Bam Adebayo made some of the unlikeliest NBA history Tuesday with an astonishing scoring night, posting 83 points in a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards.
The scoring mark passed Kobe Bryant’s legendary 81-point game as the second-highest by an individual in NBA history. Only Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point scoring night stands above him.
Advertisement
Adebayo is a three-time All-Star and has been one the league’s better all-around centers over the course of the last nine NBA seasons. But with a career scoring average of 16 points, he’s not exactly known for his explosive offensive output. But against a Washington Wizards defense that’s the worst in the NBA, Adebayo caught fire. And his name is now etched in the NBA history books.
He had 43 at halftime. By the end of the third quarter, he had 62. At that point, he had the NBA’s rapt attention. And the game’s biggest names, past and present, were following and reacting on social media.
Advertisement
Heat legends LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were among them.
And the Heat celebrated the moment in appropriate fashion, with an ode to Chamberlain’s 100-point night back in 1962.
Adebayo, naturally, is now the Heat’s single-game scoring leader. He passed James’ previous record at the end of the third quarter. He finished shooting 20-of-43 from the field and went 36-of-43 from the free throw line. Both his makes and attempts from the stripe were NBA single-game records. He’s just the 11th player in league history with a 70-point game, too.
Adebayo entered the night averaging just 18.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game this season.
“To be [at] 83 and passing [Bryant], in my mind, it’s like, what would he say to me? Because I’ve always wanted to have a conversation with him,” Adebayo said. “He’ll probably say, ‘Go do it again.’
“Just a surreal moment being in the company with somebody that you idolized growing up.”