
In spite of having everything, Wilt Chamberlain had very little. Although Chamberlain achieved greater NBA stats than anyone else, he frequently felt alone and alone. It became known that the four-time MVP was not a winner. His matches with Bill Russell, the center for the Boston Celtics, were frequently perceived as one-on-one contests. Russell frequently prevailed in the basketball game, while Chamberlain typically won the statistical contest.
Although Russell was among the greatest NBA players of all time, he was fortunate to have many better players surrounding him. He had 11 championships at the end of his career, compared to Chamberlain’s 2. During his career, Chamberlain lost it in a Sports Illustrated piece, which resulted in the largest-ever fine at the time—a whopping $750.
NBA records were set by Wilt Chamberlain unlike anything else.
Wilt Chamberlain is undoubtedly the greatest of all time. Though his two championships seem to take him down a level, his numbers speak for themselves. Is that his fault?
On his teams, Chamberlain had to be the focal point. Both on offense and defense, he was the go-to player. Russell didn’t have to shoulder as much of the burden as Chamberlain did because he had colleagues in the same season who would go on to become Hall of Famers in Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, Bill Sharman, K.C. Jones, and Sam Jones.
Without a doubt, Chamberlain was the heavy lifter.
Consider his 1961–1962 campaign. In his first two NBA seasons, Chamberlain had previously topped the league in both scoring and rebounds. This was his third year in the league. In terms of statistics, Chamberlain outperformed everyone during the 1961–1962 season, the year he memorably scored 100 points in a single game. In addition to his historic 100-point performance, he had a season-long average of 50.4 points and 25.7 rebounds. Despite the fact that NBA games only last 48 minutes, he also averaged 48.5 minutes each game.
Russell was named MVP that year, in spite of Chamberlain’s unmatched stats. Though Chamberlain and the Warriors forced Boston to play seven games in the Eastern Division Finals, the Celtics ended 11 games ahead of the Philadelphia Warriors. Russell had 23.6 rebounds and 18.9 points on average.