On March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points against the New York Knicks in front of 4,124 fans at Hershey Sports Arena in Pennsylvania. It remains the single-game scoring record in the NBA even after 62 years.
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However, since there is no video footage of the historic performance, there are doubts whether it even happened in the first place. Austin Reaves seems to believe in the conspiracy theory that Chamberlain’s 100-point performance never happened.
During a golfing session with Mason Nutt from BustaJack Golf, Reaves listed his Mount Rushmore of NBA legends. He picked Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Shaquille O’Neal on his dream squad.
Reaves refused to put anyone before the 1980s on his fantasy team because he just doesn’t have enough knowledge about the players from that era. On that note, Nutt asked the LA Lakers guard if he believes that Chamberlain really scored 100 points in a game.
Reaves quickly replied “No”, much to Nutt’s delight.
Validated by Reaves’ affirmation, Nutt called Chamberlain’s 100-point masterpiece the “biggest conspiracy” in the NBA. He also crowned Kobe Bryant’s 81-point performance as the highest-ever single-game record. Reaves agreed with that statement whole-heartedly.
On January 22, 2006, Bryant erupted for 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, making 28 out of his 46 shot attempts from the field. Despite falling 19 points short of the all-time record by Chamberlain, Bryant’s 81 point-performance is still held in high regard in NBA history.
However, we must take Reaves’ comment on Chamberlain with a grain of salt. The Lakers star has been a well-known Kobe fan since his childhood years. But the doubts about Wilt’s game is nothing new.
In May, Lou Williams also downplayed Chamberlain’s record. On the Run It Back pod, he even claimed that Chamberlain’s total points and rebounds were also fake.
The lack of visual footage has played a huge role in people’s refusal to believe in his records.
Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point record is often discredited
The only evidence of Chamberlain’s 100-point game is a picture in which he is holding a piece of paper with “100” written on it. Apart from that, there is the handwritten stat sheet of the game by statistician Harvey Pollack.
However, there is audio footage of the fourth quarter where announcer Bill Campbell excitedly speaks about him reaching close to 100 points.
Unfortunately, the audio posted on the YouTube channel ‘Wilt Chamberlain Archive’ has been taken down on copyright grounds, complicating things further.
At any rate, this conspiracy theory shows how the legends from the 1950s-1960s era sometimes don’t get their dues because they played in a period where college basketball was much more popular than the NBA.
Therefore, broadcasters preferred showing NCAA games over the NBA.
All this implies that a lack of video footage is the only reason why his record is being contested. If that’s the case, then every record from that era can be put under the lens. It appears to be a case of revisionist history at best.
