PITTSBURGH — Every now and again, somewhere in the distant foothills of that purple mountain majesty of basketball stats formed by The Big Dipper, a flash of lightning sparks a small fire that refocuses our fractious attention on the athletic miracle that was Wilton Norman Chamberlain.
DeMar DeRozan of the Chicago Bulls caused one recently, scoring 35 points or more in an NBA record seven consecutive games in which he shot at least 50%. It broke Chamberlain's record of six such games he did twice, the last time in 1963.
But as noted, such accomplishments occur in the foothills of the Chamberlain Mountains, nowhere near the highlands, where Wilt once averaged 50.4 points in a season, or 48.5 minutes per game (overtime, ya know). Both of those figures he sculpted into agelessness in 1962, the same year he went to the apex.
