Bam Adebayo put his name in the record books by scoring 83 points against the Washington Wizards. This point total surpassed the late great Kobe Bryant’s 81-point outing against the Toronto Raptors in 2006, and is the highest scoring game on film. Remember, Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game had no footage recorded, which is honestly astounding. When thinking of who would leap Bryant’s point total, popular names that came to mind were Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards, and other elite scorers. Adebayo, being the one to accomplish something this historic, had everyone floored.
Instead of celebrating history being made, Adebayo’s legendary performance became a toxic discourse. Rather than being happy for him, many discredited his performance and were enraged by how he earned his points, especially towards the end of the game. A perfect example is below with Nick Young, a former teammate of Bryant, crashing out.
To be this mad about this is downright silly, and the narratives around this performance need to come to an end.
A popular take that went around was that Adebayo’s performance was flawed due to his competition. Yes, the Wizards are one of the worst teams in the league. When Bryant scored his 81 points, was it against the top team in the league in 2006? The team he actually went against was the furthest thing from that. The Toronto Raptors entered the game against the Los Angeles Lakers with a record of 14-26. From that point forward, they won only 13 more games and finished 12th in the Eastern Conference.
Both players faced weak teams, where most players have their best nights. Did Luka Doncic’s 74-point masterclass come against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in 2024? It was against the Atlanta Hawks, who finished 10th that season. Another example is Donovan Mitchell’s 71-point explosion vs the Chicago Bulls, another team that finished under .500 and was in the play-in tournament.
The main point is that all of these performances were impressive. It’s not as if 70 and 80-point games are happening like it’s the easiest thing in the world.
With the Heat winning this game by a comfortable margin late, head coach Erik Spoelstra decided to leave Adebayo in the ball game. It was clear Spoelstra wanted Adebayo to have his name amongst the NBA’s greatest players and score as many points as he could. Why is chasing greatness a bad thing? If something historic is possible to achieve, why not go for it? The nonstop complaining about Adebayo getting 43 free throw attempts is foolish if you look at the tape.
Washington simply had no answer for Adebayo, who was drawing contact on almost every offensive possession. This resulted in 43 free throw attempts and 36 makes at the stripe, which set an NBA record.
Adebayo had the biggest green light of his career, and the Wizards’ last resort was to foul as his power and speed were too much. The real controversy came as the game was coming to an end.
Adebayo closed in on scoring 80, leading to a fouling fest between both teams. This led the game to go on longer than it should have. Interestingly enough, you can see Adebayo telling his teammates not to foul and let the game go.
Spoelstra was fully committed to making sure this historic night kept getting better for Adebayo, and nothing should be wrong with that. If anyone is going to give the Heat flak for this, why not give the Wizards criticism for challenging a call in a game that was out of reach? Washington head coach Brian Keefe chose to challenge a foul with 2:05 left where a potential overturn would not be crucial to the end result of the game.
In another instance, Jaden Hardy intentionally fouled Keshad Johnson, trying to force an empty possession for Adebayo. It was clear the Wizards were also doing petty things to stop Adebayo from scoring over 80 points. The saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is truer than ever with this photo below, where Washington was triple-teaming Adebayo in the fourth.
With that being said, there was no doubt the game was already sealed for Miami. Let’s rewind the clock, though, back to Bryant’s performance since it’s been compared to Adebayo’s nonstop. The big difference fans draw is that the Lakers were down 18 and had to fight back. That is a fair point; however, Los Angeles came back and took a 15-point lead with 2:35 to go.
With the game in hand barring a miracle comeback, Bryant was still on the court and looking to score. Similar to Adebayo, he also shot free throws to increase his point total in a game that was 99% secured.
Was it done in a different manner? Sure, but both players were still in each of their respective games when both could have been on the bench.
What should have been a night that was full of celebration, congratulations, and happiness turned into division and chaos. A player who was not known as a scorer coming into the league did something only two other players in NBA history accomplished, and he was being ridiculed on social media and national outlets.
No one knows when we will ever see someone score over 80 points again, and that is why this performance should be cherished. To the crowd who thinks it only happened because it was against bad competition, the Wizards will still play basketball games. Let’s see if players who are more dynamic scorers will best Adebayo since that’s one of the many silly narratives that’s going around.
Just appreciate greatness when it occurs, as trying to find ways to bring someone down after a historic accomplishment is childish. The many Kobe fanatics who are pissed off about this need to take advice from their favorite player, who summarized appreciating greatness perfectly.
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