Wilt Chamberlain's career

Join the NBA

In 1955, the NBA passed a new draft regulation, the "Regional Draft Regulations," allowing teams to acquire a local player at the cost of giving up a first-round pick. of college players. Eddie Gottlieb, the owner of the Philadelphia Warriors, was overjoyed when he heard the news. He lobbied the league in every possible way, saying that Chamberlain was from Philadelphia and was a well-known basketball player in Philadelphia in high school. However, there was no NBA team in Kansas where he studied, so he wanted the league to join him. Can make an exception and allow Philadelphia to use the terms of the "Regional Draft Rules" to sign Chamberlain. The league agreed to the request, marking the only time in NBA history that high school and birthplace were considered in the "Regional Draft Rules."

As a rookie

In his first game against the New York Knicks, Chamberlain scored 43 points and 28 rebounds. This season Chamberlain won the Rookie of the Year, All-Star MVP and Regular Season MVP by averaging 37.6 points and 27 rebounds per game, and was selected to the All-NBA Team.

In the 1960 playoffs, the Philadelphia Warriors encountered the Boston Celtics. This was the first time Chamberlain faced Bill Russell. In the entire series, Chamberlain outscored Russell by 81 points, but The Celtics still won 4:2. There were rumors at one time: "Chamberlain, who had a high self-esteem, suffered a setback in his self-esteem after losing to Russell in his rookie season and was even preparing to retire."

In the 1960-61 season, Chamberlain averaged 38.4 points and 27.2 rebounds per game.

In the 1961-62 season, Chamberlain averaged 50.4 points per game, making him the only NBA player to score more than 4,000 points in a single season. Chamberlain has been living in New York this season, where he runs a nightclub called Little Paradise. When there are training or games, Chamberlain drives to the arena.

100 points in a single game

On March 2, 1962, he scored 100 points in a game against the New York Knicks. Helped Philadelphia win 169:147. He made 36 of 63 shots in the entire game. Chamberlain made 28 of 32 free throws in this game. His free throw percentage that season was 50.6%. It is said that Chamberlain did not return to the team the previous night, but spent the night with other women.

In the first half, Chamberlain scored 41 points. In the third quarter, Chamberlain showed no signs of fatigue. He scored 28 points in the quarter, bringing the total score to 69 points. After the start of the fourth quarter, Chamberlain successfully scored 5 points, breaking the 48-point regular time scoring record of 73 points, and then broke his original scoring record of 78 points achieved after three overtimes.

When the team was leading by a big score, Chamberlain signaled to head coach Frank McGuire several times to please substitute him, but McGuire did not agree and instead asked the players to keep calling Chamberlain. Feed the ball. McGuire valued Chamberlain very much. When coaching the Warriors, he said several times that Chamberlain had every chance to score 100 points in a game. And when Chamberlain was scoring like crazy that night, McGuire wanted to see a personal performance that would go down in history.

In the final period, the Knicks began to take possession of the ball to kill time or foul people other than Chamberlain, so head coach Frank McGuire asked players to foul the Knicks as well to regain control of the ball. At the last moment of the game, the court was full of fouls. Many witnesses admitted that in order to prevent Chamberlain from scoring 100 points, the Knicks players would even hug the basketball and stand there blatantly delaying time after they got the ball.

Lacquel is the backup guard of the Warriors and has a very good relationship with Chamberlain. During a timeout in the game, Lackerli said to him: "Wilt, can you let me be on the court when you want to score 100 points?" Chamberlain replied: "Okay, I will tell the coach." Then. LaCreek got a chance to play. Chamberlain's 100th point came from an assist from LaCreek. At that time, Chamberlain wanted to take a position in the paint and shouted at Lakrick. That was the secret code between them. So LaCreek passed the ball and Chamberlain scored smoothly. The on-site announcer shouted: "This is Chamberlain's 100th point!" Suddenly, all the fans at the scene were excited. Almost everyone wanted to rush into the stadium, and the scene was chaotic.

After Chamberlain scored 100 points, Chamberlain’s friend Harvey Pollack, who was also a game statistician, immediately realized the significance of this game. He found scorekeeper Dave Richer to verify the situation. , and then came to the locker room. An Associated Press photographer named Vassis was also in the locker room at the time. He originally took his son to seek medical treatment nearby and came to the arena to watch the game. At halftime, out of professional sensitivity, he sensed that Chamberlain was about to do something unusual, so he went back to his car and took out his camera.

Pollack met Vassis, and both of them were very excited and discussed taking a photo of Chamberlain. Pollack tore a piece of paper from his notebook, wrote "100" on it, and handed it to Chamberlain. Vassis was still not sure whether Chamberlain was willing to take the photo. Pollack said: "Chamberlain is willing to do anything for me." Sure enough, Chamberlain agreed to the request to take the photo. He picked up the piece of paper and Vassis pressed the shutter. A classic photo was born.

At the last moment of the game, Chamberlain stood in the middle of the court with his face full of exhaustion, hands on his hips, doing nothing. "100 points sounds much better than 102 points," he later explained. Afterwards, Chamberlain said in "HOOP" magazine: "God, this is incredible. I never thought I would shoot so many times in a game!" At the end of the game, other Philadelphia players were feeding Chamberlain ball.

San Francisco period

In 1962, Chamberlain moved to San Francisco with the team and won the NBA scoring title in the 1962-63 and 1963-64 seasons. While Chamberlain's personal statistics continued to rise, the Warriors reached the Finals in 1964 and were defeated by the Celtics 1:4. The Warriors gradually lost patience with Chamberlain. Finally, two days after the 1965 All-Star Game, Chamberlain was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. As a bargaining chip, the 76ers paid Connie Delkin, Lee Shaffer, Paul... Newman gets three players plus $150,000. After Chamberlain joined, the 76ers formed a lineup with great potential: center Chamberlain, Hal Greer and Larry Costello in the backcourt, and Chat Walker and Luke Jackson in the forward line. composition.

When Chamberlain first took over the team, the 76ers were just a team with a winning percentage of just over half. A year later, they won a league-high 55 wins and 25 losses. But they lost to the Celtics again in the playoffs. The 76ers immediately acquired forward Billy Cunningham the next season. In the following season, they won 45 wins and 4 losses in the first 49 games and ended the season with 68 regular season wins, the highest in NBA history at the time. 13 losses. They defeated Cincinnati in the playoffs and met their old rival Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals. The 76ers won 4-1. In the finals, Chamberlain defeated his opponent 4-2 and successfully won the championship.

In 1964, the NBA expanded the three-second zone from 12 feet to 16 feet in order to limit Chamberlain, but he still averaged 34.7 points per game that season. This year Chamberlain was diagnosed with a heart problem and lay in the hospital for a month.

In the 1966-67 season, 76ers coach Alex. Hannum clearly asked Chamberlain to pass more passes, take fewer shots, and show more aggressiveness on the defensive end. Chamberlain took the coach's advice. Although his scoring average dropped to 24.1 points per game that season and missed the scoring title for the first time in his career, his shooting percentage (68.3%) and rebounds (24.2) were still excellent, and he ranked third in the assists list with 7.8 assists. "It seems now that my scoring in the last seven years of my career has shrunk significantly compared to the first seven years, but the scoring has become lower because I have reduced my desire to score. The coach wants me to focus more on rebounding and defense, and I I'm glad I did it."

In the 1967-68 season, Chamberlain became the league's assist leader. He was selected to the All-NBA Team for the seventh time in his career and was elected MVP for the fourth time. Defeated by the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals that year, Chamberlain was subsequently traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. At that time, due to the unexpected death of his boss, the promised 25% of the shares did not materialize, and Chamberlain finally decided to go to Hollywood. In order to get Chamberlain, the Los Angeles Lakers paid, Archie Clark and backup center Dar Imohoff. Chamberlain spent the last five years of his career in Los Angeles, helping the Lakers reach the NBA Finals four times.

In a 1968 game against the Knicks, 6-foot-11, 245-pound center Walt Bellamy tried to dunk over Chamberlain, using a live audience as reported by the Philadelphia Daily News In retrospect: "Chamberlain blocked the ball firmly at the top of the basket and slapped Bellamy out of the court. Also, he almost slapped Bellamy out of the court by the way." Walt Bellamy in his rookie season once Chamberlain blocked 9 shots in the half. Afterwards, he said: "Bellamy, you can pitch now."

The Lakers reached the Finals in 1970. In Game 5, Knicks core Willis Reed suffered a serious thigh muscle injury. , in the sixth game because Reid was absent, Chamberlain scored 45+27 and led the team to 3-3. In the seventh game, Reed played with an injury. Reed hit the opening two goals for the Knicks and then did not play again. Walter Frazier scored 36 points, 19 assists and 7 rebounds, leading the team to score more than 20 points. Lead and ultimately beat the Lakers. After the game, Chamberlain was suspected of intentionally cooperating with Reid.

In the 1971-1972 season, Chamberlain averaged only 14.8 points per game that season, but had 19.2 rebounds. He was once again selected to the league's All-Defensive Team.

Chamberlain, guards Jerry West and Gale Goodrich, and forwards Happy Harrison and Jim McMillan have always maintained a consistent team style. In the 1971-1972 season, the Lakers won 33 consecutive games, setting the league's longest winning streak. At the end of the season, they achieved the league's best regular season record of 69 wins and 13 losses. In the end, the Lakers successfully entered the finals and defeated the Knicks 4-3 to win the championship. But because of the Lakers, Chamberlain did not have a good relationship with coach Steve Cow, and they had a quarrel. Chamberlain said: "Winning a championship this time means far less than the one in Philadelphia.

Because there, people love him as part of the team, but here, people just want him to bring a championship to the team. ”

After the 1972-73 season, Chamberlain officially announced his retirement.