Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain will always be tied up together in relation to their NBA career.
Besides their being the exact opposite in achievements, one’s the ultimate winner while the other’s is the stat compiler, they are known for being best in cleaning the glass.
While Russell will be better known for his 11 championships in 13 seasons and Chamberlain for his padding the statsheet, including scoring 100 points in a game, they jointly dominate the rebounding records. These domination could never be broken ever.
On November 24, 1960, Chamberlain grabbed fifty five (55) rebounds, 31 of them in a half. In an ironic twist, his Philadelphia Warriors, however, lost against the Russell led Boston Celtics.
To put into perspective, the 55 rebounds is really out of this world and will never be approached by any of the big men of the game today. It might even be harder to break than the 100 points he scored.
This feat broke a record set by Russell just nine months earlier when he by hauled 51 rebounds on February 5, 1960 when his Boston Celtics defeated the Syracuse Nationals.
Russell, though, still owns the record for a half with 32, a mark he made on November 16, 1957 while battling the Philadelphia Warriors.
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These rebounding feats established by Chamberlain and Russell are definitely almost impossible to break.
More so, if taken together, the achievement might be unbeatable forever by any other duo. These giants are simply one-of-a-kind rebounding demons.
Russell also owns the third best record. He recorded 49 rebounds in a game twice, including the one where he had 32 in a half.
Chamberlain owns the fourth best. He recorded 45 twice.
They own the 12 best rebounding games, seven for Chamberlain and five for Russell.
Furthermore, they own 18 of the top 19 rebounds registered for a game, the only exception was Nate Thurmond who had 42 good for 13th place.
Outside of the trio, only Jerry Lucas manage to grab at least 40 rebounds in a game.
The next the best one game rebound performance apart from these four came from Neil Johnston with 39, then a record, and Maurice Stokes who grabbed 38.
In the later period, Moses Malone chalked up 37 for the Houston Rockets on February 9, 1979 when they defeated the New Orleans Jazz, 106–99.
The only current active player with over 30 rebounds would be Kevin Love who once hauled 31 for the Minnesota Timberwolves on November 12, 2010 when they defeated the New York Knicks, 112–103. Love grabbed 15 rebounds in the third quarter and 22 rebounds in the second half, 13 of them coming from the defensive glass.
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That is how great Chamberlain and Russell are on the glass. Russell, during his second best day, outrebounded Love in just two quarters. Chamberlain managed to tie him in just also two quarters during his best day.
According to basketballreference.com, Chanberlain leads all-time NBA rebounders with his 24.9, followed closely by Russell with his 24.5.
Bob Petit, is a distant third, averaging 16.2 rebounds a game.
As of August 18, 2020, the nearest active player nearest to these two are Andre Drummond with his 13.8 slotted in 7th place while Dwight Howard pulled down 12.3 caroms a game in his career so far, good for 15th in the list.
Chamberlain also leads the totals category with 23,924, followed by Russell with 21,620. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a distant third with 17,440.
Howard is again the closest active player with 13,691 which is 14th in the list.
By: ARMANDO BOLISLIS, stats from basketballreference.com and Wikipedia
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