New York Knicks: 20 greatest performances at Madison Square Garden

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 24: (NEW YORK DAILIES OUT) Carmelo Anthony #7 of the New York Knicks acknowledges the crowd as he leaves a game against the Charlotte Bobcats after scoring his team record 62nd point at Madison Square Garden on January 24, 2014 in New York City. The Knicks defeated the Bobcats 125-96. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

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Los Angeles Lakers Wilt Chamberlain, (Photo by NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) /

8. Wilt Chamberlain dominates the ’60s

From one throwback to another.

Not often mentioned because of how long ago it happened, Wilt Chamberlain once dominated Madison Square Garden and had some of its highest scoring totals ever. Not the record-setting 100 points, but he routinely went to Manhattan and dominated the Knicks.

Chamberlain went for the following point totals at The Garden, whether with the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers or the Los Angeles Lakers. That’s not even with the 100-point game, which did not happen at MSG:

73 points: Nov. 11, 1962
62 points: Jan. 29, 1962
59 points: Dec. 25, 1961
58 points: Mar. 4, 1962
55 points: Jan. 30, 1962

The NBA played nothing like it did 56 years ago, but the numbers are difficult to argue with in any era, especially with Chamberlain’s dominance against the Knicks, and in this 11-month span.

73 points, of course, rise to the top as still, the greatest single-game points total ay MSG. He also shot 43 times when no one else topped 12. This represents how dominant one of the NBA’s greatest centers of all time was in the 1960s.

On Christmas Day, 1961, Chamberlain’s 59 points were coupled with 36 rebounds. Incredible numbers as he was a man among boys in this pre-historic era of basketball.

With performances by other non-Knicks in the future decades, it put Chamberlain’s MSG production on the back-burner and often left off this venue’s greatest scoring games, but still worth the mention, given how often it happened.