Wilt Chamberlain`s Double Triple-Double

[Penny_Hardaway]

It seems he is the only NBA player to do this in the large history of the league. Im not an expert on the subject or even on the 60s and 70s basketball, but I find really impressive what Wilt did, and also would like the elders and knowledgeble posters of this site to school me more on how he was able to do this, what was the media repercussion after it...etc.

Quote frome Wikipedia:


Wilt Chamberlain is the only player to have accomplished this; in a February 2, 1968 game vs. Detroit Pistons, Chamberlain tallied 25 points, 22 rebounds, and 21 assists.

25 points, 22 rebounds and 21 assists. That`s f*cking impressive to say the least, best individual performance in the history of the game? Dont know, but its probably close.

Has anyone (besides Wilt) come close to doing this? a double triple-double.

[NauruDude]

It seems he is the only NBA player to do this in the large history of the league. Im not an expert on the subject or even on the 60s and 70s basketball, but I find really impressive what Wilt did, and also would like the elders and knowledgeble posters of this site to school me more on how he was able to do this, what was the media repercussion after it...etc.

Quote frome Wikipedia:



25 points, 22 rebounds and 21 assists. That`s f*cking impressive to say the least, best individual performance in the history of the game? Dont know, but its probably close.

Has anyone (besides Wilt) come close to doing this? a double triple-double.

Wilt would probably be a normal-good guy in todays league. The league was so undeveloped that it was impossible to compete with him.

[Walduś]

put tyson chandler in that era and he'll be the goat.

[Penny_Hardaway]

Wilt would probably be a normal-good guy in todays league. The league was so undeveloped that it was impossible to compete with him.

So what? Why do people pull out the weak "era argument" when they try to diminish Wilt`s achievements?

His era was his era, point. If the average competition was weak in the 60s, why was Wilt above average then? It would be more logical to have similar level the rest of the league had, but Chamberlain was ahead of his era, and when comparing players you cant just say: "put him in other time and he would suck" cause that`s a weak argument that actually makes no sense.

The bottom line is Wilt Chamberlain shined in comparison to the rest of the players in the 60s and early 70s factoring all the circumstances, pace, style of play...etc. Just like Magic and Bird did that in the 80s, Jordan in the 90s or Kobe, Shaq and Duncan in the 00s.

But instead of appreciating one of the best individual performances in the history of the game, people will still pull out the same cliches around Wilt Chamberlain in this thread: "he is a choker", "his era sucked"...etc etc.


And im not even bothering to give that retard troll above me a serious response.

[inclinerator]

thoseo numbers would be 3 pts 5 rebs and 1 assist in todays game



















































i kid i kid

[Fuhqueue]

I vote for calling it a "20/20/20 line" over "Double Triple Double"

All in favour say aye.

[steve]

I vote for calling it a "20/20/20 line" over "Double Triple Double"

All in favour say aye.
I've just been calling it "The Wilt Triple Double." As opposed to an "Oscar Triple Double" or a "Kidd Triple Double."

[Psileas]

So what? Why do people pull out the weak "era argument" when they try to diminish Wilt`s achievements?

His era was his era, point. If the average competition was weak in the 60s, why was Wilt above average then? It would be more logical to have similar level the rest of the league had, but Chamberlain was ahead of his era, and when comparing players you cant just say: "put him in other time and he would suck" cause that`s a weak argument that actually makes no sense.

The bottom line is Wilt Chamberlain shined in comparison to the rest of the players in the 60s and early 70s factoring all the circumstances, pace, style of play...etc. Just like Magic and Bird did that in the 80s, Jordan in the 90s or Kobe, Shaq and Duncan in the 00s.

But instead of appreciating one of the best individual performances in the history of the game, people will still pull out the same cliches around Wilt Chamberlain in this thread: "he is a choker", "his era sucked"...etc etc.


And im not even bothering to give that retard troll above me a serious response.

Repped. Not to mention that the dude you quote doesn't know anything about the era, not to mention the player himself.

[Psileas]

It seems he is the only NBA player to do this in the large history of the league. Im not an expert on the subject or even on the 60s and 70s basketball, but I find really impressive what Wilt did, and also would like the elders and knowledgeble posters of this site to school me more on how he was able to do this, what was the media repercussion after it...etc.

Quote frome Wikipedia:



25 points, 22 rebounds and 21 assists. That`s f*cking impressive to say the least, best individual performance in the history of the game? Dont know, but its probably close.

Has anyone (besides Wilt) come close to doing this? a double triple-double.

To answer your question, after Wilt, Magic Johnson was the one who came the closest, as he had a 24/17/17 game in 1989.

[jlauber]

It seems he is the only NBA player to do this in the large history of the league. Im not an expert on the subject or even on the 60s and 70s basketball, but I find really impressive what Wilt did, and also would like the elders and knowledgeble posters of this site to school me more on how he was able to do this, what was the media repercussion after it...etc.

Quote frome Wikipedia:



25 points, 22 rebounds and 21 assists. That`s f*cking impressive to say the least, best individual performance in the history of the game? Dont know, but its probably close.

Has anyone (besides Wilt) come close to doing this? a double triple-double.

Had blocked shots been an "official" stat, Wilt may have had other 20-20-20 games. My god, his CAREER AVERAGE is 30 ppg and 23 rpg...in well over 1000 games. Given the fact that renowned stats guru Harvey Pollack had Wilt with games of 20+ blocks, there is a possibility that Wilt would have had several 20-20-20 games.

Last I looked, Wilt ranked fifth, all-time, in official triple-doubles. He also holds the record of most consecutive triple-double games, at nine. Here again, had blocked shots been officially recorded, he probably would have had HUNDREDS of triple-doubles, and perhaps 50 or more quad-doubles.

Wilt also had EIGHT DOUBLE QUADs in his career (games of 40 points and 40 rebounds in the same game), and FIVE 50-40 games (including a 78-43 game.) Of course, no other NBA player has ever accomplished either of those feats. Here is another interesting fact...aside from Wilt, there have been SIX 40-30 games in NBA history. How about Chamberlain? He had 55 (yes 55) 40-30 games by himself. Kevin Love just had a 30-30 game,...and that now makes a TOTAL of 131 30-30 games in NBA history. Oh, and BTW, Wilt has 103 of them.

There have been 28 40+ rebound games in NBA history...and Chamberlain has 15 of them. There have been a TOTAL of ten 70+ point games in NBA history, and Wilt has SIX of them by himself. There have been 32 60+ point games in NBA history...and Chamberlain has 32 of them (MJ and Kobe are next with five each.)

Scoring streaks? Chamberlain scored 26+ points in ALL 82 of his games in his 61-62 season (and only two of them were less than 30.) Not only that, but he scored 25+ points in 126 straight games, and 30+ points in 65 straight games. He didn't stop there either. Kobe and MJ each had nine straight games of 40+ points and both averaged about 44 ppg in their streaks. How about Wilt? He had TWO streaks of 14 games in a row with 40+ points, and in those two he averaged 53 and 54 ppg. And how about this number? Wilt scored 351 points over the course of five straight games...or 70 ppg in those five games.

Shooting? Wilt has the THREE highest "perfect" games in NBA history...and they all came in his 66-67 season. They were 15-15, 16-16, and 18-18. In fact, Chamberlain had a streak of 35 straight made FGs that year...another record. Wilt has the TWO highest FG% seasons in NBA history (.727 and .683), and three of the top-5. Not only that, but in his 66-67 season, his .683 mark was .162 better than his nearest competitor, Walt Bellamy, who shot .521...which is a record for differential. He also outshot the league that year by a .244 margin (.683 to the league average of .441.) In his 72-73 season, Wilt shot .727, which beat out his nearest competitor, Matt Guokas by .157 (.727 to .570)...and his .727 was a staggering .271 better than the league average (.456.) Those margins are WAY ahead of anyone else's numbers. For reference, Gilmore shot .670 in the third best season in NBA history, and he beat out his nearest competitor who shot .607, by .063. . He also outshot the league average by .188 (.670 to a league average of .482.)

And before some jumps in and mentions Wilt's "weak" era...Chamberlain faced the likes of Pettit, Lovelette, Bellamy, Reed, Embry, Thurmond, Hayes, Unseld, Lanier, Cowens, Lucas, Russell, and Kareem...ALL in the HOF. And he even schooled Artis Gilmore in a brief encounter in the 71-72 NBA-ABA all-star game. H2H he either outrebounded them all, and in many cases by huge margins.

He had THREE games of 60+ points on Bellamy (with a high of 73.) He had games of 58 and 52 against Reed. He had a game in which he outscored Thurmond by a 45-13 margin. He had FIVE 50+ point games against Russell, with a high hame of 62 (on 27-45 shooting.) In fact, he had 24 games of 40+ points against Russell. Late in his career he had a couple of 30+ point games against Lanier (and this was when he was seldom shooting.)

Wilt faced Kareem in his last four seasons, and well after his prime. In the 70-71 WCF's, Wilt matched Kareem in every statistical category...and all just a year removed from major knee surgery. And while Kareem had several high scoring games against Chamberlain in the 71-72 season, in the WCF's, Wilt held Kareem to .457 shooting (Kareem had shot .574 during the regular season)...AND, in the last four games of that six game series, Wilt limited Kareem to .414 shooting. Not only that, but he blocked something like 15 sky-hooks in that series, and he swatted 11 of Kareem's shots in the last two games (and 20 overall against the Bucks.) In fact, Wilt faced Kareem in 28 H2H games in their career, and held Kareem to .464 shooting in those games (and Kareem was a career .559 shooter.) In Wilt's finals season, he faced Kareem in six regular season games, and outshot him .637 to .450. Keep in mind that Wilt was 11 years older, well past his prime, and he played on a surgically repaired knee in the last 27 of those H2H games. In their one H2H battle before Wilt shredded his knee, Chamberlain outscored Kareem, 25-23; outrebounded Kareem, 25-20; outassisted Kareem, 5-2; outblocked Kareem, 3-2; and outshot Kareem, 9-14 to 9-21.

Now, keep in mind that Kareem, at age 39, poured in games of 35, 42, and 46 (on 21-30 shooting) against Hakeem in the 85-86 season. And, in that same season, Kareem also shelled Ewing with a 40 point game, while holding Patrick to 2-16 shooting.

Don't get me wrong. Kareem is a top-5 player in MY book, BUT, in his H2H battles with Wilt, the general consensus was that Wilt outplayed him (despite Kareem outscoring him.) In fact, Time Magazine hailed Wilt's performance in the 71-72 WCF's, as a decisive "win" by Chamberlain over Kareem. Furthermore, Wilt, in his scoring prime, pounded Nate Thurmond. Thurmond held Kareem to 22.8 ppg in each of their H2H playoff battles in the 71-72 and 72-73 season...and to .405 and .428 shooting in each. So, one can only wonder how a PRIME Wilt would have fared against Kareem.

And, finally, for those idiotic posters here who claim that Wilt would be an average center in TODAY's NBA...think about this. Wilt was considerably taller than Dwight Howard. He was considerably bigger than Howard. He was considerably stronger than Howard. Not only was Wilt was known to have dunked on 12 foot rims back in the 50's (in fact, the NBA outlawed the dunking of FT's BECAUSE of Wilt), he was also a college high-jump champion...so Chamberlain may very well have been a better leaper than Howard. Chamberlain was also a sprinter in college, and I don't think that there was any question that Wilt was faster than Howard (BTW, Hank Stram, the KC Chiefs coach, invited Wilt to a tryout in the mid-60's...and Wilt outraced the Chief's fastest running back.) And, take a look at the footage of Wilt on YouTube...and you will come away believing that Wilt was more SKILLED than Howard. So, here we go... Wilt was taller, bigger, stronger, faster, probably could leap higher, and was more skilled than Howard. So, how would he do in TODAY's NBA?

[steve]

To answer your question, after Wilt, Magic Johnson was the one who came the closest, as he had a 24/17/17 game in 1989.
You're better at digging up stat lines from before Basketball Reference's database than I am, any chance you could find what Robertson's closest game was. He's the only other guy I think would approach Wilt's line.

[iamgine]

This is not impressive at all. Wilt already gets 30-20 almost every night. A 20-20 is pretty much a guarantee. So at this particular night his teammates happens to be hot, stat keeper is friendly and Wilt just feed them until he gets 20 assist.

I'm sure Wilt also got some 20-20-10-10 games.

[jlauber]

To answer your question, after Wilt, Magic Johnson was the one who came the closest, as he had a 24/17/17 game in 1989.

Wilt had a 16-30-19 playoff game against the Royals in his '66-67 post-season, and then in game one of the ECF's, and against Russell, Wilt put up a documented 24-32-13-12 game.

[jlauber]

It seems he is the only NBA player to do this in the large history of the league. Im not an expert on the subject or even on the 60s and 70s basketball, but I find really impressive what Wilt did, and also would like the elders and knowledgeble posters of this site to school me more on how he was able to do this, what was the media repercussion after it...etc.



For those that have not seen these videos...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6k539HSbXM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=849_WdqJ8o8&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1R6UI738MI&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Paex9-VxPbA

There are many more, but those are my favorites...

[Psileas]

You're better at digging up stat lines from before Basketball Reference's database than I am, any chance you could find what Robertson's closest game was. He's the only other guy I think would approach Wilt's line.

Actually, Magic is the closest I've seen to 20/20/20, in that he got the closest to 20 in the "weakest" of the 3 categories, whichever it is.
Up to now, I've tracked a 32/21/16, a 31/20/16 and a 28/20/16 game by Oscar, but not triple-17's.



Wilt had a 16-30-19 playoff game against the Royals in his '66-67 post-season, and then in game one of the ECF's, and against Russell, Wilt put up a documented 24-32-13-12 game.

I know, but I'm talking about players other than Wilt. Actually, Wilt also had a 22-27-19 game in the 1968 season, which you can argue is almost equally impressive.

[Fuhqueue]

I've just been calling it "The Wilt Triple Double." As opposed to an "Oscar Triple Double" or a "Kidd Triple Double."
Out of interest whats the diff b/w Oscar and Kidd triple doubles

[jlauber]

Actually, Magic is the closest I've seen to 20/20/20, in that he got the closest to 20 in the "weakest" of the 3 categories, whichever it is.
Up to now, I've tracked a 32/21/16, a 31/20/16 and a 28/20/16 game by Oscar, but not triple-17's.




I know, but I'm talking about players other than Wilt. Actually, Wilt also had a 22-27-19 game in the 1968 season, which you can argue is almost equally impressive.

Didn't Magic have something like a 32 point, 21 assist game, as well (albeit without double-digit rebounds)?

As for Wilt, we both know he had a 53 point, 32 rebound, 14 assist game in '68, against the Lakers. And, while it would be considered "unofficial", in Chamberlain's very first NBA game he was credited with 43 points, 28 rebounds, and 17 blocks. And in his incredible 23 block game on Christmas in '68, he also had 15 points and 15 rebounds... which was an unusual triple-double.

[steve]

Out of interest whats the diff b/w Oscar and Kidd triple doubles
Oscar's is the 20/10/10 stat line, which is the more traditional. A Kidd would be 10-20/10/10 triple double and that mainly came from a few seasons ago when he was racking up a bunch of triple doubles but never getting over 20 points (although looking back on it, it wasn't as many as I remember), but he still has more of those than anyone.

[jlauber]

Oscar's is the 20/10/10 stat line, which is the more traditional. A Kidd would be 10-20/10/10 triple double and that mainly came from a few seasons ago when he was racking up a bunch of triple doubles but never getting over 20 points (although looking back on it, it wasn't as many as I remember), but he still has more of those than anyone.

At his peak, Oscar was more like a 30-10-10 guy.

[ThaRegul8r]

put tyson chandler in that era and he'll be the goat.

:rolleyes:
:facepalm

[Fuhqueue]

Oscar's is the 20/10/10 stat line, which is the more traditional. A Kidd would be 10-20/10/10 triple double and that mainly came from a few seasons ago when he was racking up a bunch of triple doubles but never getting over 20 points (although looking back on it, it wasn't as many as I remember), but he still has more of those than anyone.
I remember Kidd getting a points/rebs/ast/turnover quadruple double as well :rockon:

[Pointguard]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1R6UI738MI&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Paex9-VxPbA

There are many more, but those are my favorites...

Wow, Gilmore was a big dude. Obviously bigger than Wilt, sobeit, not stronger - check at the 58 second mark when Wilt easily displaces Gilmore. If Gilmore was playing now he would be dominating as well. He could move better than most big men now and Robert Parrish was always amazed at his strength.

[jlip]

J. Kidd had a 16/16/19 game in the playoffs once.

[Dbrog]

Wilt would probably be a normal-good guy in todays league. The league was so undeveloped that it was impossible to compete with him.

Wilt makes Hakeem look like an infant child on the court and most here have Hakeem in their top 10s. How can you say Wilt would just be a "normal-good" guy in todays game? He is basically an athletic and super quick version of shaq who also happened to have a nice touch away from the rim. I truly believe that if he was in todays game, surrounded by ok teammates and barring injury, he would challenge Russell's championship record.

[KG5MVP]

put tyson chandler in that era and he'll be the goat.

first time i agree with you:applause:

[PHILA]

first time i agree with you:applause:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtsDctdHNio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pZ6hmIxwQo

[PHILA]

I know, but I'm talking about players other than Wilt. Actually, Wilt also had a 22-27-19 game in the 1968 season, which you can argue is almost equally impressive.

During the '66-'67 regular season against the Royals, he had a 58/25/6/76% FG game.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VbUzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2jIHAAAAIBAJ&pg=4694,3417675&dq


He came close to a double triple-double in Game 3 against the Royals.


Game 1: 41 points, 23 rebounds, 5 assists, 63% FG

Game 2: 37 points, 27 rebounds, 11 assists, 67% FG

Game 3: 16 points, 30 rebounds, 19 assists, 62% FG

Game 4: 18 points, 27 rebounds, 9 assists, 50% FG





http://i56.tinypic.com/1zcl94l.jpg

[jlauber]

During the '66-'67 regular season against the Royals, he had a 58/25/6/76% FG game.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VbUzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2jIHAAAAIBAJ&pg=4694,3417675&dq


He came close to a double triple-double in Game 3 against the Royals.


Game 1: 41 points, 23 rebounds, 5 assists, 63% FG

Game 2: 37 points, 27 rebounds, 11 assists, 67% FG

Game 3: 16 points, 30 rebounds, 19 assists, 62% FG

Game 4: 18 points, 27 rebounds, 9 assists, 50% FG





http://i56.tinypic.com/1zcl94l.jpg

I see you copied Wilt's stats from Lynch's book on the '67 76ers. A couple of points: One, Wilt averaged 24.1 ppg on .683 shooting that season, but against Russell and Thurmond (and surprisingly Detroit) he was somewhat less. Russell limited him to 20.3 ppg on .549 shooting, while Nate held him to 20.7 ppg on .562 shooting. And, those numbers were consistent with Chamberlain's playoff performances against each, as well. Wilt averaged 17.5 ppg on .560 shooting against Nate, and he averaged 21.6 ppg on .556 shooting against Russell.

Interesting, too, though...while we don't have Russell or Thurmond's regular season scoring and FG% numbers vs. Wilt, we have their overall numbers, and their post-season numbers against Wilt with which we can compare. Russell averaged 13.3 ppg on .454 shooting during the '66-67 regular season. Against Wilt in the '67 ECF's, he averaged 10.2 ppg on .358 shooting. Meanwhile Thurmond averaged 18.7 ppg on .437 shooting in the regular season against the NBA. Against Wilt in the Finals he averaged 14.3 ppg on .343 shooting.

Speaking of Wilt's scoring and shooting in that '66-67 season...how about his numbers vs. the HOF "Twin Towers" of Walt Bellamy and Willis Reed? 22.7 ppg on an eye-popping 70.9 FG%.

Another interesting aspect...Wilt raised his rebounding numbers against both Russell and Nate. In the regular season, Wilt averaged 24.2 rpg against the NBA. In his nine regular season H2H battles with Boston and SF (not sure how many times he faced Nate, though, who missed some 16 games), Chamberlain averaged 25.9 rpg against the Warriors, and 26.7 rpg against Russell. In the post-season, Wilt elevated his rebounding against both even more. He outrebounded Thurmond in five of their six H2H games in the Finals, and had an overall edge of 28.5 rpg to 26.7. Included in those games was a 38 rebound game as well. And he just abused Russell on the glass in the ECF's. He outrebounded Russell, in their five H2H post-season games, by a staggering 32.0 rpg to 23.0 rpg, including a post-season record of 41 in game three. He also pounded Russell in game one by a 32-15 margin, and then in the clinching game five win, he crushed Russell, 36-21.

Incidently, while Wilt dramatically cut back his shooting in that 66-67 season, he had two defining games against Nate and Russell. Early in the season, his 76ers struggled in the first half against the Warriors. At halftime coach Hannum decided to abandon having Wilt pass out of the post, and to concentrate on scoring. In the second half, Wilt poured in 24 points, and finished with 30 points, 26 rebounds, and 12 blocks. And, while Wilt failed to score 30 points against Russell in any games that season (he faced him a total of 14 times), in the clinching game five of the ECF's, the 76ers fell behind by 17 points early in the game. Wilt single-handedly kept Philly in the game in that half by scoring 22 first-half points. The Sixers exploded in the second half, and Wilt did not need to shoot. He finished the game with 29 points, on 10-16 shooting (outscoring Russell 29-4, and outshooting him 10-16 to 2-5), with 13 assists and 36 rebounds.

IMHO, Wilt was in his prime in that 66-67 season. Clearly he could have scored much more. Don't forget that he not only led the NBA in scoring the year before at 33.5 ppg (on .540 shooting), but he could put up huge games against even Russell, as evidenced by his game five in the '66 ECF's when he had a 46-34 game against him. And, during the '66-67 season, Wilt was at his best when he shot MORE. He had the high game in the NBA that season (as he would nearly every year in the decade of the 60's), with that 58 point game that PHILA pointed out (on 26-34 shooting) as well as THREE "perfect" games of 15-15, 16-16, and 18-18 (in a game in which he scored 42 points.) In fact, he made a record of 35 straight FGAs.

Even Rick Barry acknowledged Chamberlain's scoring potential, when he "thanked" him for "allowing" Barry to win the scoring title. Wilt was at his physical prime that year, too, at about 285 lbs., and was relatively injury-free. However, he would be hobbled with an assotment of injuries his very next year (although he still had a phenomenal season.) Interesting too, in that next season ('67-68), Wilt had the FOUR highest scoring games in the NBA, with games of 52, 53, 53, and 68 points. Obviously, in those two years, had Wilt been so inclined, he probably could have easily averaged 35-40 ppg.

[JBull]

That's fockin hard to do. Only time I could do that was in NBA 2K11 hhehehehhe.

Fo real though, Jason Kidd was pretty close LAST YEAR. It was against the Atlanta Hawks last season.

http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=300226001

Jason Kidd - 19 points, 16 rebounds and 17 assists. Amazing stateline.

[az00m]

I think j-kidd had a 25+/14/14 game before.

[steve]

At his peak, Oscar was more like a 30-10-10 guy.
Well, I meant more along the lines of 20+.

[jlauber]

I also get a kick out of those that make claims like, "well, Wilt wouldn't put up those numbers in this era."

Perhaps not, but, they also tend to forget that he was the ONLY player putting up those numbers in HIS era. Before Wilt came into the NBA in the 59-60 season, the NBA record for scoring was 29.2 ppg. The record for rebounding was 23.0 rpg. And the record for FG% was .490. He not only easily surpassed all of those records, he OBLITERATED them. By the time Wilt retired following his 72-73 season, he had the scoring record of 50.4 ppg (and another season at 44.8 ppg); he had the rebounding record of 27.2 rpg (and another at 27.0 rpg; and he has the FG% record of .727 (and another at .683.)

Furthermore, since Wilt retired, the highest scoring seasons have been Jordan's 37.1 ppg in '87, and Kobe's 35.4 ppg in '06. BUT, during Wilt's career, and even slightly after it, the NBA had players like Barry who averaged 35.6 ppg in '67 (and then a 30.2 ppg season ten years later); Baylor with a 34.0 ppg season; and Kareem's 34.8 ppg in '72. And McAdoo had a 34.5 ppg season in the early 70's, and Archibald had a 34.0 season, as well.

Continuing, Kobe took 27 FGAs in 41 mpg in his '06 season, and MJ took 28 FGAs in 40 mpg in his '87 season. Wilt had several seasons in the 30's, with a high of 39.7 in his '62 season, BUT, factoring in his mpg, and his team's overall shots, Chamberlain actually shot the ball less, in terms of his team's shots, than MJ or Kobe did in their high seasons. And, here again, it was ONLY Wilt in HIS era. Barry and Baylor had a couple of seasons just under 30 FGAs, but that was basically it. And Bellamy was the only center, aside from Wilt, to have a 20+ FGA season, with 24 in his '62 season, ( and he only did it once), until Kareem arrived in the early 70's. And even Kareem could only get to around 25 per game.

So, while so many here point out the "PACE" of the game in Wilt's era, it must be pointed out that ONLY Chamberlain could consistently get 30-40 FGAs per game. Why? Because once he got the ball, he was unstoppable...despite being swarmed. It made no difference if he was 15 ft. away, either. He could get his shot, and virtually no one could stop it. As great a defender as Russell was, he not only had help in defending Wilt...he could only contain him to the point of 30+ ppg games, instead of 40+ ppg games. And Wilt had FIVE 50+ point games against Russell, including a 62 point game (on 27-45 shooting), and a TOTAL of 24 40+ point games (including several in the post-season...with a high of 50 in the playoffs against him.) A PRIME Wilt could pour in 45 points against Thurmond, 58 against Reed, and 73 against Bellamy. And all of those players are in the HOF.

Regarding rebounding...yes, there were more rebounds to be had in Wilt's era. But, he absolutely crushed EVERY center he faced in that category. He outrebounded Russell, who is the second greatest rebounder ever, by a staggering FIVE rpg over the course of their 142 H2H games. He outrebounded EVERY center he faced in EVERY post-season in all 29 post-season series in which he played, including Thurmond by over six rpg in the '73 playoffs. He also outrebounded Kareem in their 29 H2H games, and some by huge margins (in one game he outrebounded him by a 25-8 margin.)

Furthermore, Wilt LED the NBA in rebounding in his LAST year, at 18.6 rpg...in a league with Thurmond, Cowens, Unseld, Lucas, and Kareem...all considered great rebounders at the time. Even more remarkably, in his 17 post-season games in that final season, he averaged 22.5 rpg. In fact, he NEVER averaged less than 20 rpg in his 13 post-seasons, and had high post-seasons of over 30!

Consider this...Wilt led the NBA in rebounding in his LAST season...at 18.6 rpg, while Cowens was at 16.2 rpg, Kareem was at 16.1 rpg, and Unseld was at 15.9 rpg. (BTW, Thurmond was second at 17.1 rpg.) Kareem would win his only rebounding title in his 75-76 season, at 16.9, barely edging Cowens, who was at 16.0 rpg.

So, here was Wilt, at well past his prime, and playing on a surgically repaired knee, leading the league in rebounding in his LAST season, and then really elevating his rebounding in the post-season (once again, at 22.5 rpg.)

Interesting, too, that Chamberlain's 18.6 rpg season in his LAST season, which was among the WORST of his career, would hold up as the highest until Rodman's 18.7 rpg in 91-92. BTW, while Wilt rose from 18.6 rpg in the regular season, to 22.5 rpg in his final post-season...Rodman's 18.7 rpg fell to 10.2 rpg in his '92 playoffs.

How about FG%? Wilt won NINE FG% titles in his 14 year career. Only Shaq, with ten, in 18+ seasons, has more. And, think about this: Wilt not only led the NBA in FG% in his LAST season, he set an NBA record of .727 (and .649 in his 71-72 season BTW.) The assumption, of course, being that Chamberlain might very well have led the NBA for another few years, as well.

As remarkable as Wilt's FG% numbers were (the two highest seasons of all-time, and three of the top-5), they were LIGHT YEARS ahead of his peers. Chamberlain was shooting .683 (and averaging 24.1 ppg in the process), in a league that shot .441. He beat out his nearest competitor that season, Bellamy, who shot .521, by a whopping .162 margin...which is an all-time differential...and only challenged by his .157 margin in his 72-73 season. And Wilt's .727 season in 72-73 was an astonishing .271 ahead of the league average. Wilt's .242 and .271 margins over the league average are WAY ahead of anyone else's best seasons, ...as are his .162 and .157 margins over his nearest competitor. Even in his "scoring" seasons, his margins over the league average were impressive. He averaged 50.4 ppg on .506 shooting in a league that shot .426. He averaged 44.8 ppg on .528 shooting, in a league that shot .441. And he averaged 33.5 ppg on .540 shooting, in a league that shot .433.

So, here is the bottom line. BEFORE Wilt...the best scoring season was 29.2 ppg; the best rebounding season was 23.0 rpg; and the best shooting season was .490. AFTER Wilt, the best scoring season has been 37.1 ppg; the best rebounding season has been 18.7 rpg; and the best shooting season has been .670. DURING the Wilt era, Chamberlain had scoring seasons of 50.4 ppg, 44.8 ppg, and even 38.4 ppg. In fact, in his first seven seasons, he averaged 39.4 ppg...combined! During the Wilt era, Chamberlain had rebounding seasons of 27.2 rpg, 27.0 rpg, and even 25.7 rpg. AND, he was even BETTER in his post-seasons...with entire post-seasons of 30, 29, and 27. And finally, DURING the Wilt era, Chamberlain had FG% seasons of .727, and .683...and in his career, he played in league that ranged from .410 to .456 shooting.

Once again...it was ONLY Chamberlain...

[jongib369]

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_me0an4jRRH1redybyo1_500.jpg


http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_maz7q5xpd01qe1x8qo1_500.jpg

[La Frescobaldi]

That Detroit lineup... Hall of Famers are bold, and a couple real strong players in red:

Dave Bing
George Carter
Len Chappell
Dave DeBusschere
Terry Dischinger 3 time All-Star
44
Terry wasn't an All-Star that I know of but he was a Steve Kerr type shooter but with lots of driving ability

Sonny Dove
Jim Fox fine utility Center Forward

Happy Hairston - won a ring in '72 with Wilt, they are still the only tandem to each get 1000 rebounds each in a season
10 Paul Long
14 Eddie Miles
20 George Patterson
16 Joe Strawder
23 John Tresvant
5 Tom Van Arsdale 3x AllStar, he and his brother were real strong NBA players for years
24 Jimmy Walker Jumpin' Jimmy Walker!! One of my favorite players from those days, smooth, athletic, skilled.

Nobody knew what a Triple Double was in those days, the name hadn't been invented yet.

Chamberlain said he had 12 blocks in that game, and I believe he quoted Harvey Pollack, the Sixers stats man, as his source.

12 blocks was merely a great game for Wilt so it's easily believable. Especially against the bottom feeding Pistons.

One of the memories that will always stand out for me was to do with Dave DeBusschere. Chamberlain came down with the ball on a rebound, and Dave grabbed that ball with both hands. Well Wilt just lifted that ball and Debusschere and just threw a baseball pass down court. DeBusschere let go and dropped back onto the court. We all wondered if Wilt would have thrown Dave down the court too.

DeBusschere was truly a great player - a key player in the terrific Knicks teams of the Championship 70s. He could rebound like nobody's business, lights out shooter and he was real sharp:

On defense, DeBusschere would start putting his forearm in a guy's back. In those days you had the legal handcheck, but actually the refs used their judgement on about everything. So Dave would start doing that long about the second quarter, and he would get the refs used to seeing it. If they didn't instantly blow whistle, why he'd proceed to use that forearm for the rest of the game. By fourth quarter it would just about be a forearm shiver and the poor guy that Dave was defending would just be a punching bag.

But no mistake if the refs whistled him he would go to straight basketball and he was a monster. Stamina? WOW

[Pursuer]

I think everybody's forgetting Rondo's 18/17/20 last season. I think that's the closest one.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201203040BOS.html

[swi7ch]

JaVale would put up similar numbers in Wilt's days for the same reason Wilt dominated in his era - nobody else was as freakishly athletic as him. Very few guys could match up to Wilt height-wise let alone athleticism.

[La Frescobaldi]

JaVale would put up similar numbers in Wilt's days for the same reason Wilt dominated in his era - nobody else was as freakishly athletic as him. Very few guys could match up to Wilt height-wise let alone athleticism.

Here's Wilt at the top:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EpVZS26BUs

now whether that is exactly the top of the backboard? I dunno. Looks like it.

But it's vertical at least as high as Dwight got when he had full sprint and leap.

I've never seen anybody else like Sixer Chamberlain in 40+ years of looking

[Round Mound]

Here's Wilt at the top:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EpVZS26BUs

now whether that is exactly the top of the backboard? I dunno. Looks like it.

But it's vertical at least as high as Dwight got when he had full sprint and leap.

I've never seen anybody else like Sixer Chamberlain in 40+ years of looking

:bowdown: