Summary
The NBA added its first expansion franchise, the Chicago Packers, which gave the Western Division five teams to four in the East. Like most expansion teams, Chicago had a woeful season, winning only 18 games and finishing in last place, 11 games out of fourth.
But the big story of the season was Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point performance against the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962. Chamberlain hit 36 of 63 from the field, but it was his uncharacteristic accurate free-throw shooting that got him to the century mark. Though he was a career .465 shooter from the free-throw line, he made 28 of 32 in Philadelphia's 169-147 win. The game set a record for most combined points.
Chamberlain averaged an incredible 50.4 points a game. But, while he was scoring, the Boston Celtics were winning more often than Chamberlain's Warriors. Boston set a record with 60 victories, finishing 11 games ahead of Philadelphia. The Los Angeles Lakers, led by Jerry West, won 54 games to win the Western Division, also by 11 games.
The Celtics lost one future Hall-of-Famer, guard Bill Sharman, and simply replaced him with another, Sam Jones. They also had K. C. Jones coming off the bench to give the aging Bob Cousy some relief, and there were two more future Hall of Fame members in their front court, center Bill Russell and forward Tom Heinsohn, the team's top scorer.
The Celtics certainly didn't breeze to their fourth straight championship, though. The Warriors pushed them to the limit in the division finals. Sam Jones banked in a jump shot with two seconds remaining to win the seventh game, 109 to 107.
Victory over the Lakers in the championship series was even tougher. Los Angeles had a chance to win the seventh game and the title, but came up short, and the Celtics won it in overtime. Elgin Baylor had an amazing fifth game, scoring a finals record 61 points in a 126-121 victory at Boston Garden.
Cousy reached two milestones during the season. He became the first NBA to record more than 6,000 and assists and, along with Paul Arizin of Philadelphia and Bob Pettit of St. Louis, he surpassed the 15,000 point mark.
One of Cousy's records was broken, as Cincinnati's Oscar Robertson racked up 899 assists, an average of 11.4 per game. Robertson also finished third in scoring with a 30.3 average and averaged 12.5 rebounds a game. He's still the only NBA player to average a triple-double for a season.
The league's second leading scorer, behind Chamberlain, was Chicago's rookie center, Walt Bellamy. Bellamy, who finished third in rebounding, won the Rookie of the Year award.
