabbed even more rebounds had the court been dominated by guards and wings instead of fellow bigs who he had to fight for boards. Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game & more . Chamberlain spent the last five seasons of his career with the LA Lakers from 1968-1973. On one it says "Blocked 9 shots and nicked at least a dozen more" and it's just tallied as 21 blocks. Miss only one extrafree throw, and he's stuck on99. My friend thinks if they kept track of blocks, Wilt would have been the triple-double leader of the NBA by a wide margin to boot. According to statisticians, Chamberlain dropped 53 points, 32 rebounds, 14 assists, 24 blocks, and 11 steals in a game against the LA Lakers. Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, March 4, 4:50AM. Uh, what? The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. The following season, however, Russell again triumphed, as Wilt, perhaps bored with passing, failed to take a shot in the second half of the deciding game. Before Chamberlain, basketball's lumbering giants mostly set immobile screens for more skilled shooters. These 'unbreakable' recordswere set in a time and under circumstances that can never be duplicated. Answer: I read up on Wilt. If you do not want us and our partners to use cookies and personal data for these additional purposes, click 'Reject all'. Klay Thompson set a record by sinking 14 3s in a game, just two years after teammate Steph Curry set the record with 13. Given the taxing weighton every player for a single game with travel, media commitments and so on, it doesn't seem likely that this record of 33 straight wins will ever be bettered. If you would like to customise your choices, click 'Manage privacy settings'. A typical regular season game with 0-2 blocks wouldn't get any mention of blocks at all. Let it Disturbing perimeter, on ball defence; Wilt was a rim standing guy like Eaton,Mutombo or Shaq. He probably would take a woman to bed any time he couldn't fall asleep. He averaged 30.1 points, 22.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 1,045 regular-season games. He also holds the record for most points in a single game (aiming for a double-double), with 50. Thats more than there have been total 30-rebound games from every NBA player combined since he retired. Thirty seven years after he retired at the age of 37, Chamberlain s name appears in the NBA s record book a whopping 97 times. In sports, and possibly even in life, that's true in about 90% of all instances. Plenty of records are falling this NBA season, but this feat wont. Back in those days, the NBA was working to gain a larger audience, and without the benefit of a massive TV deal, teams had to reach the fans directly. "Wilt Chamberlain had a great deal to do with the success of the NBA," Auerbach said. In leading the Warriors to a169-147 victory, Chamberlain broke his own single-game scoring record of 78 points set on Dec. 8, 1961, against the Los Angeles Lakers, a game that included multiple overtime periods. Who has the most points in a half in NBA history? The 7'1" center also took home the Rookie of the Year award in 1960, and led the league in rebounding 11 times. His basketball battles against his own personal David, Bill Russell, became a morality play which did neither man justice, but defined the essence of sporting success for generations of American fans. All content 2000-2023 RealGM, L.L.C. Do you have a sports website? This is seems like abritrary. Not 98 points, not 102 . Chamberlain routinely went off for 50or 60 points throughout his career, but this one felt different, especially when the crowd got behind the chase for 100. He started his career with the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors in 1959. As in, final; complete; etched, essentially, with chisel in stone. Either way, winning 11 out of a possible 13 is difficult in any professional sport. However, it's highly unlikely that this record will be broken simply because of a rule change that was enforced in 2006. Go back in time and learn about Wilt Chamberlain's early years growing up, and early years in the NBA. "The Big Dipper" dropped 100 points in 48 minutes of work as thePhiladelphia Warriors defeated the New York Knicks. Allegedly this was the trigger that set Wilt off in the 2nd half. Reggie Jackson is amazing and a killer in the clutch that's all. He averaged over 50 points per game for an entire season. Wilt Chamberlain won the award four times. Wilt Chamberlain: Sample Average - 8.63 BPG Sample S.D - 4.05 Sample Size - 112 Estimate Career BPG (99% Conf Interval) - ~7.7-9.6 BPG If one believes that there is a "high" bias going on, taking out the 11 highest block numbers leads to a range of: Bill Russell - 6.7-8.0 BPG Wilt Chamberlain - 7.0-8.5 BPG I've examined all of Wilt's footage that is available to the general public at the moment and collected data, as well as numerous clips that showcase what I believe to be a very underrated aspect of his game on the defensive end. Along with all of the buckets, Chamberlain also grabbed 25 rebounds and found time to dish out two assists. But hey, let's at least give Buckner credit for scoring 33 points of his own. Boston's Russell, at 6ft 9ins, was a consummate competitor, who recognised that Chamberlain lacked the killer instinct. 2 in Wilts favor versus Drummond: Teams in 2019 dont miss enough shots. Wilt Chamberlain played 14 seasons for the Lakers, Warriors and 76ers. The guy I've noticed getting a lot of poke aways and steals was actually Russell. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. Ive examined all of Wilt's footage that is available to the general public at the moment and collected data as well as numerous clips that showcase what I believe to be a very underrated aspect of his game on the defensive end. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. 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