Wilt Chamberlain had 106 consecutive 25+ games

[Yankstar]

Weak era

[WillC]

Weak era

It's easy for casual fans to pipe up with that explanation, but it's simply not true.

Back then there were only 8 teams in the league, meaning Wilt Chamberlain faced Bill Russell far more often than, say, Kevin Durant faces LeBron James in today's NBA.

How easy do you think it was to drop 25+ points on Bill Russell?

Meanwhile, nearly every team was loaded with superstars; Jerry West and Elgin Baylor in LA, Oscar Robertson and Jerry Lucas in Cincinnati, Bob Pettit and Lenny Wilkens in St. Louis, Bill Russell, Sam Jones, Bob Cousy (etc) in Boston. The list goes on.

You'd think one of those teams would slow down Wilt once during his 106 game run... surely?

But no.

Wilt was simply that dominant.

[Flush]

Im just waiting for CavaliersFTW to come to this thread and to explode on you fools.

[bisk]

The guy had a season where he was averaging like 40 FGA and 17 FTA per game in an era where there was mainly white trash playing.

Every normal basketball fan knows that not a single ancient Wilt stat/record should be taken seriously. EVER.

[WillC]

The guy had a season where he was averaging like 40 FGA and 17 FTA per game in an era where there was mainly white trash playing.

Every normal basketball fan knows that not a single ancient Wilt stat/record should be taken seriously. EVER.

I guess we should also forget about his team's consecutive 33 game winning streak too?

Even though that happened in a mostly black league?

[Kblaze8855]

Records just are what they are. You stop counting the ones that are amazing whats the point of keeping records? They are supposed to be amazing. Difficult to match. Some damn near impossible. We don't need t lower the standards and pretend people don't exist.

When you play impacts you ability to set records. The 60s ran more...they get points and rebounds. But guess what? They didn't track blocks or steals and they didn't count an assist if the player dribbled before shooting.

So modern guards get to climb past guys who had more of what we call assists....Russell and Wilt don't get the block records they deserved....and who knows how many steals Jerry West should have? They only tracked them in his final season....he played only 31 games and averaged 2.6 steals in just 31 minutes of play. What do you think he did in his prime? 4-5 a game some years? Whatever it was.....we will never know and he wont get credit.

His shots from 25 feet don't count as threes, Russell doesn't get to have the most finals MVPS, and on and on it goes.

We don't strip modern players of assist records because Oscar might have been at 16 a game with our loose definition.

Records just are what they are.

[Marchesk]

It's not just the overall numbers, it's that Wilt led the league in scoring 7 straight seasons (tied with MJ) starting his rookie season, led the league in rebounding 11 seasons (record) with another all-time great rebounder in Russell in the league, led the league in FG% 9 times, was the only center to lead the league in assists, and would have been right there with Russell in blocked shots every single season.

You can't say that about anybody else in history. Dude was a league leader in multiple categories throughout his career. When he wasn't a scoring leader, he was still a rebounding, shot-blocking monster shooting over 60% and handing out a lot of assists.

[Marchesk]

Records just are what they are. You stop counting the ones that are amazing whats the point of keeping records? They are supposed to be amazing. Difficult to match. Some damn near impossible. We don't need t lower the standards and pretend people don't exist.

When you play impacts you ability to set records. The 60s ran more...they get points and rebounds. But guess what? They didn't track blocks or steals and they didn't count an assist if the player dribbled before shooting.

So modern guards get to climb past guys who had more of what we call assists....Russell and Wilt don't get the block records they deserved....and who knows how many steals Jerry West should have? They only tracked them in his final season....he played only 31 games and averaged 2.6 steals in just 31 minutes of play. What do you think he did in his prime? 4-5 a game some years? Whatever it was.....we will never know and he wont get credit.

His shots from 25 feet don't count as threes, Russell doesn't get to have the most finals MVPS, and on and on it goes.

We don't strip modern players of assist records because Oscar might have been at 16 a game with our loose definition.

Records just are what they are.

Excellent post! If you take the NFL, all the passing and receiving records are getting broken as rules and style of play have changed to favor the passing game. But they still count as records. That's what happens in sports.

The thing was it was Wilt setting all those records in the 60s, not other players. He was statistically dominant over his peers more so than anyone in history. That's why he's top 5 all-time in any reasonable discussion. Who knows what Durant or Jordan or Lebron would have put up if they grew up back then. But they are all-time greats. We could guess a mix of Robertson, Baylor and West. Although Lebron is probably not a point-forward back then.

[Marlo_Stanfield]

Anyone can do that when they play against stick figures

Wilt played against Centers that were better defenders and stronger than prime Dwight.
ever heard of Nate Thurmond?? hes the second strongest player in NBA history

[CavaliersFTW]

Kblaze summed it up nicely... in 40 years I guess basketball fans should also be expected not to count Durant's (arbitrarily cut-off) records by arbitrarily cutting him off too. What's the point of keeping records if you are going to keep shifting the goalposts simply because nobody seems capable of breaking them? Doesn't that defeat the whole point!?

[LAZERUSS]

Kblaze summed it up nicely... in 40 years I guess basketball fans should also be expected not to count Durant's (arbitrarily cut-off) records by arbitrarily cutting him off too. What's the point of keeping records if you are going to keep shifting the goalposts simply because nobody seems capable of breaking them? Doesn't that defeat the whole point!?

This is what it is...

there is the "ESPN Record Book", and then there is the REAL NBA Record Book.

I suspect someone will finally just call it what it has become...

the "Non-Wilt" Record Book...and the WILT Record Book...

[LAZERUSS]

Incidently, Chamberlain holds a TON of POST-SEASON records, as well.

Most 35-20 post-seasons; most 30-20 post-seasons; most 25-25 post-seasons; most 25-20 post-seasons; most 20-20 post-seasons; most 35-20 playoff series; most 30-30 playoff series; most 50+ point games in "must win" playoff games; most 45-25 games in "must win Finals"; most 20-25-9 post-seasons; most 20-20-10 post-season series; most blocks per game in a Finals; certainly most blocks per game in a playoff run; most rebounds in a playoff game; most rebounds in a 6 game playoff series; most rebounds in a five game playoff series;

the list goes on...

[Psileas]

Incidently, Chamberlain holds a TON of POST-SEASON records, as well.

Most 35-20 post-seasons; most 30-20 post-seasons; most 25-25 post-seasons; most 25-20 post-seasons; most 20-20 post-seasons; most 35-20 playoff series; most 30-30 playoff series; most 50+ point games in "must win" playoff games; most 45-25 games in "must win Finals"; most 20-25-9 post-seasons; most 20-20-10 post-season series; most blocks per game in a Finals; certainly most blocks per game in a playoff run; most rebounds in a playoff game; most rebounds in a 6 game playoff series; most rebounds in a five game playoff series;

the list goes on...

Don't forget this one: Most consecutive triple-doubles: He holds both the regular season and the playoff record, with 4, with nobody else having more than 2 in a row (and that's only p-r-a TD's) - he missed having 5 in a row for 1 assist.
Also, most TD's in a single postseason, with 7.

[The Iron Fist]

Anyone can do that when they play against stick figures

If that were true, wouldn't many more guys from Wilts era have done it also? Do you retards not think?

[livinglegend]

Records just are what they are. You stop counting the ones that are amazing whats the point of keeping records? They are supposed to be amazing. Difficult to match. Some damn near impossible. We don't need t lower the standards and pretend people don't exist.

When you play impacts you ability to set records. The 60s ran more...they get points and rebounds. But guess what? They didn't track blocks or steals and they didn't count an assist if the player dribbled before shooting.

So modern guards get to climb past guys who had more of what we call assists....Russell and Wilt don't get the block records they deserved....and who knows how many steals Jerry West should have? They only tracked them in his final season....he played only 31 games and averaged 2.6 steals in just 31 minutes of play. What do you think he did in his prime? 4-5 a game some years? Whatever it was.....we will never know and he wont get credit.

His shots from 25 feet don't count as threes, Russell doesn't get to have the most finals MVPS, and on and on it goes.

We don't strip modern players of assist records because Oscar might have been at 16 a game with our loose definition.

Records just are what they are.