Wilt Chamberlain‘s 100-point record has a special place in the NBA’s record books. The late legend put up the score against the New York Knicks in 1962 and it is still regarded as one of the greatest individual performances in NBA history. During an appearance on Conan O’Brien’s show in 1997, The Big Dipper talked about the emotions he was going through during that game and the scolding he received from his mother after the game.
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Chamberlain said that as memorable a game as it was, he felt pity for the Knicks once he realized what was really going down. He wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Chamberlain’s mother was mad at him for unleashing the brutal attack on the New York franchise.
During his conversation with Conan, Wilt the Stilt revealed, “My mother scolded me when I got home. [She said] you should be ashamed of yourself.” To his credit, Chamberlain was feeling bad for the Knicks as well during the game, which is why he was even trying to miss some shots.
He added, “Actually they were really very embarrassed about the whole thing. So, they were mad at me, and I was just out there trying to have fun.” When asked about intentionally missing shots to help the Knicks save face, the dominant center said, “Yeah, absolutely.”
Chamberlain scored 100 points in 48 minutes with 25 rebounds on March 2nd, 1962, for the Philadelphia Warriors. It’s been over 60 years since that game and yet, the closest we’ve seen someone go to his record was the late great Kobe Bryant, who dropped 81 points against the Toronto Raptors in 2006.
Just looking at that one game would do injustice to what Chamberlain was able to do that whole season. In the 1961-62 season, he averaged 50.4 points, 25.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 80 games while shooting 50.6% from the field. These numbers are simply unfathomable in this game anymore. Which often makes hoop fans wonder, did it really happen? There’s no footage of his game, only some alleged radio recordings. However, the late veteran believed that the absence of footage makes his record even more interesting as it creates a mystique around it.
Who could take on Wilt Chamberlain?
As the stats suggest, Chamberlain was an unstoppable force on the court. However, he believed that there would be a player, sometime in the future, who would break his single game scoring record. He said, “I believe that a great basketball player, on a good night for him or a hot night for him, can score a hundred points. I believe that, sincerely. Albeit the other records I have, they may have a hard time to even look at it.”
While Chamberlain was the most dominant player in his time, arguably the most dominant player of all time, Shaquille O’Neal thinks that he’d comfortably take on Chamberlain 1 v 1. During his appearance on FLUENT & CHILL podcast, Shaq had said that he was never impressed by his highlights. He said that if the two are pitted against one another, in their prime, and in Shaq’s era of basketball, it’d be a cakewalk for him. Shaq said that if someone thinks Chamberlain would trump him, he wouldn’t be mad about it.
