The 50th anniversary of a record that may never be broken

Wilt, 1962 is a really good book by Gary M. Pomerantz. The best, most detailed account of the 100-point night that I know of.

 

As you might expect, we had a big blowout on this in today's edition.

The crowd for the game was about 4,100, not too bad for the old Barn known as Hersheypark Arena. The reason MOST of them were there, however, was for the preliminary game -- a basketball game between players from the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Colts.

 

A big part of the allure for Wilt's 100-point game is that it is almost a mythical accomplishment because so few people saw it (less than 5,000), and chronicled it. There was no live video of it and the enduring image is that of Wilt holding a piece of paper that a PR person staged to capture the moment It was also a perfect number - 100, not 96, 97. That same PR person also was the statistician and had to write the story for the Philadelphia Inquirer, AP and United Press International.

Today it would be tweeted, discussed, analyzed, called a farce and become an instant classic all in less than five minutes.

Wilt had 69 points after three quarters and every pass and every play ran through him the rest of the game. He played all 48 minutes even though he asked to come out a few times.

You have to remember Wilt also averaged 50 points that season.

Even Bill Campbell, who called the radio play-by-play for that game said it was not all that stunning and the crowd didn't go crazy. More a matter of fact deal that became legend well after the fact.

Just look at his game log that season. Remarkable numbers but normal for Wilt, so the 100-point game is not that much more unbelievable, but others were putting up amazing numbers as well.

Wilt scored at least 50 points 45 times in 80 games.

Perhaps the most remarkable number was 3 - that's what Wilt finished in the MVP race, voted on by players and coaches. Yes, third after averaging 50.4 points and 25.7 rebounds. Oscar Robertson was second, averaging a triple-double for the season, 30.8 points, 11.4 assists and 12.5 rebounds. (What does a guy have to do to win the MVP?) The MVP was Bill Russell, who had a modest 18.9 points and 23.5 rebounds but led the Celtics to a title and the NBA's first 60-win season.

It's all a matter of perspective I suppose.

 

Russell, at the time, was the only big man with a prayer of defending Wilt. Back then, if you were 6-11 -- and white -- you could pretty much make your way onto an NBA roster regardless of how slow or clumsy you were.

 

Kobe's 81 might have been more impressive as far as the shots he made. Since we don't have video, it's impossible to say for sure about Wilt's but obviously most - all - would have come in the paint. Kobe was ridiculous that night with the 3s, the pump-fake jumpers, the drives and dunks, all while leading a completely lethargic Lakers team back from 18 down (one of my favorite things from that game was Smush Parker's comment after it, when asked about the performance, he said the Lakers' defense was the key to victory. And you wonder why Kobe still takes shots at poor Smush five years after he left the Lakers). And Kobe's game did come against modern NBA defenses, which are 20 light years ahead of the way the game was played in 1962. And it came during an era of slower pace and lower scores. And he did it in 42 minutes.

Simmons wrote about the 1962 season in his book. The numbers were all out of whack that season, across the board. Wilt, Oscar's (which is why the triple-double season isn't quite as astounding as it would have been otherwise. Magic might have come closest to matching it, in 1982. He was 29 boards and 37 assists from averaging 10 and 10 in those categories). Elgin and a bunch of other guys put up ridiculous numbers. Walt Bellamy, a rookie, put up 31 and 19 boards a game. Think of it this way: There are plenty of people who would say Marino's passing yardage from 1984 is more impressive than Brees's from 2011. You can take other things into account when talking about the different accomplishments; it's not just the sheer numbers.

But 100 is still 100. More impressive? I don't know. But still more jaw-dropping and baffling and unbelievable and awe-inspiring, even if it didn't necessarily conjure up any of those feelings in the majority of people back when it happened. It's like if someone today had a 42-game hitting streak. Maybe it'd be just as impressive as Joe D's considering the media attention the guy would have to cope with and the pitching specialization. But 56 is still 56. And 100 is still 100.

Of course, Kobe's performance a month earlier against Dallas might have been even more impressive than 81 and 100: 62 through three quarters, against a team that made it to the NBA Finals. Outscored an entire team by a point through 36 minutes. No one - not even Wilt - had done that.

 

Good post.

 

Wilt was capable of doing just about anything he wanted athletically, with the exception of consistently hit free throws.

He was an outstanding volleyball player after retiring for basketball. Before professional basketball he was a versatile track and field athlete. He ran cross country in high school, won the Big 7 high jump title in college and was also pretty decent at the 400 meter. He beat Al Oerter in the shot put in practice.

Basketball kind of bored him because he was so dominant, so he came up with ways to amuse himself, like the year he decided he'd show everyone he could lead the league in assists, and did.

 

Wilt was definitely a fascinating athlete. I'm ashamed to know so little about him, you know, other than him fucking a shit load of women.

 

Wilt bedding so many women without impregnating them is also mythical and legendary.

 

No. He scored when a young woman trying to stop him.

 

I think Don Larsen's perfect game is safer than Wilt's 100-point game.

Hell, Cheryl Miller scored 100 points in a high school game when I was a kid in Riverside, CA against Notre Vista High School.

 

I of course wasn't at the game, but I assume many of Wilt's baskets came on the fadeaway jumper he developed specifically in response to the people who said he was dominant just because he was bigger. In that shot, he was leaning backwards to be smaller.