Bam Adebayo scores 83, passes Kobe Bryant for second most in a game in NBA history
Wilt. Bam. Kobe.
That is now the order for the top-scoring games in NBA history as — out of nowhere — Miami’s Bam Adebayo dropped 83 points in Miami’s blowout win over Washington Tuesday night.
Highlights: Adebayo passes Kobe, scores 83 in game
Relive Bam Adebayo’s biggest moments from his 83-point night against the Washington Wizards, where he passed Kobe Bryant for the second-most points scored in an NBA game.
“Wilt, me and Kobe, sounds crazy,” Adebayo said (via Ira Winderman at the South Florida Sun Sentinel).
“Man, I wish I could relive it twice,” Adebayo said in his walk-off interview.
Bam after scoring 83: Wish I could relive it twice
Bam Adebayo unpacks the emotions after passing Kobe Bryant for the second-most points scored in a game in NBA history and sharing the moment with his Miami Heat teammates.
“This was just an absolutely surreal night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Adebayo is not known as an elite scorer, but on Tuesday, he came out on fire — scoring 31 points in the first quarter — and he had 43 in the first half. Adebayo did his damage where he always does, in the paint (26 points) and at the free throw line, where he was a ridiculous 36-of-43. Bam also knocked down seven 3-pointers and shot 20-of-43 overall for the night.
Adebayo crushed the record for most points by a Heat player, which had belonged to LeBron James at 61. Coach Erik Spoelstra said he had kept the box score from that 61-point game but lost it when a fire burned down his house last year. He said he can laugh about that now because he will keep this one from Bam.
It was shocking to see because Adebayo is averaging 18.9 points a game this season, has averaged more than 20 points a game just once in his entire career, and his previous high for a game was 41 points. He more than doubled that Tuesday night.
Adebayo had set the Heat record with 62 points by the end of the third quarter, and by just over three minutes into the fourth quarter, the Heat were up by 22. Spoelstra kept Adebayo in the game and the Heat kept feeding him the ball, having him chase history. In the final couple of minutes, the Heat would foul a Wizards player quickly to stop the clock and force free throws, so the Heat would get the ball back. Washington started triple-teaming Adebayo to deny him the ball and the Heat kept finding ways to get him the rock and let him drive into fouls — when Adebayo was called for a charge, Spoelstra challenged it.
There will be pushback on Adebayo’s night from the Kobe nation, which will call what the Heat did to get Bam to 83 manufactured or unethical (or something similar). On the night Kobe dropped 81 on the Raptors, the Lakers trailed by 15 at one point in the first half, the Lakers’ offense was off, and Kobe just put the team on his back.
Adebayo did that most of the way as well, even if the Heat were handling the Wizards, and anything that happened late was taken from Philadelphia’s playbook on the night Wilt Chamberlain scored 100.
What matters most is that this was just fun — and a historic night for Adebayo, the Heat and their fans. Something none of them will ever forget.
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