Chamberlain ultimately won two NBA championships, four regular-season Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards, the Rookie of the Year award, one Finals MVP award, and one All-Star Game MVP award, and he was selected to thirteen All-Star Games and ten All-NBA Teams (seven First and three Second teams). [92], On the hardwood, Chamberlain continued his focus on team play and registered 24.3 points and 23.8 rebounds a game for the season. He also twice made All-Defensive First Team. [2] Chamberlain was always very tall, already measuring 6ft 0in (1.83m) at age 10. [132] In Game 5, Chamberlain recorded 24 points, 29 rebounds, 8 assists, and 8 blocked shots, as announcer Keith Jackson counted the blocks during the broadcast. "[40] Chamberlain averaged 30.1 points for the season and led the Jayhawks to an 185 record, with three of the losses coming while he was out with a urinary infection. At the 1965 All-Star Weekend, Chamberlain was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. [3] However, according to Chamberlain, "basketball was king in Philadelphia", so he eventually turned to the sport in 7th grade. Most importantly, he was not afraid to stand up to the dominant Chamberlain, who was known to not communicate with coaches he did not like. Outwardly, Schayes defended him as "excused from practice", while his teammates knew the truth and were much less forgiving. We were spat on, pelted with debris, and subjected to the vilest racial epithets possible. When he dunked, he was so fast that a lot of players got their fingers jammed [between Chamberlain's hand and the rim]." The two would later develop an intense rivalry and personal antipathy. [43][110] Erickson commented that "Butch catered to Elgin and Jerry and that is not a good way to get on Wilt's side that relationship was doomed from the start. He also played for the Harlem Globetrotters before joining the NBA, where he played for the Philadelphia / San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Los Angeles Lakers. Then he was a rebounder and assist man. The 210-pound Lemon later recounted how Chamberlain was "the strongest athlete who ever lived". He died in Bel-Air, California, in 1999. In Game 4, the shorthanded Lakers were no match for New York. [10] Celtics forward Heinsohn said: "Half the fouls against him were hard fouls he took the most brutal pounding of any player ever. [24] There were contemporary reports of the games in Philadelphia publications, but he tried to keep them secret from the Amateur Athletic Union. The Lakers won 60 games in the regular season and reached the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks, a franchise that featured a healthy team with a rejuvenated Reed, while the Lakers were now handicapped by several injuries. [40] Teammate Bob Billings commented: "It was not fun basketball we were just out chasing people throwing the basketball back and forth. As his career progressed, he played at 275 pounds, adding more muscle, and eventually played at over 300 pounds. After his professional basketball career ended, Chamberlain played volleyball in the short-lived International Volleyball Association (IVA). He later admitted that this loss was the most painful of his life. [35], Chamberlain's prospects of playing under Allen ended when the coach turned 70 shortly after and retired in accordance with KU regulations. His intention was that the Celtics would throw the ball in so fast that the prolific shot-blocker Chamberlain was not yet back under his own basket, and Boston could score an easy fastbreak basket. On March 2, 1962, in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Chamberlain scored 100 points;[67] he shot 36 of 63 from the field and made 28 of 32 free throws against the New York Knicks. [17], In Chamberlain's third and final Overbrook season, he continued his high scoring, logging 74, 78, and 90 points in three consecutive games. [21][22] Chamberlain was the youngest member of the team. It was North Carolina's first of six NCAA national titles. Cherry says that Chamberlain was not a natural leader or a loyal follower, which made him difficult to fit in. View this post on Instagram Steph Curry's Top 5 Of All Time Thanks for the tag @shaqfu_radio ? Each team scored two points in the first overtime, while Kansas froze the ball in return, keeping the game tied at 48, in the second overtime. [45], On October 24, 1959, Chamberlain made his NBA debut, starting for the Philadelphia Warriors. [30] He reportedly had a 50-inch (130cm) vertical leap,[31] and was capable of converting foul shots by dunking, without a running start, beginning his movement just steps behind the top of the key. [92] Philadelphia fans chanted "Boston is dead! [210], During most of his NBA career, Chamberlain was good friends with Bill Russell. Chamberlain was also a lifelong bachelor and became notorious for his statement of having had sex with 20,000 women. He was basketball's first player to earn at least $100,000 a year and earned an unprecedented $1.5 million during his Lakers years. 13 was retired by the Globetrotters. After that season, coach Hannum wanted to be closer to his family on the West Coast; he left the Sixers to coach the Oakland Oaks in the newly founded ABA. In 1965, Chamberlain said that he and the late Richman had worked out a deal which would give him 25% of the franchise once he ended his career. That means he had to sleep with 500 different women every year from ages 15-55 to reach the massive number he claimed. [50], In the 195960 NBA season, Chamberlain joined a Philadelphia Warriors squad that was coached by Neil Johnston and included Hall-of-Famers guard Tom Gola and forward "Pitchin'" Paul Arizin, plus Ernie Beck and Guy Rodgers; remarkably, all five starters were Philadelphians. Associated Press. ', "Los Angeles Lakers at Philadelphia 76ers Box Score, March 18, 1968", "Wilt Chamberlain Reportedly Had A Quintuple-Double With 53 Points, 32 Rebounds, 14 Assists, 24 Blocks, And 11 Steals", "James Harden tied Wilt Chamberlain for the most points scored in a triple-double", "Russell Westbrook scored 57 points for most in triple-double", "Rockets' James Harden records first 60-point triple-double in NBA history", "Use Extension On Operating Table As Wilt Chamberlain Undergoes Tendon Surgery", "Achilles Heel Advertising: Repositioning the Competition", "5 Things You Didn't Know About Wilt Chamberlain", "Wilt spoke of regrets, women and Meadowlark", "Ali vs. Wilt Chamberlain: The Fight That Almost Was", "Jim Brown Talks Ali vs. Wilt Chamberlain // SiriusXM", "Chamberlain's feats the stuff of legend", "Flynn Robinson, 72, Scorer on Dominant N.B.A. If you lose, everybody says, 'How could he lose, a guy that size? "[121] In 1965, Chamberlain had consulted his father, who had seen Ali fight, and said no. "[43], Despite some reluctance, after the trade, Chamberlain found himself on a promising Sixers team that included veteran shooting guard Hal Greer, a future Hall-of-Famer, and talented role players in point guard Larry Costello, small forward Chet Walker, and centers Johnny "Red" Kerr and Lucious Jackson. That was how the 20,000 number came into existence. In Game 2, Chamberlain scored 19 points, grabbed 24 rebounds, and blocked Reed's shot in the final seconds, leading the Lakers to a 105103 win. [111] Van Breda Kolff was perceived as "pig-headed" for benching Chamberlain and soon resigned as Lakers coach. It was a small consolation that he was again named an All-American, along with future NBA Hall-of-Famers Elgin Baylor of Seattle University and Oscar Robertson of Cincinnati, plus Chamberlain's old rival Guy Rodgers, now playing for Temple University. [126] Furthermore, he told Chamberlain to use his rebounding and passing skills to quickly initiate fastbreaks to his teammates. [133] Chamberlain's all-around performance helped the Lakers win their first championship in Los Angeles with a decisive 114100 win. After King scored a basket, Kansas was ahead by one point. He needed only 56 games to score 2,102 points, which broke the all-time regular-season scoring record of Bob Pettit, who needed 72 games to score 2,101 points. [34] Offensive goaltending, or basket interference, was also introduced as a rule in 1956, after Bill Russell had exploited it at San Francisco and Chamberlain was soon to enter college play. [92] In any case, Kosloff declined the request, leaving Chamberlain livid and willing to jump to the rival American Basketball Association (ABA) once his contract ended in 1967. Having lost lateral quickness due to his injury, Chamberlain was often too slow to block Reed's preferred high-post jump shots. [111], In the playoffs, the Lakers dispatched 42 Chamberlain's old club, the San Francisco Warriors, after losing the first two games, and then defeated the Atlanta Hawks, and met Chamberlain's familiar rivals, Russell's Boston Celtics. In his first game, he scored 52 points and grabbed 31 rebounds, breaking both all-time Kansas records in an 8769 win against the Northwestern Wildcats, a team having Chamberlain's future NBA teammate Joe Ruklick. With 10 seconds remaining, Tar Heels' center Joe Quigg pump faked then drove to the basket. Wilt Chamberlain, one of the most dominant players in the history of basketball and the only one to score 100 points in an NBA game, died Tuesday at 63. . [n] In the playoffs, the Warriors again met the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Division Finals, and this season was called by both Cousy and Russell the greatest Celtics team of all time. The press called it an even matchup in all positions, even at center, where Russell was expected to give Chamberlain a tough battle. However, the team lost to their old and familiar rival, 'Boston Celtics.' . [184] The 1969 NBA Finals is arguably the biggest stain on Chamberlain's career, as supporters of Chamberlain held Russell won more only because he had better teammates; however, in this finals, Chamberlain's team was favored and lost. [158] On-court rival and personal friend Bill Russell stated, "the fierceness of our competition bonded us together for eternity. [130] Chamberlain performed so well in the series that Time stated: "In the N.B.A. After finding out what a huge fan of his she was, Wilt shocked the teenage girl with a telephone call. [140], Barred from playing, Chamberlain mostly left the coaching duties to his assistant Stan Albeck, who recalled: "Chamberlain has a great feel for pro basketball the day-to-day things that are an important part of basketball just bored him. By this time, several aspects of his game were already developed, such as his finger roll, his fadeaway jump shot which he could also make as a bank shot, his passing, and his shot-blocking. He was a Goliath. The Warriors entered the 1960 NBA playoffs and beat the Syracuse Nationals, setting up a meeting versus the Eastern Division champions, the Celtics. [1] He was a frail child, nearly dying of pneumonia in his early years and missing a whole year of school as a result. "[38] KU won 7365 in overtime, after which police had to escort the Jayhawks out. Auerbach spotted Chamberlain there and had him play one-on-one against University of Kansas (KU) standout and national champion B. H. Born, elected the NCAA Most Outstanding Player in 1953. It was also the first national final to go into overtime; and is still the only one to go into triple overtime. [122][123] Cooke had offered Chamberlain a record-setting contract on the condition that he agreed to give up what Cooke termed "this boxing foolishness". [106] In the second half of Game 7, Chamberlain did not attempt a single shot from the field. . In Game 2, which the Lakers won 10692, Chamberlain put Lucas into foul trouble, and the Knicks lost defensive power forward Dave DeBusschere to injury. [120] In a 1999 interview, Chamberlain stated that D'Amato had twice before, in 1965 and 1967, approached him with the idea, and that he and Ali had each been offered $5 million for the bout. With three minutes to go, the Lakers trailed 103102, but they committed costly turnovers and lost the game 108106, despite a triple-double from West, who had 42 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists, and became the only player in NBA history to be named Finals MVP despite being on the losing team. [114] Instead, the Lakers gave away their 13-point halftime lead and succumbed to the aggressive Knicks defense, as they committed 19 second-half turnovers, and the two main scorers (Chamberlain and West) shot the ball in the entire second half only three and two times, respectively. By 197172, at age 35 and running less, his game had transformed to averaging only nine shots per game compared to the 40 in his record-setting 196162 season. According to Sixers general manager Jack Ramsay, "Harvey [Pollack] said he used to tell one of his statisticians to keep track of Wilt's blocks in big games. [88] When emotions cooled off, Hannum said to Chamberlain that he was on the same page in trying to win a title but Chamberlain had to "act like a man" both on and off the court to pull this off. In the 198081 NBA season, coach Larry Brown recalled that the 45-year-old Chamberlain had received an offer from the Cleveland Cavaliers. In Game 2, the Bucks won again despite Chamberlain scoring 26 points, four more than his Milwaukee counterpart. Chamberlain averaged 20.7 points, 18.2 rebounds, and 4.3 assists,[62] once again led the NBA in rebounding, and the Lakers won the Pacific Division title. Chamberlain changed the game in fundamental ways no other player did. [201], In Chamberlain's second book, A View from Above, he claimed to have had sex with twenty thousand women. Teammate Monte Johnson stated that Chamberlain had "unbelievable endurance and speed and was never tired. [51], In what was the first of many match-ups, Chamberlain outscored Russell with 30 points versus 28 points but Boston won the game, and the ChamberlainRussell rivalry (see below) would grow to become one of the NBA's greatest of all time. [137] Chamberlain claimed that at least part of the reason for leaving the Lakers was that he believed he had the right to renegotiate his contract after winning the 1971-72 NBA championship, and was upset that the Lakers did not contact him until September 1972, and in the meantime were trying to acquire UCLA star center Bill Walton, who ultimately decided to return to school for the 1972-73 season. Chamberlain trained with Cus d'Amato but later backed out, withdrawing the much-publicized challenge,[119] by way of a contractual escape clause that predicated the AliChamberlain match on Ali beating Joe Frazier in a fight scheduled for early 1971, which became Ali's first professional loss, enabling Chamberlain to legally withdraw from the bout. Despite the Sixers' injury woes, coach Hannum was confident to "take the Celtics in less than seven games", and he referenced the age of the Celtics, a team built around Russell and Jones, both 34. Particularly, Chamberlain was lauded for his performance in Game 6, which the Lakers won 104100 after trailing by 10 points in the fourth quarter; Chamberlain scored 24 points and 22 rebounds, played all 48 minutes, and outsprinted the younger Bucks center on several late Lakers fast breaks. In addition to Chamberlain's regular-season accomplishments, he scored 42 points in the All-Star Game. [48][h] Chamberlain became the NBA's highest paid player when he signed for $30,000, in his rookie contract. [38], Twenty-three teams were selected to play in the 1957 NCAA basketball tournament. [114] Game 3 saw West hit a 60-foot shot at the buzzer to tie the game at 102; however, the Knicks took the game 111108. He had a history of heart problems, and a fire department . [62][10] In addition, the formerly egotistical Chamberlain began to praise his teammates, lauding hardworking Lucious Jackson as the "ultimate power forward", calling Greer a deadly jump-shooter, and Jones an excellent defender and outsider scorer. "[137] The players were split on Chamberlain, who was seen as competent but often indifferent and more occupied with promotion of his autobiography Wilt: Just Like Any Other 7-Foot Black Millionaire Who Lives Next Door than with coaching. Pejoratively calling the new recruit "The Load", he later complained that Chamberlain was egotistical, never respected him, too often slacked off in practice, and focused too much on his own statistics. [88] Cunningham commented that Hannum "never backed down" and "showed who was the boss". Among the members of the team were Florence Griffith before she set the world records in the 100 meters and 200 meters, three-time world champion Greg Foster,[144] and future Olympic Gold medalists Andre Phillips, Alice Brown, and Jeanette Bolden. Chamberlain said: "I've got to hit forty points or so, or this team is in trouble. [145], Even far beyond his playing days, Chamberlain was a very fit person.
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