Chamberlain was so on that he even made 28 of 32 free throws, despite having, up to that point in the season, just a paltry .506 percentage from the stripe. Then, Phog Allen retired. "[98], Chamberlain experienced a problematic and often frustrating season. [102] The Lakers lost 107100 in what was called one of the greatest comebacks in NBA Finals history. He was tired of being double-teamed, or even triple-teamed, and of teams coming down on him with hard personal fouls.
[20] During summer vacations, he worked as a bellhop in Kutsher's Hotel. Winning the regular season with 66 wins, the Bucks were seen as favorites against the depleted Lakers; still, many pundits were looking forward to the matchup between the 34-year-old Chamberlain and the 24-year-old Alcindor. [102], In the 197071 NBA season, the Lakers made a notable move by signing future Hall-of-Fame guard Gail Goodrich, who came back from the Suns after playing for the Lakers until 1968. Barry botched his shot attempt and the Sixers won the championship. [40] In his fourth game, Philadelphia met the reigning champions, the Boston Celtics of Hall-of-Fame coach Auerbach, whose offer he had snubbed several years before, and Bill Russell, who was lauded as one of the best defensive pivots in the game. He averaged over 30 points and almost 23 rebounds per game in his career. An incident recounted in thePhiladelphia Daily Newsinvolving Tom Meschery of the Seattle SuperSonics illustrated what it was like to play in the trenches against Chamberlain. [75] Prior to Game 5, Chamberlain skipped practice and was non-accessible. Chamberlain didnt think so. [14] Chamberlain's prospects of playing under Allen ended when the coach turned 70 shortly after and retired in accordance with KU regulations. A track and field star in high school and college, Chamberlain stood 7-1 and was listed at 275 pounds, though he filled out and added more muscle as his career progressed and eventually played at over 300 pounds. [32] Chamberlain likened his assist title to legendary home-run hitter Babe Ruth leading the league in sacrifice bunts, and he dispelled the myth that he could not and would not pass the ball. Go back in time and learn about Wilt Chamberlain's early years growing up, and early years in the NBA. He dominated the sport physically in a way few ever have. [29] As he did at Overbrook, Chamberlain again showcased his diverse athletic talent. This time, Los Angeles won, and Chamberlain was named the Finals MVP. He signed on with the San Diego Conquistadors of the ABA to be a player-coach. In 1967-68, he was also chosen to the All-NBA First Team for the seventh and final time and selected league MVP for the fourth and final time. 76ers center Wilt Chamberlain (13) blocks a Celtic shot in the 1968 NBA Playoffs. [99] After the game, many wondered why Chamberlain sat out the final six minutes. In Game 6, in which Chamberlain recorded 18 rebounds and 4 assists but only 8 points, the Celtics won 9990. [52] It was the ninth time that Chamberlain would lead the league in field goal percentage. [112] Furthermore, he told Chamberlain to use his rebounding and passing skills to quickly initiate fastbreaks to his teammates. [52] In the 1967 NBA playoffs, the Sixers again battled the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Division Finals and held home-court advantage. [86][87] Chamberlain also recorded the most points in a triple-double, an NBA record broken by Russell Westbrook in 2017 and improved by James Harden in 2018. Cherry criticizes his performance, saying that if "Chamberlain had come up big and put up a normal 30 point scoring night", the Lakers would have probably won their first championship at Los Angeles. [3] Another landmark was his 25,000th point, making him the first-ever player to score that many points; he gave the ball to his team physician Stan Lorber. [4], With their fixation on Chamberlain, the Jayhawks shot only 27% from the field, as opposed to 64% of the Tar Heels, and trailed 2229 at halftime. In his 90-point game he scored 60 points in 12 minutes of the second half. In addition, he shot an NBA record 0.727 for the season, bettering his own mark of 0.683 from the 196667 season. Instead, Chamberlain signed up to play for the Harlem Globetrotters for 1958, for $50,000, which equates to about $443,000 today. [190], Cherry says that although Chamberlain was an egotist, he had good relationships with many contemporaries and enjoyed a great deal of respect. Chamberlain also made history by becoming the only center in NBA history to finish the season as the leader in assists, his 702 beating runner-up point guard and future Hall-of-Famer Lenny Wilkens' total by 23.
(Taken from color slide, Wilt Chamberlain and the Philadelphia 76ers. In 1999, his health started to deteriorate, and he lost quite a bit of rate. Chamberlain dominated his older college teammates by scoring 42 points (1635 from the field, 1012 on free throws), grabbing 29 rebounds, and registering 4 blocks. In the 198081 NBA season, coach Larry Brown recalled that the 45-year-old Chamberlain had received an offer from the Cleveland Cavaliers. In a fiercely battled Game 4, Chamberlain was playing with five fouls late in the game. [23] After three years, Chamberlain had led Overbrook to two city championships, logged a 563 record and broken Tom Gola's high school scoring record by scoring 2,252 points, averaging 37.4 points per game. [77] Concerning basketball, he persuaded him to change his style of play. The two would later develop an intensely personal antipathy. [102] Instead, the Lakers gave away their 13-point halftime lead and succumbed to the aggressive Knicks defense, as they committed 19 second-half turnovers, and the two main scorers (Chamberlain and West) shot the ball in the entire second half only three and two times, respectively. After losing Baylor to an Achilles tendon rupture that effectively ended his career, and especially after losing West after a knee injury, the handicapped Lakers were seen as underdogs in the 1971 NBA playoffs against the Milwaukee Bucks of Alcindor, freshly crowned MVP, and the veteran Hall-of-Fame guard Robertson, whom they faced in the Western Conference Finals. He once skipped a game to sign autographs for the book. He scored 34 points as Overbrook won the Philadelphia Public League title and gained a berth in the city championship game against the winner of the rival Catholic league, the West Catholic High School. In the third overtime, the Tar Heels scored two consecutive baskets, but Chamberlain executed a three-point play, leaving KU trailing 5251. In his mid-forties, he was able to humble rookie Magic Johnson in practice,[133] and he flirted with making a comeback in the NBA in the 1980s. 's western division title series with Milwaukee, he (Chamberlain) decisively outplayed basketball's newest giant superstar, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, eleven years his junior. Chamberlain scored 29 points, 36 rebounds, and 13 assists, and he was praised by the Celtics' Russell and K. C. [27] Chamberlain's freshman team debut was highly anticipated, and he delivered; the freshman squad was pitted against the varsity, a team favored to win their conference that year. [6][133] In basketball history, pundits have stated that the only other player who forced such a massive change of rules is 6'10" Minneapolis Lakers center George Mikan, who played a decade before Chamberlain and also caused many rule changes designed to thwart dominant centers. His lifelong on-court rival and personal friend Bill Russell stated "the fierceness of our competition bonded us together for eternity", and Celtics coach Red Auerbach praised Chamberlain as vital for the success of the entire NBA. After the third swing, Chamberlain said, Thats enough, and Meschery stopped. 101", "The NBA's 75th Anniversary Team, ranked: Where 76 basketball legends check in on our list", "NBA 75: Top 75 NBA players of all time, from MJ and LeBron to Lenny Wilkens", "Chat Transcript: Celtics Legend Bill Russell", "Wilt was Philadelphia's greatest athlete", "N.B.A. This conflict had been going along for a while. [5], The rookie Chamberlain then shocked Warriors' fans by saying he was thinking of retiring. In that year, Chamberlain set several all-time records which have never been threatened, as he averaged 50.4 points and grabbed 25.7 rebounds per game. [169] Russell and Chamberlain were friends in private life. After the Knicks finished off the game with a late flourish led by Phil Jackson and Earl Monroe, Chamberlain made a dunk with one second left, which turned out to be the last play of his NBA career. Chamberlain was regularly one of the leading scorers in the NBA, and he led the league in rebounds per game 11 times in his career. [46], The Warriors entered the 1960 NBA playoffs and beat the Syracuse Nationals, setting up a meeting versus the Eastern Division champions, the Celtics.
After several Tar Heel turnovers, the game was tied at 46 at the end of regulation. [29] Later, North Carolina led 4037 with 10 minutes to go and stalled the game, as they passed the ball around without any intention of scoring a basket. There were several coaching changes, and the franchise was also sold and moved to San Francisco. At the time, he stated he had only been beaten in the high jump once, by Olympic champion Charles Dumas, and that he had never been beaten in the shot put, including beating Olympic legend Al Oerter. [61] This also meant that the Warriors team broke apart, as Arizin chose to retire rather than move away from his family and his job at IBM in Philadelphia, Warrior coach McGuire chose to resign rather than move to the West Coast, and Gola was homesick, requesting a trade to the lowly New York Knicks halfway through the season. 76ers legend Wilt Chamberlain do battle in the 1968 NBA Playoffs (Image, Russell and Chamberlain battle for a rebound. Two days after the 1965 All-Star Game (a game in which he scored 20 points and pulled down 16 rebounds), Chamberlain was swapped to the 76ers, formerly the Syracuse Nationals until the 1963-64 season, for Connie Dierking, Lee Shaffer, Paul Neumann and $150,000. [120] In that series, the Lakers started off with a 115112 win, but the Knicks won Games 2 and 3; things worsened when West again injured his hamstring. I must scoreunderstand? I never thought Id take that many shots in a game. Toward the end of the game, the Warriors went out of their way to feed Chamberlain the ball, to the point of fouling the Knicks whenever they had possession. [9] He played occasional matches for the IVA Seattle Smashers before the league folded in 1979. The 15-round bout would have taken place on July 26, 1971, in the Houston Astrodome. Chamberlain averaged a staggering, unfathomable 50.4 points per game that year, which is an NBA record that will never be beaten. Quoting coach Alex Hannum's explanation of his situation, Chamberlain often said: "Nobody roots for Goliath. Going ahead 32, the Sixers defeated the Knicks 11597 in Game 6 after Chamberlain scored 25 points and 27 rebounds; he had a successful series in which he led both teams in points (153), rebounds (145), and assists (38).
Having lost lateral quickness due to his injury, Chamberlain was often too slow to block Reed's preferred high-post jump shots. In retrospect, Gottlieb remarked: "My mistake was not getting a strong-handed coach. His numbers are gaudy and massive, and that isnt a joke on the infamous claims he made about the number of women he bedded. [72] Chamberlain later commented that he could see in hindsight how the interview was instrumental in damaging his public image. [52] Cooke was pleased because ticket sales went up by 11% since acquiring Chamberlain. Cherry says that Reed, a prolific mid-range shooter, was a bad matchup for Chamberlain. Levi may be living proof", "Elvira's Cassandra Peterson Accuses NBA Pro Wilt Chamberlain of Sexual Assault: 'I Kept That a Secret', "Elvira accuses basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain of sexual abuse", 4th-quarter radio broadcast of Chamberlain's 100-point game, How Chamberlain's 100-point game almost went unrecorded, Image of Chamberlain making a dunk during a Los Angeles Lakers vs. Milwaukee Bucks game in 1971, 1957 NCAA Men's Basketball Consensus All-Americans, 1958 NCAA Men's Basketball Consensus All-Americans, NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player, NBA All-Star Game Kobe Bryant Most Valuable Player Award, Lakers versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs, The Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, Wayland Baptist Women's Teams (19481982), Faceted Application of Subject Terminology, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wilt_Chamberlain&oldid=1099076751, All-American college men's basketball players, American Basketball Association announcers, Basketball players at the 1957 NCAA University Division Final Four, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees, National Basketball Association All-Stars, National Basketball Association broadcasters, National Basketball Association players with retired numbers, Track and field athletes from Pennsylvania, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia pages semi-protected against vandalism, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Ranked No. [4][45] Chamberlain capped off his rookie season by winning the 1960 NBA All-Star Game and the NBA All-Star Game MVP award with a 23-point, 25-rebound performance for the Eastern Conference's NBA All-Star team; it also became evident that he was a bad free-throw shooter, making only half of his foul shots. [4] Barred from playing, Chamberlain mostly left the coaching duties to his assistant Stan Albeck, who recalled: "Chamberlain has a great feel for pro basketball the day-to-day things that are an important part of basketball just bored him. [130], Chamberlain is regarded as one of the most extraordinary and dominant basketball players in the history of the NBA,[3][6][5] often being debated as the greatest NBA player of all time ahead of Michael Jordan. [49] On November 24, 1960, Chamberlain grabbed an NBA-record 55 rebounds,[4] along with 34 points and 4 assists, in a 132129 home loss against the Russell-led Boston Celtics. "[37], Chamberlain was the first big earner of basketball; he immediately became the highest-paid player upon entering the NBA. He was writing a screenplay about his life. The series saw the first postseason confrontation between Chamberlain and defensive standout Bill Russell, a matchup that would grow into the greatest individual rivalry in the NBA and possibly any sport. Asked to name the greatest players ever to play basketball, most fans and aficionados would put Wilt Chamberlain at or near the top of the list.
Well, total assists, not assists per game.
He was especially lauded for his good rapport with his fans, often providing tickets and signing autographs. But his contributions came in other forms. Club", "In 112 Career Games, Wilt Chamberlain Averaged 8.8 Blocks Per Game. Thus, Wilt simply served as the coach, although he quickly tired of that and left coaching duties to his assistant. Chamberlain was dominant in his sophomore and junior years, even being named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four in 1957, even though Kansas lost to North Carolina in the finals. [118] Chamberlain was named the NBA Finals MVP,[52] and he was admired for dominating the Knicks in Game 5 while playing injured. After attending the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr., Chamberlain called out to the angry rioters who were setting fires all over the country, stating King would not have approved. Lets focus less on that and more on the career of the legendary center who may or may not have had the greatest individual game in NBA history. As time progressed, Chamberlain's free-throw issues grew worse, and he acknowledged to be "a psycho case" on that matter. Gottlieb, one of the NBAs founding fathers, argued that Chamberlain had grown up in Philadelphia and had become popular there as a high school player, and since there were no NBA teams in Kansas, they held his territorial rights. [104] In Game 1, Alcindor outscored Chamberlain 3222, and the Bucks won 10685. Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. In his first game, against the Knicks in New York, he pumped in 43 points and grabbed 28 rebounds.
[6] He was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978, elected into the NBA 35th Anniversary Team in 1980, chosen as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996,[3] and in 2021 was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. He almost knocked Bellamy off the court, too.. If you lose, everybody says, 'How could he lose, a guy that size? Early in his life, he focused on track and field. At the time of his final substitution, he had scored 18 points (hitting seven of his eight shots) and grabbed 27 rebounds, significantly better than the 10 points of Counts on 4-of-13 shooting. The Lakers mounted a comeback, but then Chamberlain twisted his knee after a rebound and had to be replaced by Counts. "[192] Celtics contemporary Bob Cousy assumed that if Chamberlain had been less fixated on being popular, he would have been meaner and able to win more titles. In Philadelphia, he joined a promising 76ers team that included Hal Greer and Larry Costello in the backcourt and Chet Walker and Luke Jackson up front. In the first game, the Jayhawks played the all-white SMU Mustangs, and KU player John Parker later said: "The crowd was brutal. Despite the loss, Chamberlain, who scored 23 points and 14 rebounds,[29] was elected the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. [77] Greer, who was considered a consummate professional and often clashed with him because of his attitude, spoke positively of the new Chamberlain: "You knew in a minute the Big Fella [Chamberlain] was ready to go and everybody would follow. [176] Chamberlain later said that he was too embarrassed by the underhand technique to continue using it, even though it consistently gave him better results. Chamberlain later reminisced about the game in thePhiladelphia Daily News: We whipped em, 81-71. Only Wes Unseld has done that since. [69] He did not care for the Sixers' coach Dolph Schayes because in his view Schayes had made several disrespectful remarks when they were rival players in the NBA. In Chamberlains second seven years, he averaged 20.7 points. Their relationship remained mostly strained until Chamberlain's death. [186], Although Chamberlain was shy and insecure as a teenager, he became well known for his womanizing when he was an adult. In Chamberlains first year, and for several years afterward, opposing teams simply didnt know how to handle him. (Image from a B&W slide, Chamberlain and Russell, Vintage NBA. [9] As a testament to his importance, the IVA All-Star game was televised only because Chamberlain also played in it; he rose to the challenge and was named the game's MVP.
The division finals saw the 76ers matched up against the Celtics and Chamberlain matched up against Russell once again. He broke eight NBA records, and won not only Rookie of the Year but the MVP as well. "[31] Chamberlain averaged 30.1 points for the season and led the Jayhawks to an 185 record, losing three games while he was out with a urinary infection. There will never be another player like the 'Big Dipper', who changed the game with his strength, athleticism and skill. 13. The Warriors' general manager says he is looking forward to seeing what his championship core can pull off in 2022-23. After that I play defense and get the ball off the boards. Boston won the first two games on the road, winning 11596 and 11493; while Chamberlain played within his usual range, his supporting cast shot under 40%. [15], Chamberlain was a very tall child, already measuring 6ft 0in (1.83m) at age 10,[16] and he was 6ft 11in (2.11m) when he entered Philadelphia's Overbrook High School. The team would practice missing free throws so that Chamberlain could grab them and score field goals. "[155], In his two championship seasons, Chamberlain led the league in rebounding, while his scoring decreased to 24 and 15 points per game. [72], In the 196566 NBA season, the Sixers experienced tragedy when Ike Richman, the Sixers' co-owner as well as Chamberlain's confidant and lawyer, died of a coronary. [52], The Lakers again charged through the 1970 NBA playoffs, reaching the 1970 NBA Finals, where they were pitted against the New York Knicks, loaded with future Hall-of-Famers Willis Reed, Dave DeBusschere, Bill Bradley, and Walt Frazier. [52] On March 2, 1962, in Hershey, Pennsylvania, known as Chamberlain's 100-point game,[55] he shot 36 of 63 from the field and made 28 of 32 free throws against the New York Knicks. 76ers center Wilt Chamberlain fights for a rebound against the Boston Celtics in the 1968 NBA Playoffs. [39] In his third game, Chamberlain recorded 41 points and a then-career-high 40 rebounds in a 124113 win over the visiting Syracuse Nationals. In Game 4, Boston won 114108. [17] According to ESPN journalist Hal Bock, Chamberlain was "scary, flat-out frightening before he came along, very few players at the center position possessed his level of athleticism, stature, and stamina. Russell's teams won all four seventh games against Chamberlain's; the combined margin was nine points. Photographs of him in high school show a slender, agile boy who, at 6-11, towered above the other players. He disliked the ones that called attention to his height, such as "Goliath" and "Wilt the Stilt". When Greer attempted to inbound the ball, John Havlicek stole it to preserve the Celtics' lead. Chamberlain pulled down almost 30 rebounds per game as he won his first ring.
The Warriors lost to the Celtics in the 1964 Finals in five games. Chamberlain often invited Russell over to Thanksgiving and visited Russell's place, where conversation mostly concerned Russell's electric trains. Chamberlain played for Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, leading the team to a 56-3 record and two city titles while averaging 37.4 points per game and setting a new high school scoring record. He became the first player to break the 3,000-point barrier, and the first and still only player to break the 2,000-rebound barrier for a single season, grabbing 2,149 boards. Being tall can have its disadvantages from a health perspective. Standing at 7ft 1in (2.16m) tall,[2] he played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 years and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the sport's history. [46], In the 196263 NBA season, Gottlieb sold the Warriors franchise for $850,000, equal to about $7.61million in 2019,[note 1] to a group of businessmen led by Marty Simmons from San Francisco and the team relocated to become the San Francisco Warriors under new coach Bob Feerick. [43] His 58 points were a then-career-high for him, and he later tied that on February 21, as he recorded 58 points to go along with 24 rebounds in a 131121 over the visiting Knicks. Then, Reed famously gutted it out to play at the beginning of the game, by reputation inspiring the Knicks to the win and the title. [37], In 2015, a man named Aaron Levi came forward claiming to be Chamberlain's son based on non-identifying papers from his adoption and information from his biological mother. Outwardly, Schayes defended him as "excused from practice", while his teammates knew the truth and were much less forgiving. Owing to his strong start, he still managed to put up a season-average 27.3 points, 18.4 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game. Inside the Insane World of Sports Today, in which he criticized the NBA of the 1990s for being too disrespectful of players of the past. "[99] Cherry says that Chamberlain was not a natural leader or a loyal follower, which made him difficult to fit in. Strength was something Chamberlain developed as a college and professional player. [77] When emotions cooled off, Hannum said to Chamberlain that he was on the same page in trying to win a title but Chamberlain had to "act like a man" both on and off the court to pull this off. There, the Lakers were able to beat a few tough teams, including a Bucks team led by a young man named Lew Alcindor (later to be known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). In turn, he led the league in rebounds (24.2), ended third in assists (7.8), had a record-breaking .683 field goal accuracy, and played strong defense. The lack of a second guard next to West, and the lack of speed and quickness concerned, coach Butch van Breda Kolff. Chris Morgan is a sports and pop culture writer and the author of the booksThe Comic Galaxy of Mystery Science Theater 3000andThe Ash Heap of History. [14] According to Chamberlain, "basketball was king in Philadelphia", so he eventually turned to the sport. [194], More hostile was Chamberlain's relationship with fellow center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, eleven years his junior. [8] After his professional basketball career ended, Chamberlain played volleyball in the short-lived International Volleyball Association (IVA), was president of the IVA, and is enshrined in the IVA Hall of Fame for his contributions. He could talk on any subject. This was also helped by the fact that Chamberlain was a near-insomniac who often simply skipped sleeping. [69], Statistically, Chamberlain was again outstanding, posting 34.7 points and 22.9 rebounds per game overall for the season. Big-league volleyball attracted his energies for a while, as did tennis, running marathons and even polo. [24], At the ages of 16 and 17, Chamberlain played several professional games under the pseudonym George Marcus. Chamberlain took his new role so seriously that he led the league in assists the next season. [177], Chamberlain damaged his reputation in an April 1965 article with Sports Illustrated. It had a 2,200-pound pivot as a front door and contained great displays of luxury. For the tip-off, he sent his shortest player Tommy Kearns in order to rattle Chamberlain and the Tar Heels spent the rest of the night triple-teaming him, one defender in front, one behind, and a third arriving as soon as he got the ball. I had 40 or 42 points, about 30 rebounds, about 15 blocks. [48] Chamberlain failed to convert his play into team success, this time bowing out against the Nationals in a three-game sweep. [102] In Game 5, with the Knicks trailing by double digits, Reed pulled his thigh muscle and seemed to be done for the series. He led the NBA in scoring seven years in a row. [9] He was a successful businessman, authored several books, and appeared in the 1984 movie Conan the Destroyer. [41] On November 10, 1959, Chamberlain recorded 39 points and a new career-high 43 rebounds in a 126125 win over the visiting Knicks. [102] Game 3 saw West hit a 60-foot shot at the buzzer to tie the game at 102; however, the Knicks took the game 111108. The Sixers charged their way to a then-record 6813 season, including a record 464 start. Because NCAA rules at the time prohibited freshmen from playing at the varsity level, Chamberlain was placed on the freshman team upon his arrival at Kansas. During his career, his dominance precipitated many rules changes. [103] The Knicks led by 27 at halftime, and despite scoring 21 points, Chamberlain could not prevent a third consecutive loss in Game 7. The press called it an even matchup in all positions, even at center, where Russell was expected to give Chamberlain a tough battle.
Chamberlain often criticized Abdul-Jabbar for a perceived lack of scoring, rebounding, and defense. However, the Lakers still had an option year on his contract, so they sued him to keep him from playing. [31] In two seasons at KU, he averaged 29.9 points and 18.3 rebounds per game, while totaling 1,433 points and 877 rebounds,[18] and led Kansas to one Big Seven championship. Chamberlain demonstrated his growing arsenal of offensive moves, including jump shots, put-backs, tip-ins, and his turnaround jump shot. Cherry doubts whether Chamberlain would have chosen KU if he had known that Allen was going to retire. Coach Schayes called timeout and decided to run the last play over Greer rather than Chamberlain because he feared the Celtics would intentionally foul him, as he was a poor foul shooter. In the division semifinals, the Sixers ousted Cincinnati. According to Jack Ramsay, "Harvey [Pollack] said he used to tell one of his statisticians to keep track of Wilt's blocks in big games. [11] He was a frail child, nearly dying of pneumonia in his early years and missing a whole year of school as a result. [79][80] For these feats, Chamberlain earned his third MVP award.
The matchup between Chamberlain and Abdul-Jabbar was hailed by Life as the greatest matchup in all of sports. With three minutes to go, the Lakers trailed 103102, but they committed costly turnovers and lost the game 108106, despite a triple-double from West, who had 42 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists, and became the only player in NBA history to be named Finals MVP despite being on the losing team.