Why Will There Never Be Another Top 40 Rebounder?
Wilt Chamberlain excelled at more than simply scoring. In 11 of his 14 seasons, he won the league title and topped the rebounding charts. He frequently averaged more points per game by himself than a modern NBA frontcourt would. When considering his most noteworthy rebounding performance from a modern perspective, though, it was the 42 boards he snatched up on Thursday, 50 years ago, during an overtime victory over the Boston Celtics.
Not only was Chamberlain’s victory over Bill Russell on the boards the most recent, but it was also the final 40-rebound game. as in, last; finished; practically carved with a chisel into stone.
Records have fallen and statistical anomalies have emerged in tandem with the frantic pace of modern gaming. For the third consecutive year, Russell Westbrook will average a triple-double during a whole season. James Harden is obsessed with breaking records in the past. Within two years of teammate Steph Curry setting the record with thirteen three-pointers, Klay Thompson broke it with fourteen in a single game. Within six weeks of one another, Anthony Davis and Jusuf Nurkic each recorded quintuple-nickels (five points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks). In the last four years, two of the ten records that Bill Simmons listed as the most indestructible in his Book of Basketball have collapsed.
However, rebounds are unique, their records unaltered by modern man, even when viewed remotely. Wilt set the record for the most games in a single game in November 1960 with 55, which seems like a million to us in the present era. Joel Embiid stated to NBA Desktop that Chamberlain’s record is the reason he thinks of him as the greatest player of all time. Since 1972–73, Chamberlain’s final season, no team has averaged 55 rebounds per game. Since 1977–78, no team has even averaged 50 rebounds per game.
Since then, Charles Oakley—35 in 1988—has recorded the most rebounds in a single game. Thirty years later, not even Oakley’s record seems attainable: Dwight Howard’s 30-board performance during the previous season was just the third in the league since 1996 and the first since 2012.
