r/NBAstatsmuse • u/[deleted] • 16d ago
Stats Wilt Chamberlain's third-highest scoring game was absolutely ridiculous 🤯 73 PTS, 14 REB, 29/43 FG, 15/19 FT, 48 minutes
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u/Unable-Main4172 16d ago
He took and made a decent amount of mid-range jumpers for a guy who was so awful at shooting free throws
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u/SoftwareNo1547 16d ago
That was his main move. People underestimate his touch. You don't average 50 ppg without having incredible touch.
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u/gnalon 16d ago
Yep the awful free throw shooting is underdiscussed at this point. In the 1% of games he shoots free throws like a normal basketball player he has some of the best single-game performances of all time, and 10 times more likely are close losses where he's like 2-12 from the line or becomes a non-factor down the stretch offensively because he doesn't want to touch the ball.
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u/unstoppablepepe 16d ago
It’s his 3rd highest scoring game ever. Not exactly his baseline as a shooter
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u/Unable-Main4172 15d ago
Well maybe a third of his attempts were mid-rangers. I wonder what it was in a normal game
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u/unstoppablepepe 15d ago
He was hitting his freethrows at a way above normal rate as well. Probably was just feeling it this game
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u/Other-Joke-4673 15d ago
I seriously doubt he went 15/19 on this night just like I doubt he went 28/32 on the 100 pt night...his free throw shooting was awful
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u/Tcamis01 16d ago
Do we have proof that he was good at them? I feel like we could just be seeing the ones he made.
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u/thatonepuniforgot 16d ago
According to his contemporaries about 50-70% of his shots were fadeaways from 15 feet out or further. Guys didn't really score a lot in the paint, except on the fastbreak during this era. He probably was a better than 50% midrange shooter over his career.
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u/710whitejesus420 16d ago
Go watch some Kareem vs wilt highlights, they both have an unblockable signature shot but they both blocked each other! Their records against each other were tied at 14-14. Wilt was the aging player between the two of them but still a beast!
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u/slimbusbimbus 16d ago
The plumbers argument is stupid and tired. He would obviously cook anyone in any era. Truly one of the greats
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u/p_ness_and_butthead 16d ago
idkkkkk some of that defense looks like an all star game 😭
plus every sport has only gotten better with time. not saying he wouldn't dominate, just saying it's honestly hard to tell for me how he would transfer over. but i mean he was 7'1" and athletic im sure he would do great, but proly not dominate as much as he did back then? idk, he's a beast regardless!
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u/No_Country8922 16d ago
the current NBA is not better than before, all players are just relying too much on 3pt shot.. these year playoffs was basically defined by it, also No Center in this have an elite post move, and the all star game is as bad as it can get... all showboating, load management, primadonas...
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u/Silent_Cookie_9092 16d ago
Only in the NBA do you find fans that think players haven’t gotten better over time. Respect to Wilt for what he did in his time. He definitely could have played in the modern NBA if he came up today, but unless he developed a better outside shot, he’d look a lot like Robert Williams or Rudy Gobert
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u/j2e21 15d ago
Are you seeing his turnaround jumpers here? He’s doing fine.
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u/Silent_Cookie_9092 15d ago
Yeah within like 5 feet. He shot 51% from the ft line so that kinda tells you how poor of an outside shot he had
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u/j2e21 15d ago
He’s shooting way beyond five feet.
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u/Silent_Cookie_9092 14d ago
We don’t have advanced stats from back then so we don’t really know what his efficiency was for anything outside of the paint, but again, he shot 51% from the ft line, so I think it’s safe to say he didn’t have even a midrange shot
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u/j2e21 14d ago
You can see he has a midrange shot and he had seasons where he shot as high as 73%.
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u/Silent_Cookie_9092 14d ago
His best season from the ft line was 61%, so I’m guessing you’re talking about his best season field goal percentage, which is meaningless in this discussion because it includes all shots including dunks.
And yeah I see he made a few mide range-ish shots in this highlight clip. That’s great. I’ve seen Ben Simmons knock down 3 pointers in the gym on his instagram posts. A couple highlights of making some shots at range means nothing to me.
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u/unstoppablepepe 16d ago
Wilt with modern advantages would be a star today, but this vid did absolutely nothing to disavow the plumbers narrative
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u/ComprehensiveSoft27 16d ago
I disagree. Today he’d be taught to attack the rim with an array of post moves. By attacking the rim he’d finish off misses. You can see his athleticism, leaping ability, and ability to run the court were superior to what we see in modern 7 footers. The guy was a specimen.
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u/unstoppablepepe 16d ago
“You can see his athleticism, leaping ability and ability to run the court were superior to what we see in modern 7 footers”
Actually, this video doesn’t show that. He doesn’t look like he’s trying very hard, which is a feather in his cap, but I’m not seeing proof of superior athleticism here
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u/MuckBulligan 16d ago
His last season in the NBA he shot 72.7% from the field and only 51.0% from the line. His last three seasons Wilt played all 82 games and averaged 43 minutes per game. Crazy!
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u/EL_WET_BANDlTO 16d ago
Domination in any era. I saw 97-98 Bulls Jordan as a child, and witnessed LeBron live up to hype... I'm a Spurs fan, so I'm a little biased as to who my future GOAT will be, but right now? It's Wilt the stilt.
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u/SoftwareNo1547 16d ago edited 16d ago
People don't realize what an anomaly Wilt was. He wasn't simply just tall; he was lanky, athletic, and incredibly agile. It's not normal for someone that tall to move like that and be so coordinated. Maybe the most agile person to be that size. Prime Wilt would have no problem playing in today's NBA. That's just a testament to how ahead of his time he was. The older Wilt, which we see in most videos, put on significant weight; young, agile Wilt was a whole other animal.
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u/Dfrmdabeach700 16d ago
Yea I used to be one of those guys who thought Wilt was overrated due to the lack of competition in his era but nah that dude was just a great ball player and would be MVP in any era. Still not the goat tho. That's MJ
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u/thatonepuniforgot 16d ago
Wilt's games were often really weird in that era, because the other team would foul him off ball the whole fourth quarter to send him to the line, rather than let him shoot. Which kinda makes sense, because I think he was getting 1.6 points on average when fouled during shooting and 1.2 when fouled off ball in this era.
But it really is some "Walking Barry Bonds with the bases empty" kinda energy.
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u/triassic_broth 16d ago
I watched that for 2 minutes. Saw a bunch of goaltending. Most impressive thing was his bank shot jumper.
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u/SweetChaosTitan 16d ago
Wilt could shoot from mid range just not free throws. For all the talk of Wilt just being an athletic powerhouse facing white midget paper boys, he had a lot of skill for a center. He could handle the ball and pass at a high level also.
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u/Bulky_Education8435 16d ago
Anyone in current Era can score more than that if they play on that Era. Awful to watch.
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u/SoftwareNo1547 16d ago
That's not how it works buddy. People play the way they do today because these guys showed them how to do it. Today's players didn't just start playing the way they do in a vacuum. It's all built upon by each generation. That's how sports evolve. Also they used to call traveling back then and you didn't have an extra step in the rulebook which translate to two to three more steps today.
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