There are many of us who ask the question, what is Hershey, Pennsylvania? It is a census-designated place (CDP) in Derry Township, Dauphin County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the home of The Hershey Company which produces the well-known Hershey chocolate bar that is sold in grocery and convenient stores across the U.S. and the world as well as the parent to the H.B. Reese candy company, which manufactures of the famous Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. It is also where Hershey Sports Arena is located where two Friday’s ago was the 50-year anniversary of the greatest scoring output by one of the finest big men in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
On that night of Mar. 2, 1962 the late great Wilt Chamberlin delivered a scoring performance that stands to this day when he scored 100 points for the then Philadelphia Warriors in their 169-147 defeat over the New York Knickerbockers.
In the contest, Chamberlin went 36 for 63 from the field, 28-32 from the free throw line and grabbed 25 rebounds. He scored 23 points in the first quarter on 7 for 14 from the field, 9 for 9 from the charity stripe and grabbed 10 boards. He put in 18 points on 7 for 12 from the floor and pulled down four boards in the second quarter, giving him 41 points and 14 boards at intermission. He shot 10 for 16 from the floor, 8 for 8 from the foul line grabbing six boards in the third quarter. He saved his best for last in the fourth and final stanza when he shot 12 for 21 from the field, 7 for 10 from the free throw line and grabbed five boards scoring an aforementioned total of 100 points and 25 boards.
To put into perspective how incredible of a performance this was, in the 66-year history of the NBA, there have been 22 occasions where a player has scored 60 points or more. Chamberlin has done it on 15 of those occasions. The other players to do so are Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant who scored 62 points in just three quarters on Dec. 20, 2005 versus the Dallas Mavericks. He outscored the Mavs by himself with aforementioned 62 points while the Mavs as a team scored just 61. On Jan. 22, 2006, Bryant scored 81 points versus the Toronto Raptors, which became the second greatest scoring performance in NBA history to Wilt’s 100 points.
His next output of 60-plus points came versus the Portland Trail Blazers where the guy known as “The Black Mamba” scored 65. Two games later, he dropped 60 points at the Memphis Grizzlies. His last 60-point game to date came on Feb. 2, 2009 when his 61-point at the New York Knicks set a new scoring record at “The World’s Most Famous Arena” also known as Madison Square Garden. He broke a record that was set by Michael Jordan when he dropped a double nickel 55 at the Knicks in 1995.
The other notable players that scored over 60 points in a game is Bryant’s former teammate and current Turner Network Television analyst Shaquille O’Neal who scored a career-high 61 points in a and grabbed 23 boards on Mar. 6, 2000 at the Los Angeles Clippers he also grabbed 23 rebounds. It was the first 60-point, 20-rebound game since Chamberlin did it back in 1969. Hall of Fame center for the San Antonio Spurs David Robinson scored a career-best 71 points in the team’s final regular season game on Apr. 24, 1994 at the aforementioned Clippers to win the scoring title that season (29.8 ppg). He also grabbed 14 rebounds in that contest. The only other player to score over 60 points is Hall of Famer of the Utah Jazz Karl Malone who scored a career-high 61 points in a 144-96 victory versus the Milwaukee Bucks on Jan. 27, 1990.
What Chamberlin did on that historic night 50 years ago and what many of these Hall of Fame players and soon to be Hall of Famers did on those occasions that will engrained in our subconscious until the end of time the question now is will there be another 100-point game ever.
Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love said, “I don’t know if anybody will ever get there again.”
Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard said, “The average fan wouldn’t be able to see how tough it is to get 10 points in the NBA and even for guys who score a lot a 100-point game is very tough.”
“If I ever were to score 100 points, it would probably be me versus a bunch of pre-schoolers,” Boston Celtics’ swingman Paul Pierce said.
“I think in time, I think that a day will come somebody will do it. If you’re sitting here before I scored 81 points and somebody told you that someone was gonna score 81 in a game everybody would have said that is not possible. Yet here we are.”
There are a number of factors when you at what happened that night in Hershey. For starters Chamberlin was the tallest player on the court as well as the strongest. He had the ability to do whatever he wanted at the basket. The other thing that he had in his favor is the fact up to he had played every minute of every game to that point. In that season, he had missed a total of eight minutes in a game because he was ejected.
As coach of the team, Frank McGuire had two rules. The offense went through Chamberlin and Chamberlin never left the floor.
The other factor in why there is such nostalgia about this is the fact that most of the colleagues of the press did not make the trip to Hershey, not even the New York Press. The only form of the press that was there on that night was Philadelphia statistician Harvey Pollack, who turned 90 years old this past Friday. On that night he served as public relations director, writer and game statistician for the Associated Press, Philadelphia Inquirer and United Press International.
“I’ve been in the NBA for 65 years and this was by far the busiest night of my career,” said Pollack, who has been a part of Philadelphia organization since the NBA began in 1946.
After Chamberlin scored the basket that put him into triple digits many fans came onto the floor and showed their love and respect for an amazing performance.
“You never saw more people excited for one person than that. Grown men acting like a group of little children,” Al Attles said of his Warrior teammate.
The other question that comes to mind is what happened to the basketball used in that game. Well one story of what happened to the ball is that the referee in that game picked up, brought it over to the press table and gave it to Pollack. The other story is that a fan came down to shake Chamberlin’s hand for his amazing performance he took the ball and kept it.
One story that is fact is that after the game in the locker room wanted to get a picture of Wilt for what he did on that historic night. He went over to Jim Heffernan of the Philadelphia Bulletin and gave him a piece of what was called copy paper at that time because reporters used to write their story and Pollack wrote on that paper the number 100. He gave the paper to Chamberlin and he held it up and the rest is history.
“It’s as great as any image that’s ever been taken in basketball. Whether its Julius Erving’s dunk or Michael Jordan elevating or the sky hook by Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar], that image trumps them all,” Gary Pomerantz, author of “WILT, 1962” said.
This night when you look at it was a microcosm of one of the greatest careers in NBA history. It is about an unbelievable athlete who showed us how the impossible is possible. Wilt Chamberlin was a guy who was a great player and he put up the numbers to back it up.
In a game against the Detroit Pistons as a member of the Lakers, Chamberlin blocked 26 shots. He won seven scoring titles, nine shooting titles and even led the league in assists one season. Since his retirement in 1973, he still owns 90 NBA records. Two records that I am sure is proud of more than anything the championship that he helped to bring to the city of Philadelphia in 1967 when they defeated the San Francisco Warriors 4-2 and in 1972 with the Lakers where they won at the time an NBA record 69 games and a record winning streak of 33 in a row that last to this day.
What makes this moment bitter sweet is the fact that Chamberlin is not around to embrace it and for us to enjoy seeing the individual in person who accomplished it. He passed away on Oct. 12, 1999.
It would have been nice to see Chamberlain and Bill Russell, who was the narrator for “Wilt 100” that was shown two Fridays ago on NBA TV today talking about their historic rivalry back then.
“We know death is inevitable for everybody, but you just think that there’s some people that are too big, too strong. This can’t happen to him,” Attles said.
He was one of the biggest. One of the strongest and one of the greatest player to ever grace the hardwood and on that night at the Hershey Arena, the people that were there saw Wilt Chamberlain up close and were probably astounded beyond belief as I am sure Pollack was.
Information and statistics are courtesy of www.biography.com/people/wilt-chamberlain-9243766; www.zimbio.com article “Shaquille O’Neal’s Career Highlights and Achievements [Year-by-Year]; 3/2/12 7:30 p.m. edition of ESPN’s KIA NBA Countdown Pre-Game Show with Chris Broussard, Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Jon Barry; 3/3/12 2 a.m. NBA TV special “Wilt 100;” 3/9/12 5:30 p.m. edition of “Pardon The Interruption” with Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser, subs were Bob Ryan (The Boston Globe) and Kevin Blackistone; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilt_Chamberlin; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_Bryant; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaquille_ O’Neal; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Robinson; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Malone.
No comments:
Post a Comment