This season, a number of NBA players have performed akin to Chamberlain. However, he will always be untouchable to some.
As a Milwaukee Bucks staffer for almost 20 years, Dick Garrett has been serving spectators from a courtside folding chair at Fiserv Forum. Recently, he witnessed Giannis Antetokounmpo flirt with the Washington Wizards, floating over the rim like he was playing slam dunk contest.
Garrett remarked, “He was scoring fifty-five points and he was doing it so easily, like no one could even challenge him.” “Gosh, I’m thinking, a man competing against boys.”
Similar to what he saw over fifty years ago, but from an even greater vantage point.
Garrett’s dominance on the court reminded him of his first NBA season (1969–70) with the Los Angeles Lakers. In that well-known one-name homage to fame, he lobbed passes into the post from his backcourt position to the man best known as Wilt during a postseason run that ended in a Game 7 finals loss to the Knicks.
Wilt Chamberlain, who once set a record with 100 points in a game and averaged an incredible 50 points per game for a season, has been statistically compared to Antetokounmpo and other players this season to the point where one may question whether the sport has reached the pinnacle of athletic excellence.
Alternatively, if competitive engineering is responsible for at least as much of its video game mimicry.
Due to the widespread 3-point shooting, attack the floor considerably more; create passing lanes for players with exceptional physical attributes like Antetokounmpo so they can score or locate open teammates on the perimeter. What you get in a league where team scoring has increased by about 15 points from a decade ago is a plethora of eye-opening individual stat lines.
Two nights after Antetokounmpo’s 45 points and 22 rebounds against the Bulls in Chicago, Garrett saw the Minnesota Timberwolves be dominated by Antetokounmpo for 43 points and 20 rebounds on December 30. Antetokounmpo became the first player to achieve at least 40 points, 20 rebounds, and 5 assists in consecutive games since, well, Wilt Chamberlain, with his seven assists in Chicago and his five against Minnesota.
The basic argument is this: As money floods into sports, more will be changed to suit modern tastes in highlights, particularly those of younger fans who are the ones driving internet clicks, fantasy leagues, item purchases, and the newest revenue generator, online gambling. It’s no great mystery, only smart marketing, why so many games in a league where injuries and load management concerns have eroded regular-season relevance have been further diluted by recent postseason expansion.
For Frazier, who started at quarterback for the Knicks during their championship runs in 1970 and 1973, the playoffs are the moment when the old and new bridges are rebuilt. He remarked, “That’s when the defense and continuity that we older guys love does return.”
Maybe only then will we be able to see the historical numbers game from a significant angle and figure out how to assess the young aspirants against Wilt more precisely.
