SCORECARDfrom McMillian proved decisive.
The next night L.A. routed the
Warriors in Oakland, then made it
three wins in three days by beating
the Knicks at the Fabulous Forum.
(This was obviously before DNP-rest
was a thing.)
Two road victories followed,
including a 40-point blowout in
Philadelphia. The Lakers made a
quick trip home to beat Seattle,
then reeled off another three wins
in three days. The most telling
was the last of those, when the
Celtics visited the Forum. Ten years
earlier Chamberlain had averaged
50.4 points on 39.5 shots. Against
Boston he attempted two field goals
and made one, a dunk off a loose
ball in the third quarter. He did,
however, have a rare points-less
triple double—31 rebounds, 13 blocks
and 10 assists—in the 128–115 win.
“There were 14,” Wilt said of his
blocks after the game. “I counted.”
The fact that the Dipper was
shooting so infrequently was no
surprise. “Over his 12-year career
Chamberlain has been caught in
more different poses than Twiggy,”
Sports Illustr ated’s Peter Carry
wrote in December 1971. He had
been a scorer, a passer, a low-post
threat and a high-post facilitator.
Sharman’s new marching orders:
Play defense, rebound and start
the break. “The outlet pass
was something I had to be very
conscious of earlier this season,”
Chamberlain said in December. “It
was a change of style for us then, but
it has become second nature now.”
Wilt and his new coach got along
fine after Sharman explained that he
couldn’t allow Chamberlain to opt
out of practices because it would set
an unwanted precedent. The Dipper
never did warm to shootarounds,
but when Sharman offered the team
a day off after the 40-point win over
the 76ers, it was Wilt who decidedthe team should hit the floor.
Victim No. 11 was the Bucks—who
just happened to be the holders of
the NBA’s longest run, 21 straight
wins the previous season. They
came to the Forum with a 16–3
record, but L.A.’s guards hounded
center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
every time he put the ball on the
f loor, forcing 13 turnovers, and
Chamberlain outrebounded him
27–16 in a 112–105 victory, L.A.’seighth in 13 days. A sellout crowd of
17,505 saw it, as well as 3,197 fans
who watched on closed circuit, since
the game wasn’t on TV. (Fans in L.A.
got Monster Zero, in which Godzilla
and Rodan team up to battle an
intruder from space.)
From there it was back to
blowouts. By the second week of
December the streak was 20, and
L.A. needed only to beat the Suns
at home to tie Milwaukee’s record.
Though the Lakers blew a late
12-point lead, guard Gail Goodrich
rallied them in overtime. Two days
later, the Lakers set the mark with
another ugly win, 104–95 over the
Hawks. “We had been playing goodbasketball up to the latter part of
the stretch,” said Chamberlain
after the game, sipping on 7-Up as
glasses of champagne sat untouched
nearby. “But the pressure began to
catch up with us. We all got a little
tired. It’s been tough....Really, I’m
just very glad it’s over.”
But it wouldn’t be until they
lost, which they hadn’t done since
Halloween. The Lakers had become
the first team with a perfectcalendar month in November;
in December they did it again. A
134–90 blowout of the Hawks on
Jan. 7 made it 33 in a row and set up
a dream showdown two days later:
at Milwaukee.
The rematch had the intensity of
a playoff game. With the Bucks up
36–34 midway through the second
quarter Abdul-Jabbar picked up a
loose-ball rebound and laid it in.
Lakers forward Happy Hairston
fouled him, mildly undercutting
Abdul-Jabbar as he hung onto the
rim. They were tangled as they
landed, and Hairston put both of his
hands down to balance himself—at
which point Abdul-Jabbar decked28 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED | SI.COM
SPEAK
SOFTLY AND
CARRY...... a megaphone.
Sharman’s vocal
cords took such
a beating that
he needed help
to communicate.
WA
LT
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OS
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R.