Wilt Chamberlain carpooled with Knicks players after his 100-point game: “You guys are sure nice to this SOB, letting me score a hundred points, then giving me a ride” originally appeared on Basketball Network.
Wilt Chamberlain‘s 100-point night on March 2, 1962 — forever etched in NBA history — has been endlessly discussed.
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There are stories about what happened before tipoff — Wilt reportedly played pinball and shot clay pigeons at the Hershey Arena arcade — and what may have triggered his outburst on the court: a prior mocking attempt by the New York Knicks players.
But what often gets lost in all the basketball folklore is what happened after the final buzzer.
You might assume the league’s new single-game scoring king didn’t just head home quietly. Well, he did — but not without a funny twist, as Robert Cherry details in “Wilt: Larger Than Life.”
From Hershey to NYC
Chamberlain’s 100-point game came during his team’s 169–147 win in Hershey, Pennsylvania. While iconic and likely never to be matched — Kobe Bryant came close with 81 points in 2006 — soon the focus shifted to the Philadelphia Warriors‘ next game.
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With a record of 47–29, including that win against the Knickerbockers, the Warriors were more than playoff-bound but not finished yet. Four games remained before playoff basketball, with an away game against the same opponents, the Knicks, scheduled just two days after Chamberlain had amazed the basketball world.
At the time, the legendary big man enjoyed more freedom than most players in the league, especially within his own franchise. Knowing his value as the league’s reigning Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year, he had an unconventional idea: instead of taking the team bus back to Philly, he planned to hitch a ride to NYC with a few Knicks who were heading that way.
Logistically, this made sense. It spared the former Harlem Globetrotter travel strain, saved time and energy and allowed him to better prepare for the upcoming away game.
To put it in perspective: Hershey to Philadelphia is about 94 miles, Philadelphia to New York is about 96 miles, while going directly from Hershey to New York is roughly 165 miles.
Carpool comedy
With Warriors head coach Frank McGuire’s blessing — who could say no to Chamberlain after that historic night? — the superstar center carpooled back to New York with opposing forwards Willie Naulls, Johnny Green and another Knicks member.
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It was a surreal close to a historic evening: the man who had just rewrote the scoring record riding alongside players he had just dominated. But the story didn’t end there.
As author Cherry recalls in his 2004 book, Chamberlain — likely exhausted from his heroic effort — drifted in and out of sleep during the trip. But when awake, he overheard the Knicks, thinking he was out cold, muttering in disbelief, “Can you believe that SOB scored a hundred points against us?”
Ever quick with a comeback, Wilt had the perfect reply. As they pulled up to his New York apartment on 97th Street and Central Park West, he smiled and said, “You guys are sure nice to this SOB — letting me score a hundred points, then giving me a ride all the way home.”
With a sweaty grin, Wilt ended with a simple, “Thanks, fellows.”
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What followed hardly needed any speculation — the future Hall of Famer likely went off to celebrate his iconic performance. And he surely had every right to.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jun 22, 2025, where it first appeared.