Wilton Norman Chamberlain 100-point game. Every average basketball fan has heard of Wilton Norman Chamberlain 100 point game. The black and white image of Chamberlain holding up ‘100’ written in simple marker on white paper is one of the most famous images in sports history.

But let’s go back to that March 2, 1962, when the legendary center set the record that still stands after 59 years.

To set the scene – it was Wilt’s third season in the NBA. He has already won the Rookie of The Year and league MVP awards and was setting his sights on another big season. At 7’1’’, to say he was a dominant force was an understatement.

Chamberlain’s Philadelphia Warriors were a strong 46-29 team up until that point, and they faced the New York Knicks, who were at the bottom of their conference at 27-45.

Philadelphia coach at the time Frank McGuire had a simple game plan to try to win games. Give Wilt Chamberlain the ball. In fact, he admitted in an interview they’d try to run plays through Wilt at least ‘two-thirds of the time’. McGuire was determined to play Chamberlain every minute of every game, and up until that night, he had only missed eight minutes of action on the floor.

The game itself wasn’t really a spectacle to behold. It took place in the remote area of Hershey, 85 miles from the city of Philadelphia. It was part of a league initiative to grow the sport in lesser-known areas. A whopping 4,124 spectators came to see Wilt Chamberlain make history.

The Knicks starting center at the time was Phil Jordon. Jordon, who was 6’ 10’’, played seven seasons in the league and put up respectable numbers.

Earlier in the season, Jordon put up 33 points against Chamberlain who scored 34.

Unfortunately, the Knicks were forced to sit out their starting center as Jordon, for the record, suffered an illness pre-game but actually, he was out because of a hangover.

Backup center Darrall Imhoff was set to start, but he only played twenty minutes of the game as he got into foul trouble early. To make things even more fun, after his third foul on Wilt early in the game he shouted “Why don’t you just give the guy a hundred now and we’ll all go home”.

After Imhoff was benched, the Knicks rookie Cleveland Buckner entered the game to guard Chamberlain.

At half-time, the Warriors led the game by 79-68. Chamberlain had 41 points.

During their half-time team talk, Guy Rodgers the Philadelphia’s point guard suggested, “Let’s get the ball to Wilt. Let’s see how many he can get.”

Say no more. By the end of the third quarter, Chamberlain had 69 points. His all-time record up until that point was 78, and that came after triple overtime. At this point, the Knicks had gone to their fourth center Dave Budd to try and contain Chamberlain.

The arena announcer began to mention Wilt’s points total after each score in the fourth quarter. With eight minutes to go, Chamberlain needed 25 points to get to a hundred.

At this point, the crowd was shouting ‘Give it to Wilt!’ and that’s what the Warriors did. The Knicks simply couldn’t stop him and began fouling every player other than him to try and curb the scoreline. Not only that, but the Knicks also were stalling whenever they had the ball, trying to run down the shot clock so that the Warriors had as little time as possible left in the game to get Wilt to 100.

McGuire, the Warrior’s head coach, started retaliating by fouling the Knicks too and then giving Wilt the ball at the start of each possession.

The foul-on-foul tactic counteracted the Knick’s actions, and Wilt got himself to 94 points with over two minutes left to play. A fade-away and a powerful dunk got him to 98.

With less than a minute to go in the game, Chamberlain was set up close to the basket, worked a post move, and, missed. It seemed like he will stop at 98.

It wasn’t long later before Wilt found himself open near the basket. A teammate lobbed him the ball, and he alley-ooped his way to 100 points.

The Warriors won, 169-147. Wilt made 36 of his 68 shots from the field and 28 of his 32 free throws.

What a night and just like that Wilton Norman Chamberlain’s 100-point game set him up as one of the best to ever play.