4124。
Chamberlain's legendary life has many incredible numbers associated with it, but 4124 is the most important one.
On March 2, 1962, Chamberlain's Philadelphia Warriors took on the New York Knicks. 4124 is said to be the number of people at the Hershey Sports Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania at the time. More likely, there were far fewer people at the time, because in the NBA, which was still in its infancy at the time, people usually used creative ways to count the attendance of games.
The game was not televised. Only Bill Campbell of WCAU left some vague recordings during the fourth quarter of the broadcast match. None of the Knicks came with reporters, and the town is about 95 miles southeast of Philadelphia, so there was only one couple coming to Philadelphia. So before the game started, people thought it was a meaningless race. But in those days, Hershey City was a regular on the NBA Tour, and NBA teams would tour nearby towns to promote and win regional support.
Two hours later, Chamberlain set a record that marked the splendor of his life. He became the first and only player in NBA history to score 100 points in a single game. The game ended in an almost absurd way, with players from both teams constantly fouling — the Warriors wanting to take back the ball from the Knicks, trying to get Oxlade-Chamberlain more points, the Knicks trying to stop the Warriors from taking the ball — and that has long been forgotten. In addition, there were really very few people watching the ball, and there was no video, so the game, like Chamberlain's life, became a fictional story.
Just like his talent, the mysteries surrounding him have become legends.
Did he force the NCAA to cancel a free-throw line dunk because he could jump dunks just by standing at the free throw line?
In 1967-68, he led the league in assists because people said he was too selfish?
Did he actually sleep with 20,000 women, as he said in an autobiography?
If you are not present, you cannot be sure that this information is true.
Chamberlain, ranked sixth in the NBA's 75 biggest stars in ta's list, sets him apart from other players. Never has a player had his height and the same speed as him. He is flexible while maintaining strong strength.
Chamberlain is an all-around athlete who won national championships in the indoor and outdoor high jumps for the University of Kansas. He finished with 23,924 rebounds in his career, the first in history. He grabbed 55 rebounds against the Celtics in November 1960, the highest rebound in history. What's even more incredible is that in his 14-year career, which totaled 1205 regular season and playoff games, he never left the field with six fouls.
He ranked seventh in history with 31,419 career points, but before the three-point line appeared, he was the most scoring of all the players of his era. It is worth mentioning that Abdul-Abdul-Jabbar, as the number one scorer in history, has scored 1 three-pointer in his 20-year career. (Note: The NBA three-point line was only introduced in the 1979–80 season.) ）
Chamberlain has been the league's rebounding champion for 11 seasons and a scoring champion for 7 seasons. He has won four MVP titles, seven-time NBA All-Team player, and is the only player in history to average 50 points per game in a single season (1961-62) and a rebounding champion that season (25.7 rebounds per game). He had only one game that didn't play that season, and a few games into overtime, which brought his average playing time to 48.5 minutes.
Chamberlain and Bill Russell
In the 1960s, Chamberlain's more than a decade-long showdown with Bill Russell became the biggest attraction of the NBA of that era. The two teams they represent have met seven times in nine playoffs, but Chamberlain has won only once.
When Chamberlain was at the University of Kansas, he was a full-fledged star who received as much attention in the media world of the time as it does on social media today. If Chamberlain had an Ins account, he could have gained millions of followers. They may be standing in front of the screen to refresh Chamberlain's latest news, anxiously waiting for his reality show, or they may wait for the arrival of the big marshal at the door of the Little Paradise Club in Big Wilt in Harlem.
"Who's the greatest player of all time?" Chamberlain's longtime friend and his childhood friend Sony Hill, who grew up in Philadelphia, asked. Hill played regularly with Chamberlain in church and high school, later became the founder of the Philadelphia Summer Professional League Baker League, and became a pioneer of black broadcasting in CBS Sports in the 1970s.
"There's no such thing as 'Who's the greatest winner ever?' You've never heard of that. But if you say, 'Who's the greatest player ever?' The Chamberlain we're talking about now, he once had more than 100 records, and even now, he has about 35 records. However, no one could approach him. So, if you ask who is the greatest player of all time? That had to be Chamberlain, just in terms of what he had achieved. Hill said.
Chamberlain famously said, "No one loves Goliath (the giant in the Bible who was killed by David)." It was true, but they didn't hate him, they were more in awe of him, and those with conscience knew how incredible he was. His achievements don't look like they're real, no player in history has been able to play with that statistic like he's, it feels like someone is making up a story," Chamberlain scored 110 billion points against Syracuse. ”
In the 1969-70 season, Chamberlain was 33 years old and had been playing against Russell and others for a decade. In that season for the Lakers, he played only 12 games with a knee injury, but in those dozen games, he averaged 27.3 points and 18.4 rebounds per game. This is the first time he has not been named an All-Star. Subsequently, Chamberlain averaged 22.1 points and 22.2 rebounds per game in the playoffs, leading the Lakers to the Finals again. For Chamberlain, this season's stats may be the most prosaic, but even then, it's enough to get other players inducted into the Hall of Fame. But this is my favorite statistic about Chamberlain.
"We used to talk in the locker room, 'Okay, Chamberlain is going to score 50 points again this time.'" Fellow Hall of Famer Bob Petit (one of the best big men of all time) recalled, "We had to stop the others from attacking because no matter what you do, Chamberlain is sure to get 50 points." It's still interesting to sit with him. ”
This became commonplace for Chamberlain, but not common for others.
In the 2020 Clippers vs. Grizzlies, Harrell scored 34 points, and George and Lou Wei each scored 32 points. It was the fifteenth time in NBA history that a three-game teammate scored at least 30 points. The first trio to make the achievement was Cincinnati Royals Hall of Famer Big O (31 points), Jack Terman (31 points) and Wien Embrey (37 points). They did it against the Warriors on Feb. 3, 1961, but they lost 135-136 to the Warriors.
"My colleagues said, 'This is incredible!' Hall of Fame center, former Bucks and Cavaliers general manager, and now Senior Raptors basketball adviser Embrey recalled, "They said, 'Who's the opponent?'" I said, 'We did it in the Philadelphia race. They said, 'So you're against Chamberlain?' 'There were three of us and I scored 37 points and I said, 'I don't want to brag, but Chamberlain got 52 points.'" ’”
Chamberlain and boxing king Ali
Chamberlain scored at least 50 in 122 games, including four playoff games. Sports Illustrated noted in a 1980 report that it took the rest of the league 31 years to accumulate 123 50-point games and finally broke Chamberlain's record. Fifty-two years later, Jordan ranks second in the 50+ individual single game, and Jordan retired 19 years ago, he has 39 50+ games, including 8 playoff games.
That puts him 83 games behind Chamberlain.
Bryant has 26 50+ games, coming in third (including a 50-point playoff). Harden is currently in fourth place with 50+ in 23 games. No one can come close to Chamberlain's record. He died of congestive heart failure in 1999, and more than 20 years later, many of his other records are no different.
Chamberlain's dominance was evident in the early days. In his teenage years, he was known as the "Tiger-headed" Chamberlain. A newspaper article in 1953 quoted him as saying that he had gotten the nickname because he had hit a low-hanging water pipe at a friend's house, his glasses had been knocked blue, and his friends had teased him about it, saying he would need to avoid the obstacles in the future. Chamberlain, then 16, was a Philadelphia Overbrook High School star. In February 1955, Chamberlain scored 90 points in a game against Roxborough High School, a senior in high school. By the time he left Overbrook, he had broken The Grad High School scoring record and led the team to two city titles with a record of 56 wins and 3 losses.
Chamberlain already had a preliminary understanding of his position in the next division.
The summer before graduating from high school, he took a vacation in Kushel, a resort in New York's Catskill Mountains, where many wealthy families went on vacation. But the area, like other resorts in the Borcht area, is known for attracting top high school and college basketball players. Players earn tips as waiters in local hotels. Kushel's sporting director is a promising coach – Reed Auerbach (Cardinal) who has just taken over the Celtics.
"In the summer, I played with Tom Guerre, Paul Argin, Guy Rogers and John Channie. Chamberlain told basketball writer Terry Pluto in "The Big Story" that the book tells about the early development of the league.
"These guys were great college players and professionals, and I was a high school student." Chamberlain told Prouto, "They taught me how to play, how to play properly. But I've also played with the Warriors' starting center, Neil Johnston [a Philadelphia Warriors Hall of Famer, 6-time All-Star], and I beat him in high school, so I knew I could play in the NBA. ”
Warriors owner Eddie Gottlieb took the necessary steps to ensure chamberlain would eventually replace Johnston.
In 1955, Gottlieb persuaded his partners to allow him to use "regional draft picks" on Chamberlain, only to do so four years later. Chamberlain went first to the University of Kansas, and in those days, NBA teams could use regional draft picks to compete for college players in their area, because popular college players could let his fans watch NBA games in their area.
Since the University of Kansas is not within the regional limits of any NBA team, Gottlieb thinks he should voluntarily apply for the right to choose Chamberlain, who played in Philadelphia in high school. In fact, Gottlieb was worried that Chamberlain would be persuaded by Auerbach to abandon the University of Kansas and go to a university in New England so that the Celtics could use their regional draft picks.
But Gottlieb's partners agreed to the unusual arrangement.
Chamberlain's Kansas team did not win a national championship in his two years with the club, losing to the University of North Carolina after three extra hours in the 1957 NCAA Finals. But no one would question the strength of the two-time All-America All-Team, Chamberlain. Chamberlain skipped his final season at the University of Kansas and spent a year touring with the Harlem basketball team. Gottlieb then used his regional draft picks, and the Warriors selected Chamberlain with the third overall pick in the 1959 draft.
Chamberlain and Unseld
In Chamberlain's NBA debut game, he scored 43 points and 28 rebounds against the Knicks while playing 48 minutes at the same time. He was the MVP of the All-Star Game, leading the league in points and rebounds. Chamberlain became the first player in NBA history to win the all-rookie and MVP, and another was Unseld, who did it in 1968.
In Chamberlain's third season, he directly upended the entire league.
He broke Petitt's single-season record for 29.2 points per game in his rookie season, and Chamberlain averaged 37.6 points per game. The following season, he averaged 38.4 points per game. By the 1961-62 season, Chamberlain had completely broken the bar.
He scored more than 60 points in 12 games and more than 70 in two games, including a single-game scoring record against the Lakers on Dec. 8. In the end, he performed a monumental miracle against the Knicks at Hershey Arena.
He scored 23 points in the first quarter, with the Warriors leading by 16 points, many of his points coming against Knicks center Darrell Imhhoff. Imhhoff was a member of the U.S. Olympic team, when Big 0 and Jerry West were both main players. In 1967, Imhoff was named an All-Star, but he was well aware of his game positioning. He once told the Baltimore Sun's Aaron Langus, "Every backup center needs a substitute, that's me. ”
At halftime, Chamberlain scored 41 points, and after three quarters, he scored 69. With the beginning of the fourth verse, the possibility of history begins to emerge. 70 points is a certainty for Chamberlain, and 80 points is also a great possibility, so can he get more? 90 points? The suspense of the competition becomes a scientific experiment rather than a competition.
Chamberlain scored on a jumper with 7:51 left in the game, breaking the single-game scoring record he had just set. A few seconds later, his two free throws made him the first player in NBA history to break an 80-pointer.
"The Warriors' teammates have been feeding him the ball all season," sports writer Gary Pomorants wrote in his book Wilt, 1962:100 Career and Dawn of a New Era.
Head coach Dick McGuire gave the order. Chamberlain knew their resentment towards him on and off the pitch. He naturally wondered: If he had a chance to score 100 points, how would his teammates react? He didn't know the answer—until now. They will acquiesce to this result, and his talent will make them submit to his will. ”
With less than three minutes left in the game, Chamberlain scored 90 points, with 2 minutes and 28 seconds left, hitting two free throws for 92nd, 94th on a board hit, and 96th for a steal- quick-set goal. With just over a minute left, team defender York Lares gave Chamberlain an empty pass, who slammed the ball.
"With 1 minute and 1 second left in the game, he already scored 98 points on the pro field." Campbell yelled into the microphone on the sidelines, "I'm telling you, even if he's facing a schoolboy opponent, it's a lot of points, isn't it?" ”
The next round, Rogers passed the ball to Chamberlain before the Knicks could foul. He shot a bit hastily and didn't hit. Rookie big forward Ted Rakbier took the offensive rebound, passed it back to Chamberlain, and then he threw it again. But once again, Larkbier grabbed another offensive rebound.
"Rebounds, Larkbil. Passed to defender Joe Rubirik and then to Chamberlain. He hit a shot, he did it, he made a dunk. The fans rushed to the field and they suspended the game. Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points and people gathered and kept slapping on him and celebrating with him. The Warriors surrounded him and the fans were rushing down from the stands. ”
Campbell's voice also became part of Chamberlain's legend. It wasn't until 26 years later, in 1988, that Campbell's phone was found on a tape recording the fourth quarter of the game. On that historic night, a student who was studying at the University of Massachusetts fell asleep while listening to the game. That night, he recorded a replay of the game and kept it, not knowing that it was the only surviving broadcast file. (In 2016, the Library of Congress added the tape to the National Recording Registry, which collects recordings of important or famous moments and songs.) ）
Chamberlain shot 36-of-63 from the field, and for this infamously bad free throw pitcher, he made 28-of-32 free throws.
After the game, he seemed to have mixed feelings about the 100-point game, and he understood the importance and uniqueness of the score, but was uneasy about his performance that night.
He told Pluto: "A 100-point race will never be as important to me as it is to everyone else. That's because I feel embarrassed. When I scored 80 points, I pushed my goal to 100, but it ruined the game because I tried some shots that I wouldn't normally try. My attack is not very smooth. 63 shots? You've shot so many times on the pitch that no one wants you to join their team anymore. ”
But the end of Chamberlain's reign was his inability to lead the team beyond Russell's Celtics.
They are friends. If the Celtics and Phillies play around Thanksgiving or the holidays, they'll eat together. But Russell got what Chamberlain wanted — the championship. And Chamberlain may have what Russell wanted—personal compliments. They are all respectable competitors. At the time, the NBA had only 8 teams, and since 1961, there have been 9 in total. For most of their careers, they faced each other again and again. But, more often than not, Russell's side won.
According to Stathead, Russell and Chamberlain's team faced off 94 times in the regular season and 49 in the playoffs.
Regular season record: Celtics 57 wins and 37 losses.
Playoff record: Celtics 29-20.
It wasn't until 1967, when Chamberlain's 76ers (67-15 in the regular season) defeated Russell's Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals and won the NBA championship, that Chamberlain finally had the upper hand.
Chamberlain always claimed that the Celtics surrounded Russell with more talented players. This is a controversial view. Russell has played with 11 future Hall of Famers, including Bob Cush, Sam Jones, K.C Jones, John Havlicek, Tommy Heinson and others. But Chamberlain's squad is not without such players. He worked with several future Hall of Famers during his time in Philadelphia and Los Angeles: Gora, Rogers, Alisin, Greer, Al-Atels, Billy Cunningham, Chet Walker, and at the end of his illustrious career, Elgin Baylor and West.
In Russell's 1966 autobiography, Fighting for Glory, he noted that readers "spent a lot of money on the book." Therefore, whatever the impact on your psyche, you should know the truth.
"So the truth about my main personal opponent, Wilt Chamberlain. Is he sneering at me? Do I hate him? Do I think he's the biggest challenge of my life?
Answer: No, no. Not anymore.
"Why: Chamberlain came into the league and was supposed to overshadow me. I think he had the opposite effect. In a sense, he exaggerated my importance to the team. We've always been friends, except on the basketball court. There, he was wearing a different jersey and he was my sworn enemy just like his teammates. ”
Decades later, Russell became less aggressive, telling author Ron Thomas how difficult it was to stand against Chamberlain in his book They Blazing the Way: The NBA's Black Pioneers.
"You can't do the same thing to him two nights in a row," Russell told Thomas. "He'll shoot back. I'll try to cover him, and ten times I can stop him three or four times. So he made adjustments. He fought my body with his shoulders, then leaned back, and then my hand could only go here (Chamberlain's wrist) and not the ball. So the process went on for two or three games, and I noticed how he did it. So whenever I hit him, I just turn around so that his shoulders don't hit me. ”
In 1968, Chamberlain was traded to the Lakers, where he led the team to consecutive NBA Finals, but failed to win the championship twice. In 1969, the Lakers played against the Celtics and played their seventh game at home. But Chamberlain was forced to leave the court at the beginning of the fourth quarter with a knee injury.
Minutes later, when the Lakers chased back the 7-point deficit, Chamberlain told coach Butch van Breda Colf he was ready to play. But Van Breda-Korff kept him on the bench in the final minutes, and Russell and the Celtics withstood the pressure to beat the Lakers again.
The following season, the Lakers played against the Knicks in the NBA Finals. This time, game seven was in New York, where Knicks center Willis Reid returned to the court after missing a sixth game with a thigh injury, casting a shadow over Chamberlain. Reid's inspiring performance and Walter Fraser's brilliant performance gave the Knicks a big win, while Chamberlain was surprisingly negative, rarely attacking Reed, who was still injured, and scored only 21 points on 16 shooting.
However, he also took the final victory, leading the Lakers to an NBA regular season winning streak (33 wins) in the 1971-72 season, reaching the playoffs with 69 wins and 13 losses, beating the Knicks in five games in the NBA Finals, and Chamberlain to a second championship.
Over time, some myths about Chamberlain have been clarified. Chamberlain never tried a free throw line stop buckle in a Kansas game; in fact, during his freshman year, he did it in a training game for the freshman team against the Jayhawks University team.
But Tex Winter, the head coach at Kansas State and chairman of the NCAA Coaching Rules Recommendation Committee, was also present. The committee banned not only free-throw line dunks, but also offensive interference balls and receiving air connections from rebounds, which was the ultimate manifestation of Chamberlain's incredible athleticism.
In 1968, Chamberlain led the league in total assists (702). Is this to prove that he is not selfish? Yes, to some extent, but he also embraced a more holistic style of play at the peak of his career, averaging 7.8 assists per game in his year before heading to Philadelphia and playing more in high positions than ever before.
20,000 women?
"I'm sorry people choose to believe it." Years later, he told Hall of Fame writer Phil Jasner, "It's like saying you've watched Casablanca a thousand times. You're saying you watch this movie a lot. I'm just using the figure of twenty thousand as an analogy. If I were bragging, I would have made up a few names before. ”
Truth and exaggeration, victory and defeat, individual and team: these are all part of Chamberlain's creed. His dominance was so strong that it was difficult to place his achievements in the context of meaningfulness to others. There was no, there is not, and there will be no one like him in the future.
He averaged 50 points per game that season and averaged more than 48 minutes per game. Not humane. Do you think any basketball player you know can reach that level? Hill asked. He also grabbed 25 rebounds that season. When I spoke to the referees of that era, they said 'Hill, we can't blow all the fouls against Chamberlain because that wouldn't make the game go smoothly.' ’”
"Chamberlain would have one person sit on his left arm and the other on his right arm, and then he would lift both of them up and say, 'Which floor do you want to get down from before I put you and the basketball in the basket?'"
"They don't know, and they don't want to know!"
Neville Chamberlain NBA career statistics:
In 1045 games, he averaged 30.1 points, 22.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game, shooting 54.0% from the field, shooting 51.1% from the free throws, contributing 247.3 to victories, and 26.1 to per-efficiency
Achievements: MVP ('60, '66, '67, '68), 10-time All-Team, 13 All-Star, NBA Championship ('67, '72), Finals MVP ('72), Rookie of the Year ('60), Scoring Champion ('61, '62,'63,'64,'65,'66), Rebounding King ('60,'61,'62,'63,'66,'67,'68,'68,'69,'71,'72,'73),Assists 68), no. 1 hit percentage ('61, '63,'65,'66,'67,'68,'69,'72,'73),Hall of Fame ('79),NBA 35 Stars ('81), NBA 50 Stars ('96), NBA 75 Stars ('21)
By David Aldridge
Compile: Fontaine