Since the start of 2023, the NBA has witnessed an unprecedented scoring explosion in games. Joe Fulks had the league’s first 60-point game in 1949. Since then, the feat has been achieved 87 times in the subsequent 85 years, an average of slightly above one per season. The number of 70-point performances is ever more scarce. The NBA has witnessed only fifteen 70+ point performances since the inaugural season in 1949. However, since the start of last year, there have been eight 60-point performances, with four breaching the 70 mark.
Advertisement
While the scoring explosion has been jaw-dropping, no player has come close to breaking Wilt Chamberlain‘s record for most points in a game. The legendary center owns the all-time single-game scoring record with 100 points. Here’s everything you need to know about that legendary performance.
How Many Times Did Wilt Chamberlain Score 100 Points?
Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points once. It remains the only instance of a player breaching the 100-point mark in an NBA game. No other player has even scored 90 points in a game.
How many times did Wilt Chamberlain shoot in his 100-point game?
Wilt Chamberlain attempted 63 shots and drained 36 of them during his 100-point performance. He shot a respectable 57.1% from the field. Chamberlain’s 63 attempts in this game are the most by a player in a game in NBA history. He owns the top six places on the list of most shot attempts by a player in a game.
How Many Free Throws did he attempt during the game?
Wilt Chamberlain attempted 32 free throws en route to scoring 100 points. He banked 28 of those, an excellent 87.5% conversion rate. Chamberlain holds the record for most games with 30 free throw attempts. He achieved it six times in his career. Dwight Howard has two such games and five other players have attempted 30 free throws in a game once.
Howard holds the record for most free throw attempts in a game with 39. He did it twice.
How many points did his team win by in the game?
The Philadelphia Warriors beat the New York Knicks 169-147, registering a 22-point win on the back of Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point performance. The 316 combined points were the most in a game in NBA history at that point.
Since then, there have been seven more games where the two teams have combined for more than 316 points. However, four of those went to overtime. On December 13th, 1983, the Denver Nuggets and Detroit Pistons combined to score 370 points in triple overtime. The Pistons won 186-184.
How many rebounds did Wilt register during the game?
Wilt Chamberlain grabbed 25 rebounds in his 100-point game against the New York Knicks. This was one of 14 games where Chamberlain scored at least 60 points and grabbed 25 rebounds.
Which team did he score it against, and where?
On March 2nd, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in their 169-147 win over the New York Knicks at the Hershey Sports Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The arena served as a neutral venue for the NBA to host games in the 1950s and 60s.
Which player has come closest to beating/equaling this record?
The closest any player has come to Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point record is former Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant. On January 23rd, 2006, the legendary guard scored 81 points in the Lakers’ 122-104 win over the Toronto Raptors.
Bryant attempted 46 shots and banked 28. He went 7-13 from beyond the arc and converted 18 of 20 free throw attempts. Chamberlain and Bryant are the only players to breach the 80-point mark in NBA history. They are also the league’s all-time leaders in 60-point games. Chamberlain holds the record with 32, while Bryant is second with 6.
