Was The Greatest NBA Game Of All-Time Really A Hoax?

Was the greatest NBA game of all-time really a hoax? Many people have different beliefs surrounding Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point game, with some believing he did not score 100 points that night. Given the circumstances of the game, and skill of Chamberlain, this may sound foolish, but it is not such an outlandish thing to think. It is no secret that Wilt Chamberlain is an all-time great NBA player, but did he really score 100 points on March 2 1962?

Wilt Chamberlain is an NBA player who has accomplished amazing achievements. Wilton Norman Chamberlain, most commonly known as Wilt Chamberlain, was born on August 21 1936 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. With some calling him nicknames like ‘Wilt the Stilt’ or ‘The Big Dipper,’ Chamberlain stood at

The Philadelphia Warriors (46-29), led by Chamberlain, faced off against the New York Knicks (27-45), who were dead last in the NBA at the time. To add insult to injury, Phil Jordon, the starting center for the Knicks, would not be at the game to guard Wilt. Jordon was suffering from an apparent case of the flu. As a result, Darrall Imhoff was forced to guard Chamberlain. However Imhoff only played 20 minutes of the game due to foul trouble. This left Cleveland Buckner, a rookie from Jackson State, to guard Chamberlain for the majority of the game (Bleacher Report 2014). This shows that Chamberlain had a perfect setup to score 100 that night. To add to that, an official scoresheet from Chamberlain’s 100 point game was found. The scoresheet, sold in 2019, was formerly kept by Chamberlain and his family. It wasn’t until in 1999, 37 years later, that Chamberlain’s family would give the scoresheet to one of his closest friends. Eventually, the scoresheet was put up for auction and is now located at Hershey Sports Arena (Basketball Network 2022). This is important because it proves that there was some sort of documentation of the game, along with an artifact from the game. Aside from this, this record is very significant to the NBA, for example, Adam Fromal explains, “That's not an achievement to be taken lightly, regardless of the circumstances. No player in the history of the NBA

For instance, WBUR explains, “There was no TV and the only working photographer left after the first quarter” (2012). This is important because with only one photo of this night, people start to wonder if this event actually took place. To add to the fact that there is no footage of this game, there is a 3 minute radio broadcast of the final moments of the game. However, with the radio broadcast only being 3 minutes, people start to question the credibility of this broadcast. To add to this, the radio broadcast was “discovered” in 1988, almost 25 years later which adds to the controversy about this broadcast. Many NBA fans speculate that something is not right about this broadcast and believe that this radio broadcast is not official. In addition to this, a supposed game ball from Chamberlain’s 100 point game was sold at an auction for $67,791, on October 6 2000. This ball was originally owned by Kerry Ryman, who was 14 when he was a spectator at the game. Ryman claimed that he took the ball quickly after the court was stormed, when Chamberlain reached triple digits. At first, the ball was sold for $551,844 in the spring of 2000, but quickly voided when questions surfaced about whether the ball was authentic. Lelands, the company that held the auction, recognized the ball as a real game ball, despite the controversy around it. However, Harvey Pollack, a longtime Philadelphia