Greatest Season of All-Time

Finally at #1!!! I am back this week with my last installment on my favorite greatest season of all-time before the turn of the century by an individual. This has been fun for me to do. Before I give you my #1 I would like to thank Wikipedia and ESPN for all the knowledge that was given to me to be able to give you my round down from 20 to 1. It has been a very long time since I posted #20. Let's go over it again...

#20 - Lawrence Taylor 1986

#19 - Steffi Graf 1988

#18 - Bobby Jones 1930

#17 - Pedro Martinez 1999

#16 - Marcus Allen 1981

#15 - Walter Johnson 1931

#14 - Jimmy Connors 1974

#13 - Michael Jordan 1987-88

#12 - Ted Williams 1941

#11 - Bobby Orr 1969-70

#10 - Lou Alcindor 1966-67

#9 - Bob Gibson 1968

#8 - Jerry Rice 1987

#7 - Oscar Robertson 1961-62

#6 - Dan Marino 1984

#5 - Barry Sanders 1988

#4 - Wayne Gretzky 1981-82

#3 - Babe Ruth 1921

#2 - Pete Maravich 1969-70

The Philadelphia area was in for a treat in during the 1961-62 season. A man born in Philadelphia and played college in Kansas was in just his third year in the NBA with the Philadelphia Warriors, 7'1'' Wilt Chamberlain had the greatest season known to man. In that year, the center set several all-time records which have never been threatened since. He averaged 50.4 points and grabbed 25.7 rebounds per game. Chamberlain's 4,029 regular-season points made him the first and only player to break the 4,000-point barrier. To place this in perspective the only player other than Chamberlain to break the 3,000-point barrier is Michael Jordan, who scored 3,041 points in the 1986-87 NBA season. Chamberlain once again broke the 2,000 rebound barrier by grabbing 2,052 rebounds. Additionally, he was on the hardwood for an average of 48.5 minutes, playing 3,882 of his team's 3,890 minutes. Because Chamberlain played in overtime games, he averaged more minutes per game than the 48 minutes in regulation. In fact, Chamberlain would have hit the 3,890 minute mark if he had not been ejected in one game after picking up his second technical foul with 8 minutes left to play. On March 2, 1962, Chamberlain delivered another remarkable performance and became the first player to score 100 points in a single NBA game, in the 169–147 victory of his Warriors against the New York Knicks. In addition to Chamberlain's regular season accomplishments, he scored 42 points in the NBA All-Star Game, which is still the all-time record, on 17-23 shooting and pulled down 24 rebounds. In the 1962 NBA Playoffs, the Warriors met the Boston Celtics again in the Eastern Division Finals, a team which Bob Cousy and Bill Russell called the greatest Celtics team of all time. Each team won their home games, so the series was split 3–3 after six games. In a closely contested Game 7, Chamberlain tied the score at 107 with 16 seconds to go, but then Celtics shooting guard Sam Jones sank a clutch shot which won Boston the game and the series. Wilt and the Warriors finished 11 games behind the Celtics during the regular season in the East and moved to San Francisco after the season.

Chamberlain scored 50-plus points 45 times. Just how impressive is that? Michael Jordan cracked 50 points 37 times in his entire career. How can this season not be #1? I was hearing on the radio this past Sunday on my way to Jacksonville and this local radio station guy was talking about the greatest big men ever. Guys older than me who got to see some of "Wilt the Stilt" were saying that he was over rated. What planet they were on was one thing, but I really felt like calling in and just telling these idiots just stick to NASCAR!!! Just imagine for a second if Wilt shot a little better than Shaq at the foul line what kind of numbers he could have put up! Wilt was the best big man ever, and in my countdown to #1 had the best individual season of all time before the turn of the century.

Hope that you enjoyed! Now I need a something new...any suggestions let me know!