Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat turned heads on Tuesday night with a stunning 83 points against the Washington Wizards, passing Kobe Bryant’s 81-point total in 2006. He got to work in a multitude of ways, including the paint, the three-point line, the free-throw line, and mid-range.
As a Heat fan, never in my wildest dreams did I think Adebayo was capable of having a game like this, truly a spiritual experience. He had 31 points in the first quarter, 12 points in the second quarter, 19 points in the third quarter, and 21 points in the fourth quarter.
A major shoutout has to go to Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra, who allowed Adebayo to play for basically the entire second half even though the game wasn’t close. There have been multiple instances of players being in the zone, only to be pulled by their coaches. Spoelstra knew how special this moment was for Adebayo and kept him in the game and allowed him to get a massive standing ovation.
People will call this performance unethical because he made 43 free throws in total, but the Wizards were genuinely fouling him. They can also poke fun at Miami intentionally fouling at the end of the game to give Adebayo even more touches down the stretch.
Washington, for whatever reason, chose until the very end of the game to start double and triple teaming Adebayo, with Bilal Coulibaly in particular trying his hardest to stop Adebayo.
This game came from such an unlikely source. This isn’t an elite scorer, the best on Adebayo’s team, and he’s not even averaging 20 points a game. He broke multiple records tonight, including the most points for a player in Heat history and the most first-quarter points for a center.
Adebayo now has the second-highest scoring game in NBA history, trailing only Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game.
Adebayo’s WNBA superstar girlfriend, A’ja Wilson, was in the building, and his mother was also there to watch this special performance in person. It must’ve felt so great to have the two women he loves the most in the world there to witness the best game of his entire basketball career.
It was also really heartwarming to see the support that Adebayo had from his teammates, who threw water on him during his postgame press conference with gigantic smiles on everyone’s faces.
Adebayo is one of the best defenders in recent NBA history. The fact that he had a game like that offensively this really puts into perspective how talented he is and how he might be looking at Hall of Fame candidacy when it’s all said and done.
Another thing that’s really cool about Adebayo is that he wasn’t hunting for shots until the tail end of the fourth quarter. It’s insane that he was still playmaking, making the correct play, defending at a high level, and rebounding while he was in the zone.
All in all, Adebayo finished with 83 points, nine rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocks. He went 20/43 from the field, 7/22 from three, and 36/43 from the free throw line. It’s absurd that he could’ve had 90 points if he didn’t miss all those free throws.
Adebayo also got subbed out for basically the final two minutes of the game, which allowed him to get a great standing ovation from the crowd, which was a joy to watch live.
Out of all the elite scorers the NBA possesses, it’s truly amazing that Adebayo is the one who now holds the second-highest scoring game of all time. I’ve called him on numerous occasions, the third-best scorer on the current Heat team behind Tyler Herro and Norman Powell, and then he does this.
Adebayo’s career-high before this game was 41 points; he genuinely doubled that. One of the most scrutinized players by even his own fanbase for his offensive shortcomings, scored 83 points in a singular game.
Truly stunning, but another reason why basketball is such a beautiful sport.
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