Players tell when they racked up most points
They weigh in on 55th anniversary of epic 100 by Chamberlain.
Tyler Johnson knows what he would do if somebody were about to drop 100 points on his team.
“You’re not getting 100 on me,” the Heat guard said. “I’m going to hard foul you. Once you start sniffing 80, I have to give you a hard one. I have to. And as a coach, I’m definitely sending double, triple (teams). We’re not going to be that team, for sure.”
The Knicks needed Johnson on the sidelines in Hershey, Pa., 55 years ago Thursday night when Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points, an NBA record that likely never will be broken. Chamberlain made 36-of63 shots from the floor and 28-of32 from the line.
And he chipped in 25 rebounds in the Philadelphia Warriors’ 169147 victory.
“It’s probably one of the greatest performances that I haven’t seen,” said 25-year-old Dion Waiters.
Several players were asked what they would have done to stop the 7-foot-1, 275-pound Chamberlain, and the answers prett y much echoed Johnson’s.
“I got six fouls,” Waiters said. “I’m going to use up all my fouls before you score 100 on me. I might have to watch from the side. I’m not letting you score 100 points on me.”
Though none ever approached Wilt’s triple-digit games, Heat players have enjoyed memorable scoring games:
Dion Waiters: 63 in a recreation league game when he was in eighth grade. “I shot every time, though,” he said.
Goran Dragic: 47 playing for his national team in Slovenia.
Hassan Whiteside: 55 playing in China. “I had a triple-double with 28 or 29 rebounds and 10 blocks,” he said.
Wayne Ellington: 45 in a high school game.
Okaro White: 52 in a high school summer tournament.
Jason Richardson: 47 in a college rec league game.
J a mes J o h n s o n : D-League.
Tyler Johnson: 62 in middle school.
Some players were asked if Wilt’s 4 0 i n t h e play with that kind of balance,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “The tough thing is to get your team to play selflessly.”
In the past 10 games, five players have led the Heat in scoring and twice Miami has had three players with at least 20 points.
Dragic has had games of 33, 30 and 24 points. Johnson has had 24 and 23. Hassan Whiteside and Dion Waiters twice shared team-high honors, once with 23 and once with 22, and both had other games in which they led the team with 23 each.
James Johnson had back-toback games of 26 points, one of those leading the Heat. In the other game, Dragic finished with 30 points.
“Everybody wants to be the guy who scores 40 a night,” Spoelstra said. “On every team, you have multiple players who want to be that guy.
“For this team, our strength is in numbers and balance when the ball is moving and sharing. They have a great maturity and understanding that the more guys that are involved, the better team we are and the understanding that maybe the leading scorer is a different guy on any given night, and that’s OK. That’s good.”
And although Wayne Ellington 100 could be matched in the modern NBA. The closest anybody has come is the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, who totaled 81 against the Raptors on Jan. 22, 2006.
Dragic said maybe Stephen Curry or Klay Thompson.
“I feel like how Golden State is playing, maybe Steph or Klay,” he said. “Klay already had that game he had 37 in a quarter. They know how to share the ball. You never know.”
Ellington agrees but also throws Russell Westbrook and James Harden in the conversation. Tyler Johnson said he’d go with Westbrook over Harden or any of the Warriors.
Walking wounded: Three additional players were sidelined for Miami’s practice Thursday with Waiters (ankle soreness), Whiteside (stomach flu) and Rodney McGruder (knee contusion), joining Willie Reed, who has missed the past two games with bursitis in his right ankle.
Coach Erik Spoelstra sounds pretty confident that Whiteside and McGruder will play today in Orlando (both are probable). Waiters and Reed, though, are questionable.
Spoelstra said Waiters, a major reason for the turnaround that has seen the Heat (28-33) win 17-of-20 games and move to within a game of the final playoff spot, was receiving treatment.
“He’s been able to manage pain before,” he said. “We’ll see.”
Waiters is averaging 20.5 points and 5.4 assists while shooting 48.6 percent in his past 15 games.
McGruder left the Heat’s win over Philadelphia on Wednesday during the third quarter because of the knee bruise. Waiters, though, finished the game and did not appear in discomfort. Whiteside received three stitches above his eye to close a cut following the game. That injury had nothing to do with his sitting out practice.
Miami, though, has overcome so much more all season, having lost 249 games because of injuries and without three players (Chris Bosh, Justise Winslow, Josh McRoberts) who will miss the rest of the season.
“Like ever y other game, no excuses,” Dragic said. “If someone can’t play, other guys need to step in.” remains the Heat’s fourth or even fifth guard, he can be a top scorer of any given night. One of those was Wednesday, when he made 6 of 9 3-point attempts and scored 18 points against Philadelphia.
Ellington leads the Heat with 95 3-pointers, yet he is the No. 7 scorer at 10.9 points per game.
“We have so many weapons that we’re very hard to guard,” Ellington said.
“One night it could be Tyler. One night it’s Dion. One night it’s Goran. The next night it’s Hassan. The next night it’s JJ. We have a lot of weapons, so it’s hard to take everything away.”
Miami has had nine players lead the team in scoring this season, including Derrick Williams, who was released during February. Ellington, though, is not one of them.
That balance has helped Miami (28-33) win 17 of its last 20 entering tonight’s game at Orlando and move to within a game of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
And Tyler Johnson believes it can get even better.
“I think there’s another level we can all get to as well,” he said. “It’s different guys, different nights. There’s a whole other level we can get to as far as playing as a team, which is scary.”