# 1961–62 Philadelphia Warriors season

The 1961–62 Philadelphia Warriors season was the sixteenth season for the National Basketball Association franchise in Philadelphia, and the last before their relocation to San Francisco, California, for the following season.
Wilt Chamberlain had the most statistically dominating season in NBA history. Chamberlain led the league with an NBA record 50.4 points per game. In one eight-day stretch in January, Chamberlain participated in three games in which he scored at least 63 points per game. On March 2, 1962, the Warriors played the New York Knicks in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Chamberlain had the most dominating performance in NBA history as he notched 100 points before 4,124 fans. The game was actually played at the Warriors' training facility. Despite his high scoring, Wilt did not win the NBA MVP that season. The award was given to Bill Russell. The Warriors finished second behind Russell's Boston Celtics with a 49–31 record. In the playoffs, the Warriors defeated the Syracuse Nationals in five games. Russell and Chamberlain met in the Eastern Division finals. The series went for the full seven games. In Game 7, the Celtics' Sam Jones hit the winning shot with 2 seconds remaining.

## Regular season

Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game, named by the National Basketball Association as one of its greatest games, took place between the Philadelphia Warriors and the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962, at Hersheypark Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
The Warriors won the game, 169–147, setting what was then a record for the most combined points in a game by both teams. But the game is most remembered for the 100 points scored by Warriors center Wilt Chamberlain, who set the NBA single-game scoring record. The next leading scorer for Philadelphia was Al Attles with 17 points. The Knicks' leading scorer was Guerin with 39 points. In that game, Chamberlain also broke five other NBA scoring records, of which four still stand.

### Season standings

| Eastern Divisionvte | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Neutral | Div |
| x-Boston Celtics | 60 | 20 | .750 | – | 23–5 | 26–12 | 11–3 | 26–10 |
| x-Philadelphia Warriors | 49 | 31 | .613 | 11 | 18–11 | 19–19 | 12–1 | 18–18 |
| x-Syracuse Nationals | 41 | 39 | .513 | 19 | 18–10 | 11–19 | 12–10 | 17–19 |
| New York Knicks | 29 | 51 | .363 | 31 | 19–15 | 2–23 | 8–13 | 11–25 |

### Record vs. opponents

1961–62 NBA records :
| Team | BOS | CHI | CIN | DET | LAL | NYK | PHI | STL | SYR |
| Boston | – | 9–1 | 7–1 | 5–3 | 6–3 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 7–2 | 10–2 |
| Chicago | 1–9 | – | 1–9 | 3–7 | 2–8 | 6–4 | 0–10 | 4–6 | 1–9 |
| Cincinnati | 1–7 | 9–1 | – | 6–6 | 5–7 | 5–4 | 3–5 | 9–3 | 5–4 |
| Detroit | 3–5 | 7–3 | 6–6 | – | 4–8 | 5–4 | 1–7 | 7–5 | 4–5 |
| Los Angeles | 3–6 | 8–2 | 7–5 | 8–4 | – | 6–2 | 6–3 | 10–2 | 6–2 |
| New York | 4–8 | 4–6 | 4–5 | 4–5 | 2–6 | – | 4–8 | 4–4 | 3–9 |
| Philadelphia | 4–8 | 10–0 | 5–3 | 7–1 | 3–6 | 8–4 | – | 6–3 | 6–6 |
| St. Louis | 2–7 | 6–4 | 3–9 | 5–7 | 2–10 | 4–4 | 3–6 | – | 4–4 |
| Syracuse | 2–10 | 9–1 | 4–5 | 5–4 | 2–6 | 9–3 | 6–6 | 4–4 | — |

### Game log
## Player stats

Note: GP= Games played; MIN=Minutes; FG= Field Goals; FT= Free Throws; REB= Rebounds; AST= Assists; PTS = Points; AVG = Average
* = Indicates team leader
| Player | GP | MIN | FG | FT | REB | AST | PTS |
| Wilt Chamberlain | 80 | 3882 | 1597 | 835 | 2052 | 192 | 4029 |
| Paul Arizin | | | | | | | |
| Tom Meschery | | | | | | | |
| Al Attles | | | | | | | |
| Tom Gola | | | | | | | |
| Guy Rodgers | 80 | 2648 | 267 | 121 | 348 | 643 | 655 |

## Playoffs

1962 playoff game log :
Division Semi-finals: 3–2 (home: 2–1; road: 1–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
March 16
Syracuse
W 110–103
Paul Arizin (43)
Wilt Chamberlain (25)
Guy Rodgers (8)
Philadelphia Civic Center 6,937
1–0
2
March 18
@ Syracuse
W 97–82
Wilt Chamberlain (28)
Wilt Chamberlain (26)
Wilt Chamberlain (4)
Onondaga War Memorial 5,250
2–0
3
March 19
Syracuse
L 100–101
Wilt Chamberlain (40)
Wilt Chamberlain (25)
Guy Rodgers (9)
Philadelphia Civic Center 5,328
2–1
4
March 20
@ Syracuse
L 99–106
Wilt Chamberlain (29)
Wilt Chamberlain (9)
Guy Rodgers (7)
Onondaga War Memorial
2–2
5
March 22
Syracuse
W 121–104
Wilt Chamberlain (56)
Wilt Chamberlain (35)
Guy Rodgers (10)
Philadelphia Civic Center 7,829
3–2 :
Division finals: 3–4 (home: 3–0; road: 0–4)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocationSeries
1
March 24
@ Boston
L 89–117
Wilt Chamberlain (33)
Wilt Chamberlain (31)
Chamberlain, Arizin (3)
Boston Garden
0–1
2
March 27
Boston
W 113–106
Wilt Chamberlain (42)
Wilt Chamberlain (37)
Guy Rodgers (10)
Philadelphia Civic Center
1–1
3
March 28
@ Boston
L 114–129
Wilt Chamberlain (35)
Wilt Chamberlain (29)
Wilt Chamberlain (6)
Boston Garden
1–2
4
March 31
Boston
W 110–106
Wilt Chamberlain (41)
Wilt Chamberlain (34)
Guy Rodgers (10)
Philadelphia Civic Center
2–2
5
April 1
@ Boston
L 104–119
Wilt Chamberlain (30)
Wilt Chamberlain (14)
Guy Rodgers (9)
Boston Garden
2–3
6
April 3
Boston
W 109–99
Wilt Chamberlain (32)
Wilt Chamberlain (21)
Guy Rodgers (10)
Philadelphia Civic Center
3–3
7
April 5
@ Boston
L 107–109
Tom Meschery (32)
Wilt Chamberlain (22)
Guy Rodgers (8)
Boston Garden
3–4 :
1962 schedule :

## Awards and honors

* Wilt Chamberlain, NBA All-Star Game
* Paul Arizin, NBA All-Star Game
* Tom Gola, NBA All-Star Game
* Wilt Chamberlain, NBA scoring champion
* Wilt Chamberlain, All-NBA First Team
* Wilt Chamberlain, NBA Leader, Rebounds, 2,052
* Wilt Chamberlain, NBA Leader, Points per Game, 50.4
* Wilt Chamberlain, NBA Record, Most Points in One Game (see Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game)

## Relocation to San Francisco

Following the season, the Warriors moved west to San Francisco after Edward Gottlieb sold the team to a Bay Area credit card company. Despite the loss, Philadelphia was without pro-basketball for just that one season. The Syracuse Nationals, who challenged the Warriors in the playoffs for many years, moved to Philadelphia in 1963, becoming the Philadelphia 76ers.