What Nba Player Scored 100 Points On March 2 1962?

On March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors scored an incredible 100 points against the New York Knicks.

Wilt Chamberlain

On March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points against the New York Knicks, becoming the first player in NBA history to score 100 points in a single game. Chamberlain’s 100-point game is considered one of the greatest individual performances in basketball history.

Chamberlain’s Background

Wilton Norman Chamberlain was born on August 21, 1936, in Philadelphia, the tallest of Odessa and William Chamberlain’s nine children. When he was just a few weeks old, his family moved to nearby Overbrook Park, where young Wilt quickly earned the nickname “The Stilt” for his lanky 6’11” frame. Chamberlain began playing organized basketball in the seventh grade, and by the time he entered Overbrook High School, he was already 6’11” and 175 pounds.

During his high school years, Chamberlain continued to grow—to an eventual height of 7’1″—and hone his skills on the court. He led Overbrook to a 56-6 record during his junior year and helped the team win back-to-back Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association championships in 1955 and 1956. He also attracted plenty of attention from college recruiters—including future NBA rival Bill Russell of the University of San Francisco—but ultimately chose to stay close to home and attend the University of Kansas.

Chamberlain’s 100-point Game

In Chamberlain’s 100-point game, he scored an outstanding 100 points, which is a record that still stands today. He played for the Philadelphia Warriors against the New York Knicks. This game was not only remarkable because of Chamberlain’s extraordinary performance, but also because of the fact that it was the first time that an NBA player had ever scored more than 50 points in a single game.

Other Notable 100-point Games

On March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors scored 100 points against the New York Knicks. It remains the only time a player has scored 100 points in an NBA game. Chamberlain’s 100-point game came on the heels of his 78-point performance four nights earlier.

Kobe Bryant

On December 20, 2005, Bryant tied Wilt Chamberlain’s record of scoring 100 points in a single game with a 61-point outburst against the Memphis Grizzlies. And on January 22, 2006, he became the youngest player ever to reach 20,000 career points.

Michael Jordan

On March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain set the NBA single-game scoring record by pour in 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a 169-147 win over the New York Knicks. Nearly four decades later, Kobe Bryant made history by becoming the second player to score 100 points in an NBA game. In a 122-104 victory over the Toronto Raptors, Bryant amassed an incredible stat line of 28-of-46 shooting, 6-of-13 from three-point range and 18-of-20 from the foul line.

Elgin Baylor

On November 15, 1960, Baylor scored 71 points against the Detroit Pistons, setting an NBA record for most points in a road game. He broke his own record less than two months later when he scored 72 points against the Los Angeles Lakers. In 1961–62, Baylor led the Lakers to their first ever Finals appearance. In Game 5 of that series, Baylor tore a ligament in his left knee and was never quite the same afterward. He retired after playing nine games in 1972–73.

Why 100-point Games Are So Rare

It’s been more than 50 years since an NBA player has scored 100 points in a game. Wilt Chamberlain did it on March 2, 1962. It was one of the greatest individual performances in basketball history. But why are 100-point games so rare?

The NBA’s Evolution

In the early days of the National Basketball Association, 100-point games were much more common. In the NBA’s inaugural season, there were 14 games in which a player reached the century mark. By contrast, there have been only 12 100-point games in the nearly 60 years since Wilt Chamberlain did it on March 2, 1962. So what happened?

One factor is that the NBA has gotten much better at defense over the years. In the 1950s and 1960s, teams didn’t place nearly as much emphasis on stopping their opponents as they do now. As a result, players had more opportunities to score points.

Another factor is that today’s NBA players are simply not as prolific scorers as their predecessors were. In Chamberlain’s 100-point game, he made 36 of 63 field goal attempts (57.1 percent). By contrast, Kobe Bryant, who has scored the most points in an NBA game since Chamberlain’s record-setting performance, made only 28 of 46 field goal attempts (60.9 percent) in his 81-point game against the Toronto Raptors in 2006.

It’s also worth noting that many of today’s NBA stars specialize in other areas of the game such as rebounding or playmaking rather than scoring. This wasn’t necessarily the case in previous decades when players tended to focus more on putting points on the board.

So while it’s still possible for an individual player to score 100 points in an NBA game, it’s become increasingly unlikely given the league’s evolution over time.

The Style of Play

In the 1950s and 1960s, the average pace of an NBA game was about 125 possessions per 48 minutes, according to research by basketball statistician Dean Oliver. That’s about 28 seconds per possession.

Today, the average pace is about 100 possessions per 48 minutes, or about 24 seconds per possession. In other words, there are about 25% fewer possessions in today’s NBA game than there were 50 years ago.

The fewer number of possessions means that there are simply fewer opportunities for a player to score 100 points in a game. But there’s more to it than that. The style of play has also changed dramatically in the last 50 years.

In the early days of the NBA, teams played a more physical brand of basketball. Fouls were common and players weren’t afraid to rough each other up a bit. As a result, games were often slow and low-scoring.

But in recent years, the league has adopted a more “free-flowing” style of play that emphasizes speed and quickness over physicality. This has led to higher scores and more open shots for players.

So while there are still 100-point games from time to time, they are becoming increasingly rare as the NBA evolves into a faster-paced, higher-scoring league.