There are legendary athletes, there are ultra-legendary athletes, and then there’s the late great Wilt Chamberlain. The 7ft 1″ juggernaut of the NBA did some imaginable things in the game of basketball which sounds too unreal to be true for a man to do in a single 48-minute game.
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The Big Dipper did it in several games, leaving the NBA community in dismay most of the time. One of those times was his 100-point game against the New York Knicks.
Most of the casual fans, and even the new ones, know about that game even though it happened more than 60 years ago. It is still the highest-scoring game for an individual. However, it comes out that Wilt was not so proud of that historical performance of his.
100 point game was a disappointment for Wilt Chamberlain
As the fans of the game know quite well, Wilt Chamberlain was a man of opinion. The 4x MVP never shied away from speaking his mind about anything and everything.
The 7x scoring champ was even self-critical at times. And believe it or not, he did not like one of his numerous untouchable NBA records, probably the greatest of them all—the 100-point game.
“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,” Wilt said, as per The Athletic. “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.”
Yikes! 63 shots do sound somewhat absurd. No one has had 50 or more shots in NBA history in a game apart from Chamberlain. Michael Jordan, obviously, is the one with 49.
We would never know whether the Philadelphia legend meant what he said or if he was just trying to show his humble side. The latter he mostly never cared about so that we can eliminate. Although it was deep into his retirement, the 11x rebounding champ did think about his teammates for once.
Do not get surprised if Wilt “the Tilt” Chamberlain’s 100-point record gets broken any time soon
The way this 2022-23 season has progressed thus far, it will not be a surprise if someone really breaks the 100-point record. Donovan Mitchell had a 71-point night recently, if he had gone the Wilt way he could have had 100 of his own.
But with 11-assists, he kept it like a team game. If he had just 2 assists like Wilt and converted all his shots while getting to the line a few more times, surely the Spida would have crossed 100. If Luka Doncic or somebody else breaks that record this season, we shouldn’t be surprised.
