50 years, Wilt's 100: Why it Remains Great

50 years ago, in Hershey, PA, the Philadelphia 76ers faced off against the New York Knicks. When the dust settled, in front of zero television cameras and barely any radio evidence, Wilt Chamberlain put on the greatest offensive show in NBA history.

100 points. 36-63 shooting from the field. A remarkable 28-32 on free throws considering Wilt shot free throws as bad as Shaq. Throw in 25 rebounds and it was an incredible display of offensive genius.

The more you get away from it, the more you realize how extremely difficult it was and is now. I remember watching the last 5 minutes of Kobe's 81-point performance in utter awe because I didn't think I'd ever see somebody go off like that again.

I consider Kobe's performance one of the greatest of the modern era. It's up there with his 62 points in 3 quarters, David Robinson's 71-point game, Shaq's 61 and 18, Michael Jordan's 63 against the 1986 Celtics in Boston, Sleepy Floyd's 51 points vs. 1987 Lakers and any more you can think of. But they aren't greater than Wilt's for two reasons.

1. How many centers have followed suit?

If you look at the greatest scoring performances in history, only one center has scored more than 70 (D. Robinson's 71 on the last game of the 1993-94 season to get the scoring title). Considering that Robinson and Hakeem Olajuwon (who's career high is 52 in Year 12) might be the most athletic centers of the modern era along with Dwight, that's impressive. And Robinson only topped 50 twice besides that.

Let's go further. Only two more centers have ever scored 60 points in an NBA game. George Mikan and Shaquille O'Neal both scored 61 points.

We typically think centers should score a lot of points cause they are bigger than anybody. But considering the 1980's-early 2000's was a glorious time for big men, putting up huge numbers was hard to come by. It also means it's a lot easier and likely for a great scoring guard to score 50-60 if they get going because they can do more with the ball.

Oh and if you want to include power forwards - only Larry Bird, Karl Malone and Tom Chambers have scored 60 points. So I'm not dismissing what Kobe has done but I'm saying it's easier for an elite guard to do it than an elite center. Which leads me to my 2nd point.

2. In the modern era with better athletes, why haven't guys put up more points?

We have Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant drawing comparisons to George Gervin and Bernard King. We have the unstoppable force of LeBron James and we had Allen Iverson. Dwight Howard can be unguardable. For a brief spell, Michael Redd, Gilbert Arenas and others could light up the court. We have relaxed rules on offense so guys can run free.

So why aren't guying scoring 50-plus more often? You can argue that guys are on more loaded teams so they won't benefit from Wilt in Philly, Kobe from 05-07 or LeBron in his Cavs days being a lone gunner. Defense surely hasn't improved But here's some facts via Basketball-Reference since 2002-03 (highest scoring games since that season)

Carmelo has TWO 50-point games. Jamal Crawford has had more than him.
LeBron has nine. Two over 55 points (Career high is 56)
Dwyane Wade has three 50-point games, all in 2008-09 (Career high is 55)
Kevin Durant just had his first 50-point game on Feb. 12
The fact Andre Miller had his 50-point game in 2010 at 33 is stunning. Speaking of which, only 9 of those performances came after the guy was 30 years old
Iverson had a 51 point game in 2007. He had the third most 50-point games in that span.

Dwight Howard isn't on this list at all (career high is 45 points). So what does it mean? It means that guys may be more athletic and know how to score but it takes a perfect storm and incredible dominance to have a great night in the NBA. Some guys aren't as fundamentally sound so they can't score in a variety of ways. But even if you can impose your will, it takes a lot more than physical talent or offensive gifts to put up 50. Heck, we go nuts when a guy has 40!

Oh yeah, as far as scoring 60? Besides Kobe, only McGrady, Arenas and Iverson have scored 60 in the last 10 years. As for the Black Mamba, he's scored 50 or more points 24 TIMES in the last decade. It's a tribute to Kobe's incredible offensive arsenal and a reason why he's the legendary player he is.

And yet it all reminds you how incredibly difficult it is to score 50. Now imagine somebody being hot enough to score 100! It requires you to make at least 30 shots from all over the court and Kobe made 28 in his historic night.

What Kobe did in January 2006 was incredible in this era. And using that B-Ball ref. link I just posted, it shows you how incredible it really was.

We may see it again one day but I doubt it. I've seen kids score 36 and 39 in a high school game. I witnessed a high school classmate score in the 40's. People went nuts when Jimmer Fredette put up 52 last year. It's a lot of luck and skill and the ability to score from anywhere. That's why Wilt's record won't be passed and that's why we need to always respect this as the greatest offensive performance in NBA history.

NBA Trade Winds? More like a Tornado

My head's still spinning from all this NBA trade talk. I was supposed to drop my Black History Month conclusion first but I had to try and make some sense of all these shakeups. I'm old school when I think trades make more sense to help teams get better, not just salary dumps or payroll helpers first.

First up, the Carmelo Anthony trade that sent New York into a frenzy and the rest of us sighing in relief. New York might be happy but Melo isn't the answer. Melo gets his wish but the Knicks benefited more by getting Chauncey Billups along with him, who'll actually give that team some steadiness and experience as a PG. Besides some increased buzz and jersey sales though, don't expect anything to change about the team being better.

They gave up promising young talent in Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari. They gave up draft picks that could help them in the future. They owe $36 million to Melo and Amar'e Stoudemire. They got a guy who's a great scorer, clutch and a decent defender but not a leader who is the missing piece to a puzzle - hence why we hear about them being the future spot for Chris Paul in 2012.

Meanwhile Denver is playing that John Lennon. "Just Like Starting Over" and back to being a decent team. Could be worse, they're better off than Cleveland after LeBron left.

Speaking of C-Town, has anyone stopped feeling sorry for Baron Davis yet? Dude hasn't caught a break since he left the Golden State Warriors and now he leaves his home to the Cavs? I'd probably look like that picture too. Baron deserved better but so did his body which looked like it didn't care. On the flip side, Mo Williams is probably jumping for joy all the way to Cali. Clippers get younger, Cavs get older and tougher to watch with veterans who feel cursed.

The good news for Baron? He doesn't have to be under the worst owner in NBA history who publicly embarrassed him.

Boston took the hugest gamble to me. Kendrick Perkins was their answer for Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Pau Gasol and any other big man on a contender. Unless he hadnt fully recovered from that injury, I don't see why they move him. Celtics fan will swear up and down that a healthy Perkins = defending champions and as a Lakers fan, we can't argue except for the C's blowing that big lead. The same I reason I argued why the Lakers didn't need to trade Andrew Bynum, I would've made the same for him.

6-10, 280 lbs. in the post vs. the OKC Thunder's Jeff Green who's 6-9 but 35 lbs smaller and a wing player. The No. 1 team in the East is relying to replace him on a past-his-prime, creaky-kneed Jermaine O'Neal and a still reliable but 38-year-old Shaq. And their bench got lighter losing Nate Robinson although they gain Nenad Kristic

Trading a hurt Marquis Daniels though? That's a bit dirty if you ask me.

Oh yeah, OKC just gave Kevin Durant the biggest present for the next few years. A true big man and along with another trade prospect in Nazr Mohammed, they are loaded in the post. Meaning KD, Russell Westbrook and James Harden (plus Nate Rob) can roam free on the perimeter. Yep, the West is theirs once the Lakers run ends this year or next year.

Houston sending Aaron Brooks to Phoenix for Goran Dragic and Shane Battier for Hasheem Thabeet. My H-Town peeps pointed out that Brooks suffered an injury and lost his spot to Kyle Lowry and his 4-year deal while Battier was expendable. Yet still, good luck with Thabeet who's only good for defense and potential poster bait. 

Finally there's Deron Williams. Has anybody taken a quicker, bigger hit to his rep besides LeBron? In the matter of 30 days, D-Will went from being in the convo of the top PG in bball to a coach killer who got surprisingly dealt without much thought to New Jersey. I don't know how he'll do in New Jersey with Brook Lopez, Yi Jianlian and Anthony Morrow but for the next year and a half, we'll see if this is a power move or a rental.

But hey, at least New Jersey finally got the big star they wanted right? Right now they're like the hot girl who thinks she's a 10 but is more like a 5. It's a big pile of overrated grandeur just like co-owner Jay-Z's last album or majority owner Mikhail Prokhorov thinking his money/influence will make folks run to Jersey. They've failed miserably and nobody's with sanity is buying what they're selling.

And if you're counting, every top point guard besides Chris Paul now plays in the East. Forget how the West was won, this is how the West is set up on Little Brother status this decade. All the elite players besides Kobe, CP3, Dirk and Durant are in the East and once the last of the 90's draftees start leaving, the West will almost be barren.

Check out the 2010 Western Conference All-Star Team and the younger players. Melo - GONE, Amar'e - GONE. D-Will - GONE,  Brandon Roy - Never will be the same. It's all up to KD, Westbrook and CP3 for the future of the West.

Meanwhile the Lakers stood pat and looked good. We watched our East Coast rival get smaller, the rest of the West get weaker outside of the Spurs, Dallas and OKC. We didn't trade Andrew Bynum but Boston lost Kendrick Perkins. After two good urgent wins, there's still some fight in this team that hasn't died out. I still think they the 3rd best team in the West but they became a bigger threat by what everyone else did.

All the more reason this has been the most intriguing season in years. Just wait til the playoffs kick in.