Wilt Chamberlain and his unbeaten record of 100 points in an NBA game

It’s a moment that has only happened once before in the long history of the NBA, and it was achieved by a legend named Wilt Chamberlain. In 2006, it was remotely approached by the tragically departed Kobe Bryant, who scored 81 points in a game for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Toronto Raptors.

Bryant’s performance was an incredible feat, as he reached that figure in modern history, when games are already tied by tactics. But back to the all-time performance. For example, it can be compared to Wayne Gretzky breaking the two-hundred point mark in the NHL. Something that will probably never be surpassed in modern basketball history.

New York Knicks vs. Philadelphia Warriors

Wilt Chamberlain accomplished this feat on March 2, 1962 in a NY Knicks vs. Philadelphia game that ended with a wild score (147 to 169). It was in this game that he reached an incredible milestone and slammed the basket of New York with 100 straight points.

The 1961/62 season was a season of a lifetime for Chamberlain, setting several records that still stand today. His season average of 50.4 points per game was incredible! Later in the season, before the aforementioned 100-point game, he set a new single-game scoring record of 78 points.

For the entire season, he scored 4,029 points. Something incredible. In the NBA, the threshold of extravagance is reaching 2,000 points in a season. He also played a record 3,882 minutes. He averaged 48.5 minutes per game for the season – as he also played 10 overtimes.

There is no video footage

Unfortunately, there is no video footage of this game at all. The only witnesses of the action on the court are from the spectators directly in the stands, and that’s 4,124 spectators. There are only audio recordings of this game during the fourth quarter. This is because at that time the NBA was not yet considered a major league and was fighting for viewers with college basketball.

The flow of the game and record-setting record by Wilt Chamberlain

After the first quarter, Wilt Chamberlain had 23 points, including all nine made free throws. After halftime, Chamberlain was already at the 41-point mark. In the third quarter he added another 28 points and before the last part of the game he was already attacking the 70-point mark again.

With 7:51 left in the game, Chamberlain scored his 79th point. This broke his own record for points in a game. So he needed 21 more points to reach the record. With 2:12 left in the game, he had already scored his 96th point and the crowd was literally devouring every second of the game to see if the mythical mark would fall.

Indeed it did. And with 46 seconds left in the game, the 100-point mark did indeed fall. He also added 25 rebounds and played a full complement of minutes. In that time, Chamberlain practically didn’t sub and always practically played all 48 minutes and how many times in overtime. That’s unthinkable these days.

Source: NBA