On March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain put together arguably the
greatest performance in NBA history, scoring 100 points in the
Philadelphia Warriors’ 169–147 win over the New York Knicks. The
game wasn’t televised, and only 4,124 people were in
attendance.
Sixty years later, no player has seriously challenged Wilt’s 100
points. Kobe Bryant came the closest, dropping 81 points against
the Toronto Raptors in 2006.
Chamberlain has a number of NBA records that are seemingly
unbreakable; in addition to the single-game scoring record, he
once averaged a ridiculous 27.2 rebounds per game in the 1960-61
season and played 48.5 minutes per game during the 1961-62
campaign.
To celebrate Wilt’s historic 100-point outing, Sarah Kustok
hosted a
special episode of "NBA Flashback" — a podcast
co-produced by iHeart and the NBA that revisits some of the best
moments in league history.
Kustok had access to exclusive content from the NBA vault
(including old interviews with Wilt) and NBA Entertainment team.
The episode features soundbytes from a number of current NBA
players about Chamberlain’s 100-point game and whether we’ll ever
see another performance like it.
Some of today’s best scorers believe that Wilt’s record is
safe.
“That record will never be broken,” Klay Thompson said
on NBA Flashback. “I think I had a shot at it back in
2016, you know 60 [points] in 29 minutes, but that is still 40
points away! That is incredible! That means I had to play
the rest of the game and go for 40! It is hard to even process how
he did that. He was facing double and triple teams. Wilt
Chamberlain is a timeless talent; he could play in any era, and be
the best athlete on the floor.”
“I don’t think anybody would ever catch Wilt’s 100,” James
Harden added. “That’s just different.”
“Do I think we’ll ever see someone score 100 points again? No,”
Anthony Davis said. “Just because it’s so
competitive now that guys won’t allow that to happen. You might
have 98, and guys won’t allow you to score 100. Guys feel [like]
that when you get 50!”
Others could see it happening if a great scorer gets hot
enough.
“Guys are getting close! Devin Booker’s out here scoring 70!” Kemba
Walker said. “It really won’t surprise me
to see Steph [Curry] or Klay score 100. It won’t surprise me to see
Trae Young score 100. I could see Giannis [Antetokounmpo] scoring
100. The next generation of players, man, they just have so much
skill.”
On the latest episode of “The Alex
Kennedy Podcast,” Kustok joined me to discuss Chamberlain's
100-point game, how Wilt would fare in today's NBA, other notable
guests she's had on "NBA Flashback," the new-look Brooklyn Nets and
much more.
Be sure to listen to this week’s episode of "NBA
Flashback" that celebrates Wilt.
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