Wilt in his LAST season vs the Best Centers

[Nowitness]

In Chandler's two highest scoring seasons, he had 5 and 6 games of 20+ points, with highs of 22 and 25 points.

His playoff career high game was 13 points.

bravo sir, youve done it again.

put tyson is the early 70s, let him play 48 minutes a game (because facing short white men isnt draining) and put him on a team that had about 20 more possessions a game, and he'd be putting up wilt numbers.

stop posting raw numbers as if they mean anything. if thats really how you want to do it then wilt has no case for GOAT. 22 PPG playoff averages in the fastest and weakest era ever and consistent playoff failures?

[Deuce Bigalow]

Reed: 16/9/3 on 49% FG / 89% FT, in 30 mins

Wilt: 12/19/4 on 52% FG / 37% FT, in 48 mins

why not list that atrocious FT% bro?

Wilt got owned in the NBA Finals

Russell 2-0
Reed 2-0

[iamgine]

In Chandler's two highest scoring seasons, he had 5 and 6 games of 20+ points, with highs of 22 and 25 points.

His playoff career high games were 14 and 13 points.

Which proves he could score 20+.

Also, pace & minutes isn't hard to understand.

[LAZERUSS]

Wilt got owned in the NBA Finals

Russell 2-0
Reed 2-0

Shaq couldn't even get to the Finals when he faced Greg Ostertag.

Ostertag 2-0 (and 8-1 overall) against Shaq.

Ainge 2-0 (and 6-0 overall) against Jordan.

Dumars 3-1 against Jordan.

Walton 1-0 against KAJ (and 4-0 overall)

Webster 1-0 against KAJ

Cowens 1-0 against KAJ

Eaton 1-0 against Hakeem.

Thompson 1-0 against Hakeem.

Clemon Johnson 1-0 against Hakeem.

Donaldson 1-0 against Hakeem.

Lister 1-0 against Hakeem.

Etc, etc, etc.

[Psileas]

Wow, is there a single center that managed to break the 50% FG plateau vs Wilt during the course of their total career matchups (preferably someone who didn't play vs Wilt for only 1 season)? Lanier shot a bit above this in 1972, but didn't come close in '73. Kareem was right at the margin in '72 and nowhere near in any other season. Hayes had some high scoring games, due to chucking mid-range shots at unimpressive FG%'s. Cowens is likely off, as well.
Zelmo Beaty was I think the only center who shot above 50% vs Wilt in a single playoff series (Wilt still destroyed him), but I definitely don't believe he did it over his whole career.

[LAZERUSS]

Wow, is there a single center that managed to break the 50% FG plateau vs Wilt during the course of their total career matchups (preferably someone who didn't play vs Wilt for only 1 season)? Lanier shot a bit above this in 1972, but didn't come close in '73. Kareem was right at the margin in '72 and nowhere near in any other season. Hayes had some high scoring games, due to chucking mid-range shots at unimpressive FG%'s. Cowens is likely off, as well.
Zelmo Beaty was I think the only center who shot above 50% vs Wilt in a single playoff series (Wilt still destroyed him), but I definitely don't believe he did it over his whole career.

Well, to be fair, in some of the cases in that '73 season, there is a small sample. But, as in the case of Lanier, the evidence is pretty substantial. Three games, and in his highest scoring game, he shot .433. Then there is Thurmond, who historically shot a horrible FG% against Wilt his entire career. And in the limited known games of Bellamy...again, just way below average shooting (e.g., their '68 playoff series H2H, when Chamberlain outshot Bellamy by a .584 to .421 margin...in a season in which Bellamy shot .541 against the league.)

And of course we have EVERY one of Kareem's games against Chamberlain. A PEAK Kareem in the majority of them. 28 career H2H's, 27 of which came against a 34-36 year old Wilt, who was playing post-surgery. In those 28 games, KAJ only shot above 60% one time, and only above 50% in ten of them...or roughly one-third. Hell, Wilt held Kareem under 40% in seven of their H2H's (and some of those were in the low 30's.)

And I have mentioned it before (actually Julizaver was the first to bring it up)...that Wilt lowered Russell's efficiency considerably more than Russell did Wilt's. Over the course of their 143 career H2H's, in the known games, (at last glance...nbastats.net is now constantly updating this info), Chamberlain outshot Russell by a .497 to .382 margin. When you factor in that Wilt was shooting about .520 thru Russell's last season, and Russell shot .439 in the ten years he was in the league with Wilt...well, Wilt reduced Russell's shooting much more than Russell did his.

It will be interesting to see how the bashers spin these numbers...

[Thorpesaurous]

How did Cowens get .8 rebounds in a single game?

[Psileas]

Well, to be fair, in some of the cases in that '73 season, there is a small sample. But, as in the case of Lanier, the evidence is pretty substantial. Three games, and in his highest scoring game, he shot .433. Then there is Thurmond, who historically shot a horrible FG% against Wilt his entire career. And in the limited known games of Bellamy...again, just way below average shooting (e.g., their '68 playoff series H2H, when Chamberlain outshot Bellamy by a .584 to .421 margin...in a season in which Bellamy shot .541 against the league.)

And of course we have EVERY one of Kareem's games against Chamberlain. A PEAK Kareem in the majority of them. 28 career H2H's, 27 of which came against a 34-36 year old Wilt, who was playing post-surgery. In those 28 games, KAJ only shot above 60% one time, and only above 50% in ten of them...or roughly one-third. Hell, Wilt held Kareem under 40% in seven of their H2H's (and some of those were in the low 30's.)

And I have mentioned it before (actually Julizaver was the first to bring it up)...that Wilt lowered Russell's efficiency considerably more than Russell did Wilt's. Over the course of their 143 career H2H's, in the known games, (at last glance...nbastats.net is now constantly updating this info), Chamberlain outshot Russell by a .497 to .382 margin. When you factor in that Wilt was shooting about .520 thru Russell's last season, and Russell shot .439 in the ten years he was in the league with Wilt...well, Wilt reduced Russell's shooting much more than Russell did his.

It will be interesting to see how the bashers spin these numbers...

They probably won't spin them, they'll ignore them. When the **** hits the fan for them, it's back to "2 rings", "30 vs 22" (which is actually "30 vs 23", but Wilt haters apparently don't even know how to round numbers), etc.
I've mentioned at nauseam that Wilt raised his Playoff scoring in half his series against his specific individual opponents vs what he produced against them in the regular season, meaning that I took competition into account. I've never seen this ever being addressed either, except "30 vs 22". The "adult" version of "lalala, I'm not hearing you!".

[Deuce Bigalow]

Shaq couldn't even get to the Finals when he faced Greg Ostertag.

Ostertag 2-0 (and 8-1 overall) against Shaq.

Ainge 2-0 (and 6-0 overall) against Jordan.

Dumars 3-1 against Jordan.

Walton 1-0 against KAJ (and 4-0 overall)

Webster 1-0 against KAJ

Cowens 1-0 against KAJ

Eaton 1-0 against Hakeem.

Thompson 1-0 against Hakeem.

Clemon Johnson 1-0 against Hakeem.

Donaldson 1-0 against Hakeem.

Lister 1-0 against Hakeem.

Etc, etc, etc.

Keyword: Finals

[riseagainst]

37% FT, wow this guy is terrible. Why is he in the top 5 again?

[aj1987]

How did Cowens get .8 rebounds in a single game?

[dankok8]

Wow, is there a single center that managed to break the 50% FG plateau vs Wilt during the course of their total career matchups (preferably someone who didn't play vs Wilt for only 1 season)? Lanier shot a bit above this in 1972, but didn't come close in '73. Kareem was right at the margin in '72 and nowhere near in any other season. Hayes had some high scoring games, due to chucking mid-range shots at unimpressive FG%'s. Cowens is likely off, as well.
Zelmo Beaty was I think the only center who shot above 50% vs Wilt in a single playoff series (Wilt still destroyed him), but I definitely don't believe he did it over his whole career.

There probably isn't any center that shot >50% for his career against Wilt but I don't find that so impressive. His defense on Kareem was pretty damn good but vs. those other centers holding them under 50% shooting isn't unexpected even for a competent let alone great defender. Let's look at career FG% averages of the scoring centers Wilt faced.

Bellamy - 51.6%
Lanier - 51.4% (never shot over 49.3% until Wilt left the league)
Reed- 47.6%
Beaty - 46.9%
Haywood - 46.5%
Rule - 46.1%
Cowens - 46.0%
Hayes - 45.2%
Russell - 44.0%
Thurmond - 42.1%

I'm not saying Wilt wasn't a great defensive player but holding the guys above to under 50% shooting is not a remarkable achievement.

[dankok8]

As for the Wilt vs. Russell FG% argument it doesn't really matter how much Wilt reduced Russell compared to vice versa. Russell took on average of 13 shots a game from 1960-1969 while Wilt took an average of 26 shots. Whose FG% matters more to the success of their team?

[dubeta]

All this talk about stats and efficiency but all that did for him was a 2/6

[LAZERUSS]

There probably isn't any center that shot >50% for his career against Wilt but I don't find that so impressive. His defense on Kareem was pretty damn good but vs. those other centers holding them under 50% shooting isn't unexpected even for a competent let alone great defender. Let's look at career FG% averages of the scoring centers Wilt faced.

Bellamy - 51.6%
Lanier - 51.4% (never shot over 49.3% until Wilt left the league)
Reed- 47.6%
Beaty - 46.9%
Haywood - 46.5%
Rule - 46.1%
Cowens - 46.0%
Hayes - 45.2%
Russell - 44.0%
Thurmond - 42.1%

I'm not saying Wilt wasn't a great defensive player but holding the guys above to under 50% shooting is not a remarkable achievement.

It's not just the "50%" barrier...it's the FACT that Chamberlain ROUTINELY held his opposing HOF centers to WAY under their league average.

In his known H2H's with Russell, there were seasonal H2H's, covering 8+ games in which he held Russell to .301, and even as low as .283 FG%. In the '67 EDF's, Wilt held Russell, who had shot .454 against the league, to a .358 FG%. And you and I both know I could post season, and post-season, after season, and post-season, in which Wilt held Russell WAY below his normal FG%.

Thurmond? NO ONE defended Thurmond like Wilt. Not Russell, nor Kareem. Here again, season-after-season, including their post-season H2H's, in which he reduced nate to a virtually worthless shooter. How about a peak Wilt against a peak Nate in '67? In their regular season H2H's, Chamberlain outshot him by a .633 to .320 margin. And in their Finals...Wilt outshot Thurmond by a .560 to .343 margin. And, as you can see in the OP...regular season H2H's in '72-73 of .217, and a full known playoff series of .373...in a season in which Nate shot .446.

Bellamy? Not many known games, but there were practically no known games in which Bellamy shot well against Chamberlain. And in his 67-68 season, Bellamy shot .541 against the league. Chamberlain not only badly outscored and outrebounded Bellamy in their '68 playoff series, he also outshot him by a .584 to .421 margin. Again... a full 12% BELOW his normal shooting.

The Kareem lovers are real quick to point out KAJ's .71-72 season against Wilt, in which he averaged 40 ppg and on a .500 FG% in their five H2H's (BTW, in KAJ's biggest game against Chamberlain, his Bucks were routed.) HOWEVER, what about virtually EVERY "section" of their career H2H's? In KAJ's greatest FG% season, in 70-71 (he shot .577 against the entire league, in a league that shot .449 overall....which was his largest differential of his entire career)...he shot .438 against Wilt in five H2H's. In his '72 WCF's... .457, in a year in which KAJ shot .574 (and only .414 in the last four games of that seris.) In KAJ's last season (OP) against Wilt, covering six H2H's... a .450 FG%, in a year in which he shot .554 against the league. Oh, and in their one game in which Chamberlain was healthy, and remotely close to his prime, Wilt outscored, outrebounded, outassisted, outblocked, and... outshot KAJ by a .643 to .429 margin.

Again, Chamberlain was ROUTINELY reducing his HOF peers to 10+% BELOW their seasonal FG%'s. All while blocking 7-8+ shots per game, and completely shutting down the lane.