Originally posted by Red Night
Earlier you mentioned Hershey and yes, I knew that. It is one of my favorite trivia questions. But, I'm impressed you knew. Not many people do...
To me, the best thing about the 100 point game is the mythology surrounding it.
On the 25th anniversary of the game, CBS was broadcasting an NBA game, and they did a little retrospective on that night in 1962. Players who participated in that game were interviewed, including Wilt.
None of them could remember how Wilt's final basket was scored, even Wilt wasn't really sure.
Also, there are conflicting accounts as to whether the game was actually completed after Wilt scored his last basket.
Al Attles, Wilt's teammate with the Warriors, said that the crowd was mobbing Wilt and could not be cleared from the court, so they ended the game right then and there, even though 46 seconds still showed on the clock.
But Knicks center Darrall Imhoff insisted that they did clear the court, and the game continued to the end. However, he did not remember whether anyone else scored, or whether Wilt's basket was the final basket of the game. (Some of his accounts said that Wilt actually went to the bench and sat out the final 46 seconds, accounts from other people said that Wilt just basically stayed at mid-court as the clock ran out).
To this day, I still occasionally see postings in forums on other web sites re: the 100 point game, insisting that Wilt's team lost the game. They didn't of course...they best the Knicks 169-147.
As the years went by, Chamberlain liked the fact that there is no video or film of the game. He was unhappy about that at first, but later on realized that having no video just added to the game's mystique.
Also, Wilt never considered this to be his best game, because he took 63 shots...to quote him "You take that many shots on the playground, and no one wants to be on your team ever again". Even after the game, he was stunned that he took 63 shots...Al Attles tried to console him by saying that he made 36, well over 50 per cent... Wilt just shook his head. But Wilt said there were plenty of games that he played better than this one, games in which he scored 50-60 points, and shot 75 per cent from the field.
Wilt was not really a 'gunner'...he led the NBA in scoring because he also led in field goal percentage.
Wilt also loved it when people would come up to him decades later, claiming to have been "there at Madison Square Garden, the night you scored 100 against the Knicks"... Wilt never contradicted any of them, and just let them enjoy their moment with him...over the years, thousands of people (at least 10,000 according to Wilt, but you know Wilt) said they were at the game in Hershey (attendance for that game was 4,124)
Greatest NBA Players of all time
12 Dec '06 17:091 edit
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