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Lakers Star Disputes Wilt Chamberlain's 100-Point Game Achievement
Lakers star challenges the legitimacy of Wilt Chamberlain’s famous 100-point game, raising questions about the historic achievement. Discover the full story.
Over 60 years ago, on March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain set the NBA single-game scoring record by dropping 100 points against the New York Knicks. However, Austin Reaves doesn't believe it happened. Recently, Reaves appeared on *BustaJack Golf*, where he and co-host Mason Nutt expressed their skepticism about Chamberlain’s 100-point game.
Mason Nutt asked, "Do you think Wilt actually scored 100?"
Austin Reaves responded, "No."
Mason Nutt added, "That's my NBA conspiracy... I 100% do not believe he scored 100."
Reaves agreed, saying, "Yep, I don't either."
Nutt concluded, "So I think Kobe's (Bryant) 81," to which Reaves replied, "Is the most ever!"
This conspiracy theory has been gaining traction on social media. More people seem to believe Chamberlain never scored 100 points, suggesting the NBA fabricated the story. The skepticism largely stems from the fact that there is no video footage of the game.
Back then, the NBA was much less popular, and many games weren’t broadcast on television. While marquee matchups might have been shown, the game in which Chamberlain set the record wasn’t seen as significant. His Philadelphia Warriors faced a Knicks team that held a weak 27-45 record, so the game wasn’t televised.
As a result, the only visual evidence from that night is a photo of Chamberlain holding a piece of paper with "100" written on it. For some, this image isn't convincing proof, leading to the belief that the NBA invented the story to generate buzz and attract more fans.
Another reason often mentioned is that we don't have the full recording of the game's radio broadcast. Only the fourth-quarter audio is available, where play-by-play announcer Bill Campbell describes Chamberlain reaching the 100-point mark.
The fact that this game was played in Hershey, Pennsylvania, rather than in Philadelphia, also raises suspicion. However, it was quite common at the time for teams to hold some home games away from their usual arenas to attract new fans. As a result, only 4,124 fans attended, fueling conspiracies about the historic game, which the Warriors won 169-147.
Although many may offer reasons to claim this event was fabricated, I genuinely believe Chamberlain scored 100 points that night. None of the Knicks players he faced ever hinted at any conspiracy in the years that followed, even though they weren't happy about being on the losing end of that historic game.
Chamberlain had already surpassed 70 points twice earlier that season, so his reaching 100 points doesn't seem unbelievable to me. In his 78-point performance against the Los Angeles Lakers, he shot 16-31 from the free-throw line and could have approached 90 points had he made a few more foul shots.
Against the Knicks, Chamberlain made many of his free throws, shooting 36-63 from the field and 28-32 from the line. Even poor free-throw shooters occasionally have a good night, and Wilt just happened to have his here.
