Wilt Chamberlain wilted under pressure in the playoffs and finals

[Lebron23]

How can a top 5 NBA player of all time struggled offensively in the playoffs? His numbers went down as the season progresses.

[gengiskhan]

just like LBJ wilted.

reason I have Wilt behind MJ as GOAT.

[1987_Lakers]

I remember first learning about Wilt and his 100 point game and 50 ppg season back in middle school and was confused as to why he didn't get enough GOAT talks. As I got a little older I began to learn about the fast pace in the league back then, his overall failures in the playoffs, & his obsession with stats over winning then I understood.

The craziest stat to me is how he never fouled out of a game. To play over 1000 games and never foul out as a big man is crazy, but it shows me he played more soft once he was near fouling out, players typically play more cautious when they are near fouling out, but I'm sure he took it to another level.

[John8204]

How can a top 5 NBA player of all time struggled offensively in the playoffs? His numbers went down as the season progresses.

1960 - Div Finals
1962 - Div Finals
1964 - NBA Finals
1965 - Div Finals
1966 - Div Finals
1967 - Championship
1968 = Div Finals
1969 - NBA Finals
1970 - NBA Finals
1971 - Div Finals
1972 - Championship
1973 - NBA Finals

6 time he made it to the Division Finals
4 times he made it to the NBA Finals
2 times he won the title

15 seasons on three different teams, 12 of those years he made a title run. I believe he lost only to teams that had atleast a 2-1 HOFer ratio. If he made the Finals for 1/3rd his career calling his run a "struggle" would be absurd. Losing 7 game series against the Celtics and Knicks doesn't scream under-performance to me.

[ShawkFactory]

Your bones and spinal column wilted in the womb.

[Full Court]

Wilt Chamberlain's choke jobs PALE in comparison to Lebron's, AKA LeShrivel's, choke jobs - both in quantity and level of choking.

Lebron James is in fact the worst choker in the history of the sport. Suck on that for a while.

[ImKobe]

Did he? He was a high-volume scorer from his rookie year to the end of the '66 season, he averaged 39.6 ppg in the RS and 32.8 ppg in the POs which is still great. He only played against like 8 teams in the RS, and from looking at his splits he generally averaged the less ppg against the Celtics because they had the personnel to limit his scoring output, and there weren't that many teams so it would look worse on paper if you took away all context and tried to compare his drop-off in scoring from RS to POs as if he faced different teams in the POs every year.

You'd think he "wilted" in '66 for example because he went from averaging 33.5 ppg to 28 in the POs, but he averaged 28 ppg 30 rpg against Boston in the RS and in the POs, so he was on par, or even slightly better because of his increased FG%. He did better against the Celtics in the POs in '65 compared to his RS numbers, from scoring volume to rebounding to his FG% but they still lost. He even had an 80%FG performance in Game 7 and they lost by 1, they also won some close games in that series.

He underperformed in some big games but that happens to most superstars if we go through the history of the league. He was no James Harden or Chris Paul when it comes to choking and underperforming in the POs, to me he gets more hate than anything when he's one of the few ATGs who reinvented himself and ended up leading multiple teams to a title, he just happened to play in an era that had arguably the most stacked team ever relative to the rest of the competition.

[ArbitraryWater]

Did he? He was a high-volume scorer from his rookie year to the end of the '66 season, he averaged 39.6 ppg in the RS and 32.8 ppg in the POs which is still great. He only played against like 8 teams in the RS, and from looking at his splits he generally averaged the less ppg against the Celtics because they had the personnel to limit his scoring output, and there weren't that many teams so it would look worse on paper if you took away all context and tried to compare his drop-off in scoring from RS to POs as if he faced different teams in the POs every year.

You'd think he "wilted" in '66 for example because he went from averaging 33.5 ppg to 28 in the POs, but he averaged 28 ppg 30 rpg against Boston in the RS and in the POs, so he was on par, or even slightly better because of his increased FG%. He did better against the Celtics in the POs in '65 compared to his RS numbers, from scoring volume to rebounding to his FG% but they still lost. He even had an 80%FG performance in Game 7 and they lost by 1, they also won some close games in that series.

He underperformed in some big games but that happens to most superstars if we go through the history of the league. He was no James Harden or Chris Paul when it comes to choking and underperforming in the POs, to me he gets more hate than anything when he's one of the few ATGs who reinvented himself and ended up leading multiple teams to a title, he just happened to play in an era that had arguably the most stacked team ever relative to the rest of the competition.

I swear you were making Wilts a choker post years ago citing completely different (overall) stats

[ImKobe]

I swear you were making Wilts a choker post years ago citing completely different (overall) stats

I'm sure I've criticized him before for times he did choke but that doesn't mean he still wasn't good overall in his prime. OP says that he struggled offensively in the POs which is clearly false as I pointed out already, his overall PO averages obviously are weighed down by the amount of games he played past his prime as a Laker when there were more teams and rounds, his RS ppg in his early days was also inflated by all the bad teams he faced, Celtics generally held him to a much lower ppg during the season, so it's no surprise an ATG team could limit his scoring opportunities in the POs as well, but his overall efficiency did not suffer that much.

[beasted]

1960 - Div Finals
1962 - Div Finals
1964 - NBA Finals
1965 - Div Finals
1966 - Div Finals
1967 - Championship
1968 = Div Finals
1969 - NBA Finals
1970 - NBA Finals
1971 - Div Finals
1972 - Championship
1973 - NBA Finals

6 time he made it to the Division Finals
4 times he made it to the NBA Finals
2 times he won the title

15 seasons on three different teams, 12 of those years he made a title run. I believe he lost only to teams that had atleast a 2-1 HOFer ratio. If he made the Finals for 1/3rd his career calling his run a "struggle" would be absurd. Losing 7 game series against the Celtics and Knicks doesn't scream under-performance to me.

Wilt made the finals 6 times not 4.

[beasted]

So, OP, I take it that 33% is where you draw the line? 40% win percentage is fine, but 33% is where he is allowed to be branded a loser. Right?

[1987_Lakers]

So, OP, I take it that 33% is where you draw the line? 40% win percentage is fine, but 33% is where he is allowed to be branded a loser. Right?

There were like 9 teams while Wilt was playing.