1960 NBA All-Star Game

Result

MVP: Wilt Chamberlain

Box score

Paul Arizin (East) was replaced by Tom Gola due to injury.

Bench (10+ points): Bill Sharman (17), Willie Naulls (13), Tom Gola (12), Larry Costello (10), George Yardley (11)

Bench (10+ points): Dick Garmaker (11), Hot Rod Hundley (10), Clyde Lovellette (12)

Game context

The 1960 All-Star Game, played January 22 at Philadelphia's Convention Hall, was billed as a homecoming for the game's biggest new attraction: Wilt Chamberlain, making his All-Star debut in his rookie season with the hometown Philadelphia Warriors, the only time the Warriors would host the game before their 1962 move to San Francisco. Chamberlain did not disappoint, putting up 23 points and a game-high 25 rebounds in 30 minutes on 9-of-20 shooting, dominating the interior in a way the league had never quite seen and earning MVP honors in front of a supportive 10,421-fan home crowd. The East controlled the game throughout, building a 58-51 halftime lead and stretching it to 91-81 after three quarters before closing out a 125-115 win, with quarters of 25-26, 33-25, 33-30, and 34-34. Beyond Chamberlain, Dolph Schayes gave the East a strong complementary interior effort with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Bill Sharman added 17. The West got a big scoring night from Cincinnati's Jack Twyman, who shot an efficient 11-of-17 for 27 points, and Elgin Baylor, now in his second season, put up 25 points and 13 rebounds — but the Western supporting cast could not offset the East's balanced attack and, specifically, could not solve Chamberlain in the paint. Chamberlain's rookie-season dominance at this game was an early data point in what would become perhaps the most statistically overwhelming individual season in NBA history — he would go on to average 37.6 points and 27.0 rebounds per game that year, numbers that remain almost unfathomable by any modern standard, en route to winning both Rookie of the Year and regular-season MVP in the same season, a feat matched by only one other player (Wes Unseld) in league history. Red Auerbach coached the East, continuing his string of nearly annual All-Star coaching assignments during Boston's ascension, while Ed Macauley, now with St. Louis, again led the West bench. This game also stands as a marker of the shifting balance of star power in the league: with Chamberlain's arrival alongside established greats like Baylor, Pettit, and Robertson (who would debut the following season), the NBA's talent pool was rapidly deepening even as its geographic footprint remained rooted in a mix of major Eastern cities and smaller Midwestern markets soon to be reshuffled by relocation. The Warriors' 1962 move to San Francisco, coming just two years after this game, would take Chamberlain himself out of Philadelphia and open a new chapter of West Coast basketball that the league would build on for decades.

Sources

• Basketball-Reference — NBA All-Star Game History
• Basketball-Reference — NBA & ABA All-Star Game MVP (Kobe Bryant Trophy)
• Wikipedia — 1960 NBA All-Star Game