Philadelphia 76ers: 3 fun facts about Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game
3. Wilt didn’t score all of his team’s points in the 100 point game.
This might just be the craziest fun fact of all, considering how the NBA game has evolved.
Now, where the average NBA team scores 110 points give or take in any given game, one would assume that the old-school, pre-3 point shooting NBA of yesteryear would feature a bunch of 50-48 games, right?
If you had that assumption, you aren’t alone, but it’s incorrect. No, that particular game saw the Philadelphia Warriors outscore the New York Knicks by a score of 169-147, which wasn’t even the most points scored by an NBA team up to that point.
Sidebar: Do you know which team scored more points in a single game than the ’62 Warriors? That would be the 1959 Boston Celtics, who put up a 171 point performance that wouldn’t be bested until 1983.
Yes, obviously Chamberlain led all performers in points scored, but in a fact that time has largely forgotten, he only attempted 54.7 percent of the Warriors’ field goals and was able to pick up 28 of his points from the line over his perfect 48 minutes of action. Fellow Hall-of-Famer Guy Rodgers also played all 48 minutes of the game, scoring 11 points and 20 assists, and the Warriors had three other players – Tom Meschery, Al Attles, and Paul Arizin – scoring in double digits. On the season, which saw the Warriors lose to the Boston Celtics in the second round of the playoffs, Philly’s starters accounted for 71.2 percent of the team’s offense, with Chamberlain leading the way with 50.4 points per game, which just so happens to be the most points per game scored by any player in NBA history.
Surely The Big Dipper was one of a kind.
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Will another player eventually match or even best Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game? It’s possible, but frankly, I hope not. Even though the game didn’t technically happen as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers or take place in the City of Brotherly Love, it’s still one of the best moments in NBA history and helped to put my hometown on the map for something other than chocolate. That, my friends, is worth celebrating all these years later.